Sunday, January 15, 2012

Week 33 by Becky

Passion

The passion flower is such a strange and beautiful flower. Looks like it is from another planet. This flower is really pretty in color, but I thought it looked neat in black and white. There is a religious story and/or symbolism behind this flower. Found the following on a website:

"Five petals & five sepals are ten apostles, leaving out Judas the betrayer & Peter because he denied knowing Jesus. The purple carolla Bosio reported had seventy-two filaments, the number of thorns in Jesus's crown. The three pistil stigmas are nails. The five stamens are the number of wounds, so that to this day, Catholics in South & Central America call it "The Flower of the Five Wounds." The leaf represents the spear that placed the wound in Jesus's side (that one is a stretch since the leaves are five-lobed, but unlike some other species, this one's individual lobes are at least lance-shaped). The dark spots under the leaves are the 33 pieces of silver paid to Judas. When the flowers are spent after a single day (the time Jesus spent on the cross), the petals do not drop from the vine but re-close over the ovary, & this symbolizes the Hidden Wisdom that constitutes the Mysteries of the Cross, & is like Jesus enclosed in the tomb. "

2 comments:

  1. Great idea! A B&W image of a Passion Flower! You brought out a great deal of detail that I never noticed before! Spots and lines...Very striking! Great story behind it. It's amazing how much thought is behind the symbolism!

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  2. I think the Passion Flower is one of the most beautiful flowers. I had an Aunt tell me all the symbolism behind it when I was a little girl. Always found it very interesting. It looks really cool in B&W. Nice choice. Like Robin said, it brings out a lot of detail you usually don't notice.

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