I am a flower of the open field and a lily of the steep valleys. Song of Songs 2:1
This time of year, white lilies abound in florist shops, gardens, and churches. Many people call these white flowers Easter lilies (aka Lilium candidum), but they are also known as the “Madonna Flower”, “Madonna Lily,” and the “Lily of the Virgin”.
Flowers play a huge part in the symbolism of Easter, but none as much as the white lily. As usual, there is a story behind this fact. The legend goes like this: One day Mary (the mother of Jesus) was on her way to pray at the temple. While walking, she picked a pink lily and held it against her heart. But the time she arrived at the temple, the flower had turned a pure white.
Today, the white lily symbolizes purity and virginity and a connection to the Divine. It’s also a flower used during funerals because it represents the soul’s journey back to Heaven, or a place of peace.
Because the white lily is associated with Mary, the angel Gabriel is often depicted holding a white lily due to the part he played during the Annunciation–the moment Gabriel asked Mary if she would become the mother of Jesus. Also, her husband Joseph is often depicted in art and statues as holding the white lily, in honor of his wife.
There’s another story that explains why the Easter lily bows its head, especially those that have a pink coloration. This story begins on Holy Thursday when, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was praying the night before his crucifixion. This garden was filled with flowers of all types. The white lily was also in this garden, but it considered itself the most beautiful of all the flowers in the garden. As Jesus walked by the flowers, all of the flowers bowed their head in reverence–except for the proud white lily. When Jesus stopped in front of the white lily, the flower blushed—turning pink–and bowed its head in shame.
The trumpet shape of the lily’s bloom also represents the trumpet that sounded the message that Jesus had risen. Also, the growing formation of the lily symbolizes the resurrection. The lily bulbs grow underground for a minimum of three years before they bloom into beautiful flowers. This represents Jesus’s death and resurrection as well as rebirth and hope. Lilies also appear in the Bible. Some scholars believe that white lilies bloomed in the Garden of Eden, watered by Eve’s tears of remorse which fell to the ground. Others say that lilies grew in the same spots were Jesus’s blood and tears fell from the cross.
Another interesting note about these lilies is that they are not native to the U.S. or Europe. They originally came from Japan and found their way to Europe and then Bermuda. Then, after WWI ended, a soldier named Louis Houghton returned from France with a suitcase of lily bulbs. He went back to his home in Oregon where he and his friends began to cultivate the lily. It took years, but now Oregon and California are the biggest producers of white lilies in the U.S.
It still takes years to cultivate lilies, but they can easily be replanted into your garden. So if you receive an Easter lily this year, plant it in your garden (after your last frost date) and it will bloom for you every year in April. Even if you don’t celebrate Easter, the beauty of the lily offers everyone the enduring hope of peace and a connection to the Divine.
