With its vibrant red petals and unique shape, the red spider lily captures attention wherever it grows. If you’ve wondered what secrets this eye-catching flower might hold, you’re not alone.
In short, the red spider lily is associated with final goodbyes, lost memories, abandonment and the afterlife. But as we’ll explore, its symbolic ties run much deeper.
This article will uncover the origins, mythology, and spiritual symbolism of the captivating red spider lily. We’ll look at what this bloom has signified across different cultures and belief systems over time. Expect an in-depth examination of:
– The history and background of the red spider lily
– Its ties to partings, reincarnation and the underworld
– Meanings in Japanese, Chinese, and Buddhist traditions
– Its role and representation in art and literature
The Unique Features and Origins of the Red Spider Lily
The Physically Striking Appearance That Earned Its Name
With blossoms the color of glowing embers and delicate, spindly petals, it’s no wonder the red spider lily (Lycoris radiata) has captivated people’s imaginations in East Asia for centuries. Its unique physical characteristics evoke images of flames flickering in the wind, earning it common names like hurricane lily and fire lily.
The lily’s botanical name hints at the striking red color of its petals (radiata means radiant or shining). Up to 12 slender, curved petals fan out from small bulbs nestled in the ground, looking like spidery legs crawling along the earth – thus the “spider” designation.
Petals can grow up to 18-20 cm long, arching gracefully back from 2.5 cm wide trumpet-shaped flowers.
Unlike most flowering plants, the lily blooms without leaves present, as leaves and stems die back earlier in summer. This “bareness” means the crimson blossoms make an even more dramatic statement when they suddenly appear in late summer and autumn.
Their late arrival symbolizes the turning of the seasons in places the lily grows natively, like China, Korea, and Japan.
Native Roots and Migration Across Asia
The red spider lily holds rich symbolic meaning in Asian cultures because of its long history as a garden plant across Eastern countries. Historical records posit the lily growing in China as early as the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE).
It gained popularity in Japanese gardens by the Edo period (1603-1867 CE).
Though the red spider lily’s origins are uncertain, many believe it is native to China and was introduced to Japan and Korea through cultural exchanges. However, recent genetic research suggests there may have been at least two independent domestication events of different Lycoris species in China and Japan specifically.
| China | Native wild red spider lilies, domestication prior to Edo period |
| Japan | Cultivated mainly ornamental red spider lilies, potential independent domestication from wild yellow spider lilies |
Over centuries, the hurricane lily spread through Eastern Asian countries not only physically but also in cultural consciousness because of its symbolic ties to death and reincarnation. Today it grows globally as an ornamental plant, but its unique structure and colors ensure it will likely always call to mind its Asian heritage.
Significance and Symbolism in Japanese Culture
Association with Final Farewells and Lost Memories
In Japan, the red spider lily (Lycoris radiata) has become associated with final goodbyes, perhaps because of the way the petals seem to cascade downwards like tears. This symbolism stems from an old Japanese legend that tells of two elves who came down from heaven and disguised themselves as humans.
Over time, they forgot their heavenly home. As the elves were laughing together one day, the male elf tripped and fell to the ground where he died. His body became the red spider lily we know today. His companion, filled with sorrow, weeps tears of blood that fall to the Earth as dewdrops.
Her tear-stained face is why the red spider lily is such a bittersweet image of longing and reminiscence.
Links to the Afterlife and Underworld in Mythology
The red spider lily also became associated with rebirth and reincarnation in Buddhism, as its flowers bloom around the autumnal equinox when many Eastern cultures believed it was the easiest for souls to cross into the next life.
According to Chinese mythology, the red spider lily is associated with the divine feminine and guides souls on the path into reincarnation. The Buddhist equivalent to the Underworld also sports fields covered in these vibrant red flowers.
Given the mystic beliefs around this bloom, in some stories they are said to grow wherever people have shed tears or blood. Stories say they sprout along the paths of departing lovers or warriors off to their demise in battle.
In this way, their red hue also came to symbolize courage and the honor in falling with grace despite impossible odds.
The Tale of Two Star-Crossed Lovers
According to an ancient Chinese legend, there once were two star-crossed lovers named Jing Wei and Nüwa. They were both immortals living up in the heavens but one day decided to descend down to Earth assuming mortal forms.
Here on our realm, they lived, laughed, loved and wept together as all humans do.
When duty called the lovers back up to the heavens, Nüwa heard the summons yet Jing Wei was drunk and unaware of their imminent departure. Nüwa picked a stalk of red spider lily to wait for her lover yet he never returned.
The bloom is said to forever represent her long, unfulfilled yearning across time and space for Jing Wei.
Meaning and Representation in Chinese Culture
Symbolic Ties to Reincarnation and Rebirth
The red spider lily (Lycoris radiata) holds special meaning in Chinese culture, where it is seen as a symbol of reincarnation or rebirth. Its scientific name Lycoris comes from a Greek myth about the dead being brought back to life, echoing the flower’s ties to renewal in Eastern belief systems.
In Chinese Buddhism and Daoism, the red spider lily signals the impermanence of life. Its red petals are thought to represent flames, while its straight stems symbolize paths. Together, these features illustrate the soul’s journey as it leaves one body after death and becomes reborn into another.
The timing of the red spider lily’s bloom in late summer to mid-autumn aligns with traditional Ghost Festival celebrations. This is a ritual date for ancestors to visit their descendants back on Earth. The vibrant red flowers are thus used to guide spirits on their way.
