The fern flower is a

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

flower in

Baltic mythology Baltic mythology is the body of mythology of the Baltic people stemming from Baltic paganism and continuing after Christianization and into Baltic folklore. Baltic mythology ultimately stems from Proto-Indo-European mythology. The Baltic region w ...

( lt, paparčio žiedas, lv, papardes zieds), in

Estonian mythology Estonian mythology is a complex of myths belonging to the Estonian folk heritage and literary mythology. Information about the pre-Christian and medieval Estonian mythology is scattered in historical chronicles, travellers' accounts and in eccles ...

( et, sõnