Lavender is popular the world over due to its beautiful purple appearance and lovely smell. It also offers many health benefits and uses. So, what is the lavender flower meaning and symbolism?
The lavender flower has various meanings in different cultures. It symbolizes serenity, devotion, love, healing, royalty, and power. The lavender flower’s various uses and benefits also represent its versatility and value.
In this article, I’ll provide an in-depth analysis of the lavender flower’s meaning and symbolism. I’ll also discuss its etymology and medicinal uses. Let’s dive right in!
What Does Lavender Symbolize?
Lavender symbolizes various attributes, such as serenity, devotion, healing, and royalty. It can also mean power and love.
I’ll discuss the meaning in more detail below:
Serenity
With its soothing and aromatic scent, lavender has been helping people relax for thousands of years. It allows the mind and body to achieve a sense of peace and relaxation. It’s, therefore, no surprise that its calming properties have come to symbolize serenity.
Devotion
Another common lavender flower meaning is devotion. This can be devotion to any loved one or friend, including an important cause or even a spiritual being.
When a lover gives you lavender flowers, it means they are offering their faithfulness, loyalty, and fidelity to you. The Hebrews also used it to express devotion to God and the Virgin Mary.
Love
Lavender flowers are often given to someone to express appreciation, adoration, and love. Giving someone a bunch of these attractive blooms means that you harbor strong feelings for them.
In the middle ages, lavender was regarded as an herb of love used to incite passion.
Healing
In addition to its calming properties, people have been using lavender for healing and medicinal purposes for thousands of years, giving it a healing symbolism.
The first recorded use of lavender was in 77 A.D. by the Greek military physician Dioscorides. He recognized that this versatile flower could be given to patients to help soothe digestive complaints, sore throats, and headaches. It was also used to clean wounds and treat burns.
Royalty
Purple is the color of luxury and elegance, and in ancient times, lavender was only grown by royalty and wealthy people.
In the Bible, only kings, high priests, and noblemen wore purple garments, resulting in lavender coming to symbolize wealth, status, and luxury.
Queen Victoria is famously known for her fondness of lavender. She even appointed a purveyor to ensure she had an adequate supply. Royal linens, chambers, floors, and furniture were also perfumed with lavender to please the queen.
Power
The lavender flower’s purple hue also means power or strength. Purple has the highest energy and wavelength of visible light out of all the rainbow colors.
In Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame, one of the fictional infinity stones was colored purple, representing the “power stone” with the capacity to destroy planets.
Etymological Meaning
Lavender (or lavandula, which is its scientific name) comes from 2 Latin words. The first is “lavare,” meaning “to wash,” since it was used in ancient times as a bath additive for its fragrance and as an antiseptic in cleaning wounds.
The second meaning comes from “livendulo,” which translates to “livid or bluish” due to its color and appearance.
This famous flower was first discovered about 2,500 years ago when it was used by the Egyptians during the mummification process, primarily because of its neutralizing scent. Its advantages have evolved over time.
Lavender’s Diverse Uses
Today, lavender not only makes a beautiful addition to any bouquet – it also has diverse uses:
- Lavender as a fragrance. Lavender is one of the most-used scents for perfumes and cosmetics and even a popular flavor for tea. Spas and clinics use this scent as a room spray to induce calmness among their customers and create a relaxing environment.
- Lavender is used medicinally. Lavender is still medicinally used today to treat headaches, digestive complaints, sore throat, and insomnia. Its therapeutic aroma helps relieve fatigue, stress, and anxiety. Lavender delivers stress relief and sound sleep through aromatherapy, and its oil can be used as an inhaler, sprayed on linen, or diffused by an atomizer.
- It’s great for your skin. Lavender boosts collagen production and tissue regeneration which are essential to wound healing.
- Lavender has ornamental value. Dried lavender flowers have also become a favorite in arts and aesthetic gift wrapping, ornamental centerpieces, and home decor. Of course, it makes an excellent addition to any bouquet or vase.
- It is an excellent recipe ingredient. In the kitchen, some varieties of lavender may be used as an herb (similar to rosemary), as a marinade, or as an additional infusion to juices, teas, and cocktails.
Final Thoughts
The lavender flower has various meanings and symbolisms, with the most common ones being:
- Serenity
- Devotion
- Love
- Healing
- Royalty
- Power
Aside from the beautiful ornamental value, lavender has various uses in herbal medicine, food, and skincare.