THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Marigold
Lisa Karen Miller
Dr. Gottfried Zinn was the 18th century German flower hybridizer who gave his name to the zinnia. While collecting marigolds in Mexico, he was set upon by bandits. All he had with him were dried flower heads, which he showed them. They hastily backed off.
They didn’t want to be punished by God for attacking the feeble minded.
“Mary’s Gold” is one of the many flowers dedicated to the Virgin. Early Christians offered them to her statues in place of coins. They often appeared in wedding bouquets and love potions.
Tagetes patula has been a help to gardeners for centuries by repelling rose, tulip, and potato nematodes. Many gardeners plant rows of these spicy beauties among their veggies to deter insects. The roots of the Inca marigold kill ground elder and discourage bindweed, couchgrass, and ground ivy.
Marigolds are often used in England for divination, but carefully excluded from the flowers with which maidens tell their fortunes in Germany, as they are considered unfavorable to love.
On St Luke’s Day, October 18th, young British girls anointed themselves with a mixture of marigold, marjoram, thyme, wormwood, honey, and vinegar. Before bed, they said this rhyme:
“St Luke, St Luke, be kind to me,
In dreams let me my true love see.”
The flowers of all species yield a yellow dye. In his 1551 “Herball,” William Turner expressed considerable disdain for deception by marigold: “Some use it to make their heyre yellow with the floure of this herbe, not beyne content with the natural color, which God hat given them.”
Unlike hair color, vanity never changes, does it?
In Wales, if the marigold didn’t open by seven in the morning, thunder could be expected that day. In Devon and Wiltshire, picking marigolds brought thunder.
The hallucinogenic leaf was given by the Aztecs to sacrificial victims to dull their senses before they were put to death. How…kind?
Representing the sun, brightness, and positive energy, they are used in Indian wedding ceremonies because of their association with that Hindu power couple, Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi.
Marigolds are also often used in profusion in Indian burial ceremonies. One reason corpses are adorned with them is their insect-repelling power, important in this hot and humid country.
Some Mexicans believe that these flowers sprang from the blood of soldiers who fought the Spanish conquistadors. Indeed, the reddish-brown splotches on the petals do sometimes resemble drops of blood.
Keep the poisons out of Mother Earth; let Mother Mary control your pests.
© Copyright 2023 Lisa Karen Miller
Folklore of Plants 
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