Djurdjevak

Lily of the valley is (to me) one of the most beautiful wild flowers. It is a woodland plant which has sweetly scented, pendent, bell-shaped white flowers which appear in our forests at the end of April Beginning of May..

In Serbia this plant is called Djurdjevak (St George's plant). It is ritually picked on the morning of Djurdjevdan (St George's day) and used for decorating people and houses "So that people, crops and livestock are healthy, fertile and prosperous"...

In Serbia, St George is Christianised Jarilo, old Slavic young sun god. Jarilo goes to the world of the dead at the end of every autumn and comes back to our world at the beginning of every spring to bring life to the earth (makes it green)...

In Serbian folk calendar, like in Gaelic folk calendar, year is divided into two parts: dark part and light part. In Serbia the two parts of the solar year are delimited by two St George's days: Djurdjevdan (start of summer) and Djurdjic (start of winter). I talked about this in my post "Two Georges"... 

The summer St George's day, Djrudjevdan, May Day celebrates the beginning of the year dominated by sun, Jarilo, which is why Jarilo's flowers, Lily of the valley, is used for decorating people's houses...

Jarilo, the young sun god, is also the shepherd god. The two St George's days mark the beginning and end of the flock grazing season. May Day, Jarilo's day, Djurdjevdan is in Serbia also the main Shepherds day...I talked about this in my post "Aries must die"...

There is another Sun-Shepherd god just like Jarilo. Apollo. And interestingly, lily of the valley is in Greek Mythology linked with Apollo. According to Greek legend, Lily of the Valley was given by Apollo, the Sun God, to Aesculapius, the great healer...

So Apollo, who is said to have discovered lily of the valley, Greek Sun-Shepherd god give Djurdjevak (Jarilo's flower) the flower of Slavic Sun-Shepherd god to the God of heeling. This is because this plant is extremely potent medicinal herb...

Jarilo's plant has extremely beneficial influence on the heart (the seat of fire in human body) and blood vessels. The ointments made from this plant are used for treating burns...So the plant of Jarilo (brightly burning one) is used to treat fire caused problems in the body...

In an old Sussex legend, St. Leonard fought and killed the last dragon in England in the woods near Horsham. During the fight, St Leonard received grievous wounds, but wherever his blood fell, Lilies of the valley sprang. This area of the forest is still called The Lily Beds...

After the fight St Leonard "requested that snakes be banished"...This is very interesting because Jarilo, whose flower is Lily of the valley, is The Dragon, The Great Snake. He is the symbol of sun, sun's heat. After Christianisation he became St George, the Dragon killer...

St George's day, Jarilo's day marks the beginning of summer. This marks the point when sun's heat turns from beneficial, life bringing spring heat, to destructive, life destroying summer heat...Which is symbolised by the dragon...

I love that in Christianity, Lily of the valley symbolises "Christ's second coming", Christ's return to our world from "heaven". Every spring, Jarilo, whose flower Lily of the valley is, returns to our world from "Slavic heaven, Irij" to bring back life to nature...