Japan has not issued a state of emergency yet but strongly requested people to stay at home unless essential, which means I can no longer go out just to take pictures. So I dug into my photo archive of pictures taken recently and found this. They are so pretty, aren't they?
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| Snowflakes |
They are snowflakes or, in Japanese, "lilies of the valley and narcissuses." A bit confusing, isn't it...
Snowflakes look like snowdrops, and their differences in the size and the time of blooming are discussed by many on the internet, but the biggest difference is what they symbolize.
In the Japanese language of flowers, snowflakes represent chastity and purity while snowdrops (whose Japanese name means "a plant waiting for snow") symbolize "hope," "consolation" and "a wish for your death"..... Wow.... This "wish for your death" meaning is based on a folklore in England though it's not believed there but only in Japan.
Whatever they represent, both flowers are so pure and beautiful. I have added snowflakes and snowdrops to my list of favorite flowers.
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以前撮ったスノーフレークです。可愛いくて一目ぼれしました。和名は鈴蘭水仙。鈴蘭と水仙。どっちなんだ！と言いたくなります。
スノーフレーク（鈴蘭水仙）はスノードロップ（松雪草）と似ていてネットでは見分け方に関する情報がたくさんありますが、驚いたのは花言葉。鈴蘭水仙は「純潔」と「汚れなき心」。松雪草は「希望」、「慰め」、そして「あなたの死を望む」｡｡｡😱
「あなたの死を望む」は日本だけの花言葉のようです。よかった｡｡｡
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