by Prisha
When you think about flowers, what is the first thought that comes to mind?
Throughout history and literature, flowers have been strongly associated with symbolic meanings. As Ophelia’s speech in Hamlet accentuates the symbolism of various types of flowers. “There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that's for thoughts. ... There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for you; and here's some for me. We may call it herb of grace o' Sundays. Oh, you must wear your rue with a difference. There's a daisy. I would give you some violets, but they wither'd all when my father died."
A more rueful example would be in novels like “The Bell Jar” or poems like “Why I Like the Hospital”, that illustrate how flowers that are given with so much love and hope are so callously disposed of, in a waste basket that resembles a coffin.The ignorance of life, where you get more flowers at your funeral then you ever did alive. When each petal falls it symbolises our short life, each withering petal resembling a part of us that we just give away to people never to be spoken to again, dying a slow death everyday.
Anemones are perceived as the ‘flower of death’ in Persia and Egypt and their literal meaning being ‘forsaken’. There are various mythological tales that are entwined with anemones, one being that in Greek mythology, it means “daughter of the wind” as a beautiful nymph got caught up in a love tangle. A wind god called Zephyr fell in love with her, but when his wife found out she banished the nymph from their court and turned her into a flower. Another wind god called Boreas fell in love with her, in her flower form. After being rejected by her every spring he angrily blows open her petals, fading them prematurely. Another myth has anemones springing up from where Venus wept over the body of her lover, Adonis, as he lay bleeding to death from a boar wound. Venus cursed love itself, and it is said the body of Adonis melted like vapour leaving behind drops of blood that is said to give some anemones their red colour.
Similar to the language of flowers, Hanahaki is a mythical disease in which the victim coughs up flower petals when suffering from unrequited love. The petals and flowers of the plant grow in the victim’s lungs, and eventually grow large enough to render breathing impossible. Hanahaki can be cured through surgical removal of the plants' roots, but this excision also has the effect of removing the patient's capacity for romantic love. It may also erase the patient's feelings for and memories of the enamoured. It can also be cured by the reciprocation of the victim's feelings. These feelings cannot be feelings of friendship but must be feelings of genuine love. The victim may also develop Hanahaki Disease if they ‘believe’ the love to be one-sided but once the enamoured returns the feelings, they will be cured. In some literature other symptoms can be fever, uncontrollable shaking, loss of appetite, low body temperature, and hallucinations. Even after curing, with or without surgery, there can be irreversible damage to the lungs and, although very rare, in some cases the disease cannot be cured.
Flowers, which are often perceived as a symbol of love, happiness, prosperity, have now turned into something so hauntingly beautiful, symbolising the ‘beginning of death’. It kills so beautifully that one does not even realise what is happening, taking dying for you to another level. The power of something so fragile, so mesmerising, leaving a trail of petals in the crimson stains.
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