Say It With Daffodils

In myth, daffodils can be associated with sad events. A lonely daffodil with a yellow centre, surrounded by white petals springs up in the place Narcissus, the youth besotted with his reflection dies, and Persephone picks daffodils before her unwilling descent to the underworld. In reality, daffodils are poisonous and can cause unpleasant symptoms if consumed.

It is perhaps quite strange then that the daffodil has become a symbol of that celebration of maternal and filial love, Mother’s Day. The typical explanation for the connection between daffodils and Mother’s Day is that servants and apprentices customarily released from their duties on Mothering Sunday would gather flowers for their mothers on the way home. There is no way of knowing if anyone picked daffodils, but there would have been, as there still are, wild daffodils aplenty on hillsides all over the country.

The longevity of the daffodil too makes it a suitable symbol. Daffodil bulbs can survive and produce flowers for years on end. What better symbol of a mother’s constancy is there than a flower that can show its beauty for many years without fail?