A Sweet Treat for the Equinox...
…Okay, so I know this is a little late for the actual equinox, but still, I tend to think of the sabbats that make up the wheel of the year as markers of the season instead of static dates.
Already the garden is blooming with the traditional early flowers of spring. Daffodils dance when a breeze catches their tall stems and snowdrops add splashes of brightness in the shaded places. Hyacinth in pinks, white and dusky blue grow along the border, their perfume strong in the warming air.
But it is the violets that are perhaps my favourite of the spring time plants.
They start in the corner of my garden beneath the boughs of the mature linden tree and spread across the lawn, their purple flowers like jewels in a sea of green. Violet honey is one of my favourite things to make, though only in small batches because I just can’t bring myself to pick too many of the beautiful blooms!
Violets are a symbol of fertility, as many springtime flowers are owing to their blooming in the spring when new life is just starting to emerge. The dog violet is so called as it is the common or wild variant of the species and doesn’t have the strong, sweet aroma of it’s cultivated cousin, the sweet violet. In Irish, the dog violet is called salchuach or cuckoos foot due to the spur that grows at the back of the flower.
As well as being symbols of fertility, they are also a flower of romance, hinted at in the rhyme ‘roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet and so are you’. In the Victorian Language of Flowers, a purple violet signifies the sender is preoccupied with love for the recipient.
Violets are a humble little flower, not particularly large or showy, instead their beauty is of the quiet, unassuming sort and as such they are associated with humility. In Roman mythology, one of the goddess Diana’s nymphs was transformed into a violet to protect her from the amorous advances of Apollo. Keeping with the tradition of being transformed into a flower for protection or as punishment, it is said that Venus transformed a mortal girl into a violet after beating her blue. The reason? Because her son Cupid angered the goddess by saying he found the girl to be more beautiful.
Violets are also associated with luck and are said to ward off evil spirits.
So there you have it, some of the folklore and myths of my favourite springtime flowers. But really, the best way to experience the beauty of these flowers is to go outside and enjoy the unfurling spring where you live. The next best is to enjoy a little violet honey on warm buttered toast.
Floral honeys are so easy to make, and violet honey is the first of the season. I only ever make very small batches each year. Though the violets grow in my garden, I can barely bear to pick them, so this makes this honey in particular a special once a year treat.
To make violet honey, you will need:
A clean glass jar with lid
Sweet violets
Honey (enough to cover)
Gently rinse the flowers in cold water and gently shake or blot excess water. Place the violets in a clean jar and add enough honey so that the violets are covered. Leave for at least a week before straining.
If you want to make larger batches, it might be an idea to dry the flowers before so that excess water content is removed. This extends the shelf life of your honey.
And that’s it! Enjoy on hot toast with your morning cuppa listening to the dawn chorus sing in the day!
EMMA KATHRYN
Emma Kathryn, practises traditional British witchcraft, Vodou and Obeah, a mixture representing her heritage. She lives in the sticks with her family where she reads tarot, practises witchcraft and drink copious amounts of coffee.
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