The Story of Wang Zhaojun’s Exile and Homesickness
An enduring tale from the Han dynasty links the red spider lily to longing and homesickness. As the story goes, a court lady named Wang Zhaojun was sent far from the capital Chang’an against her will to marry a ruler of Mongolia.
In her grief over leaving her homeland, Zhaojun wept beside a lake every day in the foreign grasslands. After she died at a young age, red spider lilies sprouted around the lake to mark her weeping. The flowers grew only in that region and were seen as a testimony of her lasting sorrow.
As such, artwork and poetry featuring red spider lilies often symbolize Zhaojun’s exile and heartache. The image of her figure amidst the crimson-petaled plants aims to capture the pain of homesickness andseparation from one’s native culture or country.
Importance in Buddhism and the Tibetan Book of the Dead
Representation as the Flower of Forgetfulness
In Buddhism, the red spider lily holds great symbolic meaning as the flower that represents forgetting one’s past attachments and misdeeds. Its name in Sanskrit, higanbana, translates to “flower from the other shore of the river”, evoking the crossing from the world of the living to the world beyond.
According to Japanese Buddhist legend, the founder of Pure Land Buddhism, saw a vision of Amida Buddha surrounded by red spider lilies after having meditated for seven days. This led Hōnen to declare the red spider lily as the flower that guides the dead to Paradise in the afterlife due to its blossoming around the autumnal equinox, the time of renewal and cessation.
In Mahayana scriptures, it is said that when one arrives for judgement in the afterlife, they must cross a river filled with flames and forget their former lives before being allowed to proceed forward.
Thus, through its representation in pivotal visionary and textual moments, the red spider lily signifies both spiritual oblivion and reincarnation.
Guiding Souls on Their Journey After Death
The red spider lily also holds deep meaning in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, an ancient Buddhist funerary text. According to this treatise, the flower can be envisioned as blooming upon five colored rays of shimmering light, guiding the soul through the intermediate bardo state towards rebirth.
In Tibetan Buddhism, the soul remains in an intermediate state of limbo for 49 days between death and entering the next incarnation. The red spider lily serves as a celestial guide to lead souls through this confusing transitional realm, blooming open to reveal visions, deities, and signs that indicate one’s future rebirth.
By following these spiritual road signs, the soul can ascend to higher realms or escape from lower ones.
Thus, through its luminous and visionary nature, the flower provides comfort and direction to lost souls during a traumatic crossing. Offerings of red spider lilies may be made during Tibetan burial rites to wish the deceased a smooth journey onwards through the bardos toward future happiness and enlightenment.
The Red Spider Lily in Art, Poetry and Literature
Inspiring Japanese Haiku Poets Over the Centuries
The vibrant red spider lily holds a mystical meaning in Japanese culture, making frequent appearances in art and literature over the centuries. This eye-catching flower has long inspired haiku poets, as far back as the Edo period in the 17th century.
Prominent haiku masters like Matsuo Bashō and Yosa Buson composed many verses featuring the red spider lily as a symbol of death, revival, the afterlife, and the impermanence of life.
In an 1868 haiku, Buson wrote: “Crimson spider lilies – their faces are all I see in this field of grass” – conjuring a powerful visual of the tall, red flowers towering over the landscape. He captured the unique beauty of the red spider lily and its associations with death and the fall season.
Other renowned haiku poets likewise weaved references to the red spider lily into poetic expressions of life’s ephemeral nature over generations.
Appearing in Turner’s Famous Painting ‘Shade and Darkness’
Beyond Japanese art and poetry, the red spider lily has made cameos in Western culture as well. English landscape painter J.M.W. Turner featured the flower in his emotional 1843 painting Shade and Darkness – the Evening of the Deluge.
The painting depicts a dark, stormy scene with people anguished over a raging flood. Shocking red accents on the right come from three out-of-place red spider lilies bending in the fierce winds, heightening the sense of impending doom.
Art critics believe Turner intentionally included the red spider lilies as symbols of death and the afterlife based on their meaning in Japanese art. By mixing Eastern and Western symbolism, Turner may have foreshadowed the loss of life imminent in the storm.
References Ranging from Greek Mythology to Harry Potter
Finally, the red spider lily has crept its way into modern pop culture as well through literature, films, and more. Traces of the flower’s history can be seen symbolically referenced in tales from Greek mythology all the way to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series:
- In Greek myths, the spider lily sprung from the blood shed when Ajax killed himself over loss to Odysseus.
- In Latin America and Spain, striking red flowers called “Flor de muertos” (“Flower of the dead”) are thought to be spider lilies and closely linked to Day of the Dead rituals.
- Harry Potter’s mother has a name containing “Lily” and metaphorically protects Harry from death, one interpretation of the red spider lily’s meaning.
So from 17th-century Japanese haiku to modern young adult fiction, the vibrant red spider lily continues to weave symbolic meaning across literature and art through the ages.
Conclusion
With its rich red hue and delicate curved petals, the red spider lily continues capture our imagination. But as we’ve seen, this unique flower holds far deeper meaning than its physical beauty suggests.
Associated with farewells, lost memories and leading souls into the afterlife, the red spider lily has symbolic ties to death and rebirth across Buddhist, Chinese, and Japanese cultural traditions. It makes sense this captivating bloom has inspired poets, attracted mystics and piqued spiritual curiosity over centuries.
The next time you see a red spider lily, take a moment to reflect on its long, storied history interwoven with spirituality. You may just find deeper meaning among those crimson petals.
