You know spring is on her way when the violets start to bloom. If you are lucky enough to have a patch of sweet violets, you may catch their perfume on the breeze. The fragrance of viola odorata has been used in perfumery for centuries. It has an odd quality of presence and non presence… the ionone it contains makes the fragrance seem to disappear and become undetectable by humans from one moment to the next. Perhaps it is for this reason that violets were sometimes included in ancient love potions.
In Christian mythology, the violet is said to have bloomed when Gabriel announced to Mary that she was to bear the Son of God. In some versions of the Greek myths, Persephone was picking violets with ‘the deep-bosomed daughters of Okeanos’ when she was kidnapped and taken to the Underworld. Yet other stories tell that it was the goddess of love herself who turned the flowers blue… albeit in a fit of jealous rage when her beauty was judged less than that of a group of maidens… who became the flowers when she beat them.
Another story says that they are the tears of a white heifer… a lover of Zeus who had been turned into a cow. When the heifer wept at the bitterness of the grass, her divine lover changed the tears to flowers.
For the Romans the little blooms signified innocence and purity and strewed the graves of children in them. Conversely, they also used them to cure both a hangover and a broken heart.
In medieval times violets were awarded to troubadours who sang of courtly love. In more modern times, Australia and New Zealand used them to remember the fallen of WWI.
Such a tiny flower to hold so many aspects of what man calls love in its fragile petals.
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Beautiful tidbits, Sue! As for me, I know spring is definitely springing when the crocuses start to bloom beside the hedge near my front door. Light purple with yellow centers — they always make my heart bloom! Thanks so much for sharing. 🙂
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I like crocuses too… and they are out around here 🙂
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Beautiful! I have wild violets self-sown all over my lawn – they bloom in May – what a delight they are! Your post is like a preview of coming attractions. 🙂
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I’d love violets in the lawn…
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I’ll have to post a photo come May (although a photo never seems to capture it as well as seeing it in person).
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Oh do! But I know what you mean…
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Love the photo … love violets … thanks for the lovely background story. 🙂
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They are such pretty things 🙂
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I love this background. Perhaps I should watch my back then as I smell violets that don’t exist 😀
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That could be awkward 😉
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Yes 😉
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Nice post, that was news to me that Australia and New Zealand have violets for the memory of fallen soldiers in World War one, I thought it was the poppy.
I do enjoy violets, have many in my garden.
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I think the violet was ousted by the poppy in later years. I love them too…they grow wild around here.
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Such great little facts! Violets are love little flowers!!!
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They are, aren’t they 🙂
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Beautiful 🌼🌷🌹🌸💐🌺🌻
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🙂
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Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie.
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It’s been spring in Florida since Christmas day when it was summer at 86F. It’s my favorite time of year except for the dusting of green pollen that covers the car every morning.
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Still damnably cold here…
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It felt more like winter here today – I was rained upon all day! I do truly hope spring is truly on its way. Lovely haiku Sue.
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It was a dull, dank day today, wasn’t it…
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Horrible, I got rained upon, had to wait for buses for a ridiculous length of time…. ate a lot of chocolate and read some Stephen King to cheer myself up! Nearly did the trick – the Cornetto sealed the deal. Happy now!
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Sounds like the day had its compensations 🙂
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Definitely!
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A lovely ode to the violet💕
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ThanksSeonaid.
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For me, it’s my pansies and crocuses – but any which blooms, spring is here!
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Yep 🙂 Though a little warmth would be nice too 🙂
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When I was a child we lived in the country and there were lots of violets everywhere. I loved them. Now, unless you go to a park, you rarely see them. With all the products people put on their lawns to make them perfectly green, they don’t have a chance in the suburbs. I had no idea there was so much lore attached to the little violet. And now they have been honored by your lovely Haiku.
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We still have drifts of them growing wild. These little ones self seeded in the tiny, soil-less gap between deck and wall… and are spreading 🙂
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