Daffodil
*Daffodils are narcissus with a trumpet that is as long or longer than the surrounding petals. They are of the same family.)
Blooms: Late Spring
Emblems
National Flower of Wales
The Chinese New Year
Various cancer charities around the world use the daffodil as a fundraising symbol. "Daffodil Days" are organized to raise funds by offering the flowers in return for a donation. Some of these organizations include: American, Canadian, New Zealand, Irish Cancer Society and The Cancer Council of Australia and Marie Curie Cancer Care.
Flower Language
Regard or unrequited love (Victorian)
Chivalry (The great yellow daffodil-Victorian)
Good fortune (Chinese)
mirth and joyousness (Japan)
Mythology/ Folklore
According to the Greek mythology, Echo was a mountain nymph who fell madly in love with a beautiful young man, Narcissus-- a vain youth who cared for nothing but his own beauty. He spent all his time looking at his own reflection in a pool of water and spurned Echo's love until she finally faded away, leaving nothing but her voice. The gods, angry with Narcissus because of his vanity, changed him into a flower who was destined always to sit by a pool nodding at his own reflection.
Similar versions of this myth occur in Rome, Arabia, Egypt, Spain and Portugal.
Venus, god of beauty, governs all daffodils except the yellow, and that belongs to Mars, god of war.
Narcissus was also sacred to to Persephone, embodiment of the earth's fertility and Queen of the Underworld.
History/ Modern Use
Wild daffodils caused the first wildlife protective legislation in England. The flowers were so popular in the Stuart Court that peasants and gypsies would go to the fields and pick them by the thousand to sell at court. This depletion of the native plant population caused a public protest, and laws were passed to protect the flowers.
Traditionally the first Sunday in April in England was “Daffodil Sunday,” and people would pick daffodils from their homes and surrounding fields to take to the hospitals in London.
In East Asia, narcissus is known as the sacred lily of China. It is the symbol of purity and promise and is the floral.
Mohammed is said to have said,
“Let him who hath two loaves sell one, and buy the flower of narcissus: for bread is but food for the body, whereas narcissus is food for the soul.”
In Wales it is traditional to wear a daffodil or a leek on Saint David's Day (March 1).
In some countries the yellow variation is associated with Easter.
In Hawaii, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii sponsors a Chinese cultural festival, called the Narcissus Festival, culminating with a beauty pageant whose winner is called the Narcissus Queen.
Literature/ Arts
“The pied wind flowers and the tulip tall,/ And narcissi, the fairest among them all,/ Who gaze on their eyes in the stream's recess,/ Till they die at their own dear loveliness.” --Mary Shelley William
Wordsworth's short poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" has become linked in the popular mind with the daffodils that form its main image.
In the movie Big Fish, Edward Bloom plants a field of daffodils outside of Sandra Templeton's window in order to win her heart.
Daffodils are a part of E. E. Cummings' poem, "in a time of daffodils."
Freddie Mercury, lead vocalist of the rock band Queen, has been quoted as saying "I'm as gay as a daffodil, my dear."
In an episode of Futurama, "Daffodil" appears mysteriously as number two on Bender's most commonly spoken words.
Blooms: Late Spring
Emblems
National Flower of Wales
The Chinese New Year
Various cancer charities around the world use the daffodil as a fundraising symbol. "Daffodil Days" are organized to raise funds by offering the flowers in return for a donation. Some of these organizations include: American, Canadian, New Zealand, Irish Cancer Society and The Cancer Council of Australia and Marie Curie Cancer Care.
Flower Language
Regard or unrequited love (Victorian)
Chivalry (The great yellow daffodil-Victorian)
Good fortune (Chinese)
mirth and joyousness (Japan)
Mythology/ Folklore
According to the Greek mythology, Echo was a mountain nymph who fell madly in love with a beautiful young man, Narcissus-- a vain youth who cared for nothing but his own beauty. He spent all his time looking at his own reflection in a pool of water and spurned Echo's love until she finally faded away, leaving nothing but her voice. The gods, angry with Narcissus because of his vanity, changed him into a flower who was destined always to sit by a pool nodding at his own reflection.
Similar versions of this myth occur in Rome, Arabia, Egypt, Spain and Portugal.
Venus, god of beauty, governs all daffodils except the yellow, and that belongs to Mars, god of war.
Narcissus was also sacred to to Persephone, embodiment of the earth's fertility and Queen of the Underworld.
History/ Modern Use
Wild daffodils caused the first wildlife protective legislation in England. The flowers were so popular in the Stuart Court that peasants and gypsies would go to the fields and pick them by the thousand to sell at court. This depletion of the native plant population caused a public protest, and laws were passed to protect the flowers.
Traditionally the first Sunday in April in England was “Daffodil Sunday,” and people would pick daffodils from their homes and surrounding fields to take to the hospitals in London.
In East Asia, narcissus is known as the sacred lily of China. It is the symbol of purity and promise and is the floral.
Mohammed is said to have said,
“Let him who hath two loaves sell one, and buy the flower of narcissus: for bread is but food for the body, whereas narcissus is food for the soul.”
In Wales it is traditional to wear a daffodil or a leek on Saint David's Day (March 1).
In some countries the yellow variation is associated with Easter.
In Hawaii, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii sponsors a Chinese cultural festival, called the Narcissus Festival, culminating with a beauty pageant whose winner is called the Narcissus Queen.
Literature/ Arts
“The pied wind flowers and the tulip tall,/ And narcissi, the fairest among them all,/ Who gaze on their eyes in the stream's recess,/ Till they die at their own dear loveliness.” --Mary Shelley William
Wordsworth's short poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" has become linked in the popular mind with the daffodils that form its main image.
In the movie Big Fish, Edward Bloom plants a field of daffodils outside of Sandra Templeton's window in order to win her heart.
Daffodils are a part of E. E. Cummings' poem, "in a time of daffodils."
Freddie Mercury, lead vocalist of the rock band Queen, has been quoted as saying "I'm as gay as a daffodil, my dear."
In an episode of Futurama, "Daffodil" appears mysteriously as number two on Bender's most commonly spoken words.
