Tuesday 16 June 2015

A Good Omen?

According to folklore Passion flower is a good omen.  It is just as well as it is growing rampant like a weed between the garage roof and a shelter in the back garden.  It is a treat to have such an exotic looking plant growing so freely.

Looking on line I see that there is much folklore regarding this plant one of the most frequent being that in Christian terms it represents the Passion of Christ - the period of time between the Last Supper and Christ's death - as explained below.

The 72 radial filaments or corona in the centre came to symbolise the Crown of Thorns.

The 10 petals and stamens represented the 10 faithful apostles—excluding Peter because he denied knowing Christ during the Passion, and Judas because he betrayed the Christ into the hands of the Romans.

The lower five anthers of the passion flower symbolised the five wounds of Christ on the cross. 
The three spreading styles or stigma symbolise the three nails on the Cross.

The tendrils resemble the whips that the Roman soldiers used to scourge Christ, and the lobed leaves the soldiers’ hands clutching at Jesus. 

The dark spots under the leaves represent the 33 pieces of silver that the Romans paid Judas for betraying Christ.

When the passion flower has bloomed and spent its energy in a day (the time that Jesus suffered on the cross), the petals do not fall off but close around the ovary. To Catholics, this represents the hidden mysteries of the cross and the entombment of Christ after his crucifixion. 

Extending the analogy even further, the passiflora’s round fruit symbolise the world that Christ came to save and its red stains the blood of Christ shed with the crucifixion.

I got the above information regarding the plant representing Christ from here.  I like the plant purely for its beauty but find the general folklore surrounding plants fascinating! 

9 comments:

  1. Goodness I never knew any of that...fascinating!
    V x

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  2. It is a most unusual flower your photo shows all its complexities so clearly. The folk lore about it is fascinating too:)

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  3. How interesting, never heard it before xx

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  4. Never heard of this before, very interesting
    Julie xxxxxxx

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  5. It does look does loo very exotic doesn't it. My Nan use to have one and use to tell me about the meaning behind each part.
    xxx

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  6. So jealous of your rampantly growing passionflower. They are so pretty, but would never be able to overwinter here.

    Is yours a variety that produces fruit?

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  7. I'm not sure if it produces fruit yet Anne. I will let you know in due course if it does or not! :-)

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  8. That is a fascinating description and analogy!x

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  9. Oh I see you have read the Stonewylde books! My Mum has read them too and she goes to the Stonewylde camps- have you been to any of those!?x

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