@hedgerow_healing: 🌱 Snowdrop Folklore 🌱 Spring is stirring in the Northern Hemisphere, wakening the plants that have been sleeping under the winter earth. Snowdrops are one of the first signs that spring is on the way, appearing as early as January in some countries. Interestingly, although they appear in the wild across the UK, the Snowdrop is actually a non-native plant and was introduced to the Brotish Isles in the 16th century. However it has now fully established itself and not only appears as one of the first Spring flowers, but is also embedded in Folklore. Snowdrops are associated with renewal and rebirth, and many artists use the image of the Snowdrop as part of Imbolc imagery and even as part of an Imbolc altar. Snowdrops often grow in graveyards and because of this the Victorians associated them with death, hence the nickname 'deaths bells'. They believed that if you brought Snowdrops into the home then this would bring forth bad luck and hardship. In ancient Greek mythology Persephone, the spring Goddess and Queen of the underworld, carried snowdrops back to the realm of the living on her return from Hades. . . . . #Folklore #spring #imbolc #imbolcfolklore #flowerfolklore #europeanfolklore #greekmythology #springgoddess #snowdrops #wildflower #nativeplants #ukspecies #uknature #hedgerows #Britishfolklore #paganism #candlemass #candlemassbells #feburaryfolklore #woodlands #europeanwildflowers #hedgerowhealing #romania #romanianfolklore #springfestivals #witchtok #hedgewitch