Every festival, every occasion, every special moment in both local and global arena is associated with some plant or another. Christmas is beckoned with Norfolk pines and poinsettias. Valentine’s day make roses special. The armistice day is almost synonymous with the red poppy flowers. The Vishu festival honours the Indian laburnum ( cassia fistula - sarakonrai ). Flowers of milkweed (erukkam chedi), seeds of rosary pea (kundumani), palm fronds are all ubiquitous religious symbols. And then there are the star trees ( nakshatra vrikshas ), sacred trees ( sthala vrikshas ) and wishing trees ( kalpa vrikshas ).
So it is with the season of lent, which begins with Ash Wednesday and culminates in Good Friday and Easter. Throughout the world, this time of the year, brings to memory certain plants that are special to every plant-lover especially for those who venerate the season of lent. Plants like olives, figs, date palms, passion flowers and Easter lilies are much talked about during this time because of their ability to symbolise a variety of life-lessons like faith, hope, love, trust, forgiveness, humility, patience, endurance, etc.
Palm, fig and olive trees are three significant trees of the season. These trees render significant insights and offer indubitable lessons for everyone who is seeking a meaningful way to celebrate this season.
Palm tree
The Biblical land is replete with palm trees. These are actually the date palms with commercial and medicinal significance. Palm trees in the Bible signify abundance, prosperity, rest, wealth, justice and righteousness. The palm tree is an evergreen, upright, drought-resistant species with a stiff, graceful foliage. These trees serve as an oasis, a place of refreshment and rest for a weary traveller in the wilderness of the desert. Therefore palm trees symbolise refreshing divine help at times of distress, dryness and despondency. The palm trees were significant during Biblical times that King Solomon carved the walls of the temple with the figures of palm trees. The tree yields abundant date fruits which are rich in dietary fibre, anti-oxidants, Vitamin A, iron, potassium, calcium and magnesium. The leaves are used for making roofs, fences, mats, baskets and bags. A righteous person if often compared to a palm tree, indicating the fact that amidst trials and difficulties a righteous person will always demonstrate endurance and productivity. The palm fronds are still used during palm Sunday to decorate the churches. Since, it is a drought-tolerant species, it can easily be grown in gardens and parks that have sufficient space. In Chennai, these robust palms are fewer in number than their much slender counterpart Phoenix sylvestris , the wild date palm.
Fig tree
The figs are an important source of edible fruit in the Biblical land. Poultice of figs was applied to cure many ailments. Fig is an indicator of a nations’ wealth and prosperity. A popular idiom among Jews to denote peace and prosperity is ‘To sit under one’s own vine and one’s own fig tree’. It is also an indicator of seasons. Figs are rich in vitamins, calcium, zinc, flavonoids and fig wine is believed to a good remedy for arthritis and rheumatism. The figs are pollinated by wasps and are an important fruit of commerce in Mediterranean region. There are different species of figs and they are not fastidious about their area of growth. There are quite a few species of figs that grow in Chennai, but the Biblical fig is only found in markets and not in cultivation in the city.
Olive tree
Israel is a land of olives. Olive is a symbol of peace, love, fertility, royalty, purity, victory and abundance. Legend has it that just before the betrayal and crucifixion, Jesus went into a garden called Gethsemane, which was at the foot of Mount Olives. This garden had a good number of olive trees and even today few hoary trees can be seen inside this garden with an gnarled trunk of unusual girth. The olive trees send a strong message during this season of lent that whatever the problem is, be it pain, distress, disappointments, false accusations, betrayal by a friend for selfish motives and evil in return for good, like the olive we can withstand the perils of evil and demonstrate high productivity. It is an evergreen, hardy, drought-resistant, fire-resistant and disease-resistant species. The fruits are a delicacy either raw, pickled or fermented. The olive oil has multifarious uses and is one of the healthiest edible oils that contains large amounts of anti-oxidants, plant-sterols and vitamins. Though olive trees slowly get acclimatised to Chennai’s climate, it hardly flowers and fruits as observed in few home gardens in the city.
Passion flower and Easter lilies
Passion flowers and Easter lilies are the most significant flowers of this season and are found blooming profusely around February, March and April. Few species of Passion flowers, known in the Botanical parlance as genus Passiflora is quite common in Chennai. Though it is mostly in shades of purple, few horticultural varieties are red and pink in colour. The wild species grows as a gregarious weed in wastelands and its fruits are much relished by birds. The purple flowers are very popular with the Christians especially during the season of lent because the intricate details in the purple flowers signal the vital events that took place during the crucifixion of Jesus – colour symbolises the purple robe that Jesus was given as a symbol of mockery, ten sepals and petals refer to the ten loyal disciples of Christ excluding Peter who denied and Judas who betrayed, the slender filaments in the corona look like the crown of thorns, five stamens point to the five wounds of Christ, the apical trifid style resembles the three nails that pierced the hands and legs, red spots signify the blood drops, the fibrous tendrils look like the whip that was used to scourge and the lobed leaves resemble the soldier’s spear that pierced. In Chennai, these flowers bloom sparsely almost throughout the year, flowering in few home gardens and in the botanical garden on Cathedral Road (Semmozhi Poonga). Passiflora is a climber and therefore it requires support in the form of a trellis to scramble upon. They are easy to grow, require very little care and is a great plant to have in the garden because of the flower’s pleasant fragrance and attractive hue.
Easter lilies are the most popular flowers used for floral decorations in Churches during Easter. These burst forth into bloom in the months of March and April which are otherwise just a mass of green foliage most of the year. Their flowering season and decorative uses during festivity has rendered its common name – Easter lilies. These large flowers, mostly in shades of white and pink symbolize purity, innocence, forgiveness, sincerity and true love – the spiritual essence of Easter.
The writer is a botanist and assistant professor, department of plant biology, Women's Christian College
