THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Chrysanthemum

Lisa Karen Miller

“Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”             

 Matthew 25:40

On a snowy Christmas Eve in Germany’s Black Forest, a wailing was heard outside the door of a humble cottage. The peasant family, who had just sat down to their meager repast, thought it was the wind.  Then another, more anguished cry arose.

 Opening the door, they found a beggar, shivering with cold and dressed in rags. They brought the man inside, wrapped him in blankets, sat him by the fire, and shared their food.

Instantly after receiving this kindness, he stood up, shed his blankets, and was revealed to be wearing shining white raiment with a halo over his head.  He proclaimed himself the Christ Child, blessed them for remembering to minister to the poor and friendless, and then departed.

The next morning, outside the door where he had stood, were two white chrysanthemums.  Today, many Germans make these part of their Christmas décor – in so doing, they are figuratively sheltering Christ.

Though they originated in China, they are today more closely associated with Japan.  Their imperial emblem for ten centuries featured a golden chrysanthemum with sixteen petals. During the War of the Dynasties, each Southern warrior wore a yellow bloom as a golden badge of courage.

There is, however, one place in Japan where it is not grown.  Long ago, in the city of Himeji, a rich and miserly nobleman lived in a castle.  He trusted no one save one servant woman to dust and count his treasures. Her name was O-kiku, which means chrysanthemum.

One day she found one of his ten precious plates missing.  She searched and searched, but couldn’t find it.  Fearing she would be blamed, she drowned herself in the well.

Every night, her ghost counted the plates. She screeched every time she found one missing, driving the nobleman out of the castle – and his mind.  It was left to fall to ruins.  Delighted at his departure, the villagers thereafter refused to grow the chrysanthemum in memory of O-kiku.

The Japanese have a unique way to say “everything in its own time:”

“In the second month the Peach-tree blooms,

But not till the ninth the Chrysanthemums:

So each must wait till his own time comes.”

Chrysanthemums – to help us remember the homeless and friendless this holiday season.

© Copyright 2023 Lisa Karen Miller