The first time I heard about Red Spider Lily was from a romance novel that I read during my middle school year. (It was one of those romance novels about reborn female characters with different talents who were able to fight off anything in the sight of them, it was insanely popular among the people I talked to). So due to curiosity, I googled the name and this came up:

I was stunned by its beautiful eye-catching red color. Its scientific name is Lycoris radiata (radiata means radial shaped), originated in China, Japan, Korea, and Nepal. It is a family of the Lycoris which are warm in nature, pungent in taste, bitter, and toxic. When used as medicine, they have the effects of inducing vomiting, eliminating phlegm, reducing swelling, relieving pain, and detoxifying. However, if swallowed by mistake, it may cause poisoning. In severe cases, it may cause paralysis of the central nervous system, which may be life-threatening. In a nutshell, it is toxic to humans and pets.

But what got me interested was the unique feature it has between its flower and its leaf. When the flower starts to bloom, the leaves disappear. When the flower is dying, the leaves return. So there is a Yin-Yang relationship between the plant’s flower and leaves. But what makes it most interesting? The Tale. In fact, there are tale(s). There are several tales based on the Red Spider Lily. The one that I heard about the most is the romantic one.

 

The Tale

Once Upon a time, the edge of the city was covered with large tracts of Manzhu Shahua, a type of flower. There are two fairies guarding these flowers. One is a flower fairy called Manzhu, and the other is a leaf fairy named Shahua.

They have been protecting the flower for thousands of years, but they have never seen each other, because when the flower blooms, the leaves are not visible, and when there are leaves, the flower is not visible. They missed each other crazily and were tortured by this pain.

Finally one day, they decided to violate God’s rules and meet secretly. The bright red flowers of Manzhusha that year were set off by the eye-catching green leaves, and they bloomed particularly coquettishly and beautifully. Of course, God finds out and decides to punish both fairies. Manzhu and Shahua were thrown into reincarnation and cursed to never be together and suffered hardships in the world for life after life.

Since then, Manzhu-Shahua has also been called Red Spider Lily, which means a flower that blooms in heaven. The shape of the flower is like a palm that only prays to heaven, but it has never appeared in the city again—this kind of flower blooms on the HuangQuan Road (a metaphoric road of death in Chinese meaning). Every time Manzhu and Shahua are reincarnated on the HuangQuan Road and smell the fragrance of each other, they can think of themselves in the previous life, and then vow not to separate again but fall into the cycle of curse in the next life.

 

 

 

 

The Culture:

To my knowledge, this kind of flower is never meant to be in a banquet, and sent it as a gift because of its sad meaning. However, it is seen as a guardian on the path for those who are dead to have their souls rest in peace. This path is called the HuangQuan Road or the Yellow Lake Road. The meaning of each colored lily is also different.

Red colored: According to legend, its strong red color comes from hell, which is a summons from hell and a precursor of death; it also represents a love that is destined to be unable to be together for life and have no end and result.

White-colored: It comes from heaven. Even so, its flower language still has sad connotations, which are endless longing and desperate love.

Yellow colored: It is also called “sudden laughter”. From the name, we can get a glimpse of the meaning of the flower language, which means joy, joy, and cheerfulness.