Fern flower
The magical fern blossom is a motif from Baltic and Slavic mythology that plays an important role in the summer solstice celebrations. According to popular tradition, certain plants are said to have magical effects on midsummer night. It has long been assumed that the fern would only open its flower at midnight on the longest day of the year.
Lithuanian tradition
In Lithuania, St. John's Day (June 24th) is traditionally the day of the year on which opposites unite and people strive for inner purification. Midsummer Night (the night of June 23rd to 24th) is of magical importance - it is precisely at this point in time that plants and water have healing properties and magical powers. If they are collected that night, they can later be used as natural remedies, but also to increase soil fertility.
Exactly at midnight the magical fern blossom opens according to the old idea, which is supposed to make every lucky finder omniscient, shows the way to hidden treasures, grants access to the thoughts of other people and the language of animals, but also gives the ability to kill a person to predict. An old Lithuanian idiom connects cunning with finding the fern blossom: gudri kaip paparčio žiedą suradusi / turinti - “as clever as someone who has found a fern blossom”.
In order to track down the bloom, the Lithuanians go to the forests on Midsummer Eve. As soon as you have discovered a suitable fern, it is important to keep away evil spirits and witches , who also do everything in their power to spot fern blossoms - the finder draws a magical circle around him with mountain twigs, and then kneels in peace in front of the ferns and in prayer to sink in. According to popular belief, dark forces will try to distract the person praying with all sorts of noises, so that he may still miss the brief moment for which the magical fern blossom opens. The terrible things that the praying person may see or hear represent his sins, and only when he has reached a pure state of soul through inner purification can he even perceive the opening of the fern blossom. Their shiny red or their rainbow colors stand according to traditional interpretation for the union of fire and water.
Latvian and Estonian tradition
In Latvian and Estonian mythology, the fern blossoms only on the Jāņi - or Jaaniõhtu or Jaaniöö night, the Latvian or Estonian summer solstice celebrations. In the two northern Baltic states, it is primarily a symbol of fertility. When young couples go to the woods that night to “look for the fern blossom”, this is not least an expression of erotic togetherness. A pregnancy is euphemistically also called "fern blossom". It is not for nothing that a Latvian non-governmental organization that aims to educate young people about various aspects of their sexuality bears the name Papardes zieds - fern blossom.
Slavic tradition
According to tradition in Slavic mythology, the fern blossoms only open for a brief moment on the night before the summer solstice. Similar to the Baltic tradition, it is considered a lucky charm - in various fairy tales it has healing powers or opens up the language of animals to the finder.
Blooming ferns
Although ferns do not have flowers, researchers assume a real core of the mythical fern flower. In earlier times the classification of plants was far removed from today's scientific accuracy and confusion with certain flowering plants was conceivable due to their external similarity to ferns. In fact, the flowers of some of these plants open at night.
Certain ferns such as the king fern ( Osmunda regalis ) have sporangia in clusters that look very similar to flowers, so these plants are referred to as "flowering ferns".
Individual evidence
- ^ Günther Schäfer: Lithuania . Bielefeld: Peter Rump 2009, pp. 334–335. ISBN 978-3-8317-1782-8
- ↑ Virginija Masiulionytė and Diana Šileikaitė: Opportunities for expressing cunning in German and Lithuanian phraseology . In: Kalbotyra , No. 59 (3), 2008, p. 207. Online: Kalbotyra ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.2 MB)
- ↑ Papardes zieds
- ↑ "Swietojanskie wianki i kwiat paproci" ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
