These flowers came with my house, planted by the previous owner, and continue to return each year - in spite of my negligence. I don't even know their name, but I know I like them.
Update, as of May 1st, 2013:
I figured the name out, thanks to Google search: hyacinth.
The genus of this flower is:
"native to the eastern Mediterranean (from south Turkey to northern Israel), north-east Iran, and Turkmenistan."
In Greek mythology, Hyacinth was a beautiful youth loved by both the god Apollo and the West Wind, Zephyr. Apollo and Hyacinth took turns at throwing the discus. Hyacinth ran to catch it to impress Apollo, but he was struck by the discus as it fell to the ground, and died.[11] A twist in the tale makes the wind god Zephyrus responsible for the death of Hyacinth.[12] The youth's beauty caused a feud between Zephyrus and Apollo. Jealous that Hyacinth preferred the radiant archery god Apollo, Zephyrus blew Apollo's discus off course, so as to injure and kill Hyacinth. Apollo did not allow Hades to claim Hyacinth. Instead, Apollo made a flower, the hyacinth, from Hyacinth's spilled blood.
Hyacinths are sometimes associated with rebirth. The hyacinth flower is used in the Haft-Seen table setting for the Persian New Year celebration, Nowruz, held during the Spring Equinox.
I have an immigrant, mythological flower growing outside my front door. I like that.
No comments:
Post a Comment