Chrysanthemums
Pompom, globe, spider, button, quill, and the daisy-like single - chrysanthemums come in many captivating shapes and sizes.
According to the Victorian Language of Flowers, chrysanthemums represent the sentiment ‘Cheerfulness Under Adversity.’ With more specificity, red mums signify ‘I love’, white - ‘truth’, and yellow - ‘slighted love.’
Today marks the one year anniversary of this newsletter! A heartfelt thank you to every reader for following along on this journey.
It also happens to be the Lunar New Year. Even though the year of the snake is most closely associated with orchids, it feels fitting to take a look at a bloom with a rich cultural history in China and beyond. Happy New Year!
Native to East Asia and northeastern Europe, they have been cultivated in China since at least 1500 BCE.
According to Chinese floral symbolism, chrysanthemums represent ‘Longevity’. One reason for this association is that juhua, the Chinese word for chrysanthemum, sounds similar to jiu which means long enduring. Another connection is that both chrysanthemum wine and tea have been consumed with health and longevity in mind.
If you arrange some pussy willow, which is linked with ‘growth and prosperity’, alongside chrysanthemums, the resulting message would be ‘enduring growth and prosperity’.
As I mentioned, the year of the snake is especially linked to orchids, which represent ‘Abundance’. Chrysanthemums are favored for year of the monkey, which will next appear in 2028. Blooms that are auspicious during the lunar new year include:
peach blossoms - romance and prosperity
plum blossoms - perseverance and courage
peonies - peace and honor
anthurium - prosperity
orchid - abundance
pussy willow - growth and prosperity
chrysanthemum - longevity
bamboo - good fortune
The type of fortune tied to an arrangement of bamboo depends on how many stalks you use. One stalk is said to bring good fortune, and two - love. Go all out with a gift of twenty one stalks, and the blessing will be for happiness, health, and fortune.
Chrysanthemums made their way from China to Japan in the fifth century, but the popularity truly blossomed during the Edo period (1603 - 1867). The Imperial Seal of Japan is a chrysanthemum, and much waka poetry has been written about the revered flower.
Ogawa Kazumasa (1860 - 1929) was a key figure in early Japanese photography. In 1884 he opened the first photo studio in Tokyo. He also established a dryplate manufacturing business and a printing factory. Another one of his ventures was Japan’s first collotype studio. Collotype is a gelatin based process that allows for a wider and more subtle variety of tones. These photographs are all hand colored collotypes from the collection ‘Some Japanese Flowers’ by Ogawa Kazumasa.
This image of a young lady adorned with two mums caught the eye of Canadian author L.M. Montgomery. Clipping it from the September, 1903 issue of Metropolitan Magazine, she hung it up in the bedroom where she was to write Anne of Green Gables. She kept it as inspiration for Anne Shirley’s visage. It’s unknown whether she knew (or cared) that this muse was Evelyn Nesbit. I’ve read that she wanted to capture the “youthful idealism and spirituality” found in the portrait.
Although Anne of Green Gables was published in 1908, it was written in 1905 - before Nesbit was embroiled in scandal. The model / actress was a beautiful and iconic “it” girl who went on to new levels of fame when her name was splashed across tabloid headlines. (The story involved two lecherous old millionaires and a murder.)
While Evelyn and the fictional Anne could not be more different in character and life experience, they do share a couple of compelling qualities. Nesbit biographer, Paula Uruburu describes how Evelyn straddled both the sentimentality and purity of the Victorian era and the exciting newness of the 20th century. In her own way, you can say the same about Anne. Also, they both loved flower crowns!
