Spring flowers, Gods and Men

our indoor hyacinth

[..]and from his blood I have caused a flower to spring up,
sweetest, fairest of flowers, inscribed with letters of woe[...]

-from Hyakinthos article of Theoi Greek Mythology
(Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods, 16)

It seems that the weather is back to being dull and gray with occasional rain showers. Between that and a throbbing toothache (I’m having another wisdom tooth. And I’m already way beyond “young” to have them), I feel so cranky. It’s a good thing that some flowers grow indoors . They cheer me up when I feel like tearing my hair off their roots. Like our pink-colored hyacinth.

I’m really glad it is one of those bulbs /plants that doesn’t need much light to grow. Even with this dismal weather it doesn’t fail to give you flowers. And hyacinths come in different colors--- blue, red, white, pink. You can even have them in orange, violet and yellow. I love their sweet, subtle scent. Plus, the flowers look really adorable --- like star-shaped bells, albeit with 6 petals, not 5.

There’s an interesting legend about them. They’re supposed to have been borne from the spilt blood of Hyakinthos, a young man well-loved by Apollo. Apparently, another god, Zephyrus, was also in-love with the mortal boy. But since Hyakinthos preferred the sun god over the latter, the wind god Zephyrus got envious. So, when Apollo and Hyakinthos were playing the ancient Greek version of Frisbee, the jealous wind god blew on the discus, causing it to hit and kill Hyakinthos. And Apollo, in his grief turned the boy's spilt blood into a flower (source: wikipedia).

It’s funny though that two beautiful spring flowers were named after young handsome men--- Hyakinthos (hyacinth) and Narcissus (narcissus, more commonly known as daffodil). I wonder what it says about men and women.More about men for, that matter. Well, I wouldn’t delve into that right now. Maybe, next time :)...