Every spring the fairies come out to play. After the long barrenness of winter, our enchanting friends revel in the new warmth with exuberant joy. Many tales and stories reveal how the magical realm welcomes spring. The fairy mothers in “The Legend of the Fairy Tulips” rock their springtime babies in newly-blossomed flower cradles. The fairies in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream celebrate the arrival of springtime with dancing and merrymaking. The flowing green Spring Sprite from Fantasia 2000 soars over the barren earth to call forth new life. These stories and so many others capture the gush of magic Mother Nature releases every spring. I thought of these fairy stories on one of those gray, gray winter days, when the gray seemed to go on forever. The thought of sunshine, and flowers, and fairies, and green warmed my soul and maybe even my chilly toes. Before I knew it, spring was here again.
The magic of springtime never gets boring. No matter how endlessly cold and dreary the winter may seem, we know that eventually, spring will arrive. The days will lengthen, the sun will shine, the temperature will rise, the trees will fill with leaves, the grass and the garden will grow, and everything will bloom. This isn’t a surprise when it comes. Somehow that doesn’t dim our excitement. My son has seen eleven springs to date. He still calls me outside to see the first crocuses peeking out of the ground in our backyard. What is it about springtime that has us so enthralled?
Logic would suggest the answer is that when we see those brave crocuses and other first signs of spring, we are happy the cold days of winter will soon be gone. Among the nicest harbingers of the changing of the seasons, the flowers that bloom when spring arrives make us smile all year long. These blossoms remind us of the change of season and bring us joy as we gaze at their beauty. We have seen this all before so why does it seem new every year? Perhaps there is something more to it. Social historians believe that flowers symbolize life, fertility, growth, and renewal; in other words, springtime. A blooming flower reminds us that even the darkest, coldest, deadest day will eventually give way to sunlight, heat, and new life. Symbolically, and maybe unconsciously, this reminds us that the cycle of life is continuous. There was life before us and there will be life after us as well.
The attractiveness of flowers, blooming plants, and all things green is as old as the beginning of recorded history. Life, fertility, and growth were obviously of great importance to our ancient ancestors. And not just because it made them feel happy. They were dependent on the cycle of life to survive. Springtime was a period of utmost importance to them. If new plants didn’t grow, they didn’t eat. The ancients let us know how central this cycle was to their lives by worshipping gods and goddesses who represented the fecundity of life.
Ancient Egyptians worshipped Isis as the goddess of motherhood and nature, as well as a patroness of magic. They attributed to her the discovery of wheat and barley, important staples in their diet. Some myths credit Isis with creating all green things. She is sometimes depicted as a green goddess, whose color is likened to the greenness of the earth.
Demeter was the ancient Greek goddess of the harvest and agriculture. She presided over grains and the fertility of the earth. She was seen as a protector of marriage and the cycle of life and death. Her emblem was the bright red springtime poppy. Demeter’s daughter Persephone, whose ascension from Hades every year heralded the return of spring, was worshipped as a vegetation goddess.
Diana was the Roman goddess of the hunt, the moon, woodlands, and wild animals. She was the personification of the teeming life of nature, both animal and vegetable. Not surprisingly, many worshipped her as a goddess of nature and fertility and she was sometimes considered a goddess of childbirth. By some accounts, Diana’s mate was Virbius, the Roman forest god. The aim of their union was to promote the fruitfulness of the earth, of animals, and of mankind.
Never to be overlooked, the king of the gods was also seen as a symbol of new life. The Greeks worshipped Zeus as many things, including the god of oak, thunder, and rain. Various myths tell us that Zeus had great fertilizing power. In the early stories of the creation of the world, Zeus rained down and caused the earth goddess to bear fruit. Devotees of Greek mythology know how many children Zeus sired. Suffice it to say that Zeus was a busy guy.
One of the loveliest examples of the adoration of new life is from Roman mythology. Flowers were so important to the ancient Romans they had a goddess devoted to them. Flora was the goddess of flowers and all flowering plants. (The Greek version is Chloris, although mythology suggests that Flora actually originated as the nymph Chloris and later became the goddess of flowers after being accosted and impregnated by Zephyrus the god of the west wind. Yes, the Greeks invented drama.) Her name comes from the Latin word floris which means flower, or something in its prime.
Naturally, Spring was Flora’s season and her festival, the Floralia (precursor to the holiday called May Day), was celebrated to coincide with the blossoming of flowers and the ripening of grain. Romans decorated their houses and temples with flowers. Petals were scattered on the ground. Women wore wreaths of flowers and brightly colored clothing. Flora’s celebrated virtues included fertility, blossoming beauty, and sexuality. (She was even rumored to have given Juno a magic flower that allowed her to conceive without a man. Mars was the result of this magic.) Therefore, Romans prayed to her to make their plants bloom. In fact, in some mythology, Flora goes around strewing blossoms on the ground to bring new life.
We know how much the Romans loved Flora through the many descriptions of her festival and the depictions of Flora in various art forms. Although most of us aren’t pagans, we can still enjoy Flora today. There are many depictions of Flora in art, even in more modern times. She is generally wearing light, flowing robes and holding flowers. She is often pregnant. The most famous depiction of the goddess is probably the painter Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera, in which both Chloris and Flora appear. They both appear to be pregnant, as do Venus the Roman goddess of love, beauty, sex, and fertility, and the Three Graces dancing nearby. (Their rounded abdomens may also depict the female ideal of beauty which was in vogue at the time the painting was created.) Chloris has flowers coming out of her mouth. Flora is decked out in blossoms from head to toe and is scattering flowers on the ground. The picture gives us a wonderful representation of the idea of efflorescence, a state of flowering, a result of growth and development, that the Romans held so dear. Although this painting was created during the Renaissance, a rebirth of Greek and Roman culture, it still speaks to us today and remains one of the most viewed paintings in the world at its home at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
This and so many other images bring to mind the overflow of life and beauty that is spring. There is clearly something magical and maybe even a bit fairy-like about all of this efflorescence. A withered, dried out plant in frozen soil turns into bright green shoots and colorful flowers in a matter of weeks. Springtime, green leaves, and gorgeous blossoms all remind us of the amazing beauty of life. The cold days of winter will always come and the verdant lushness of spring will always follow. Every year, as we throw open our arms to the warmth and joy of the season, we are touched by magic all over again. Thank you Flora, for strewing your blossoms every year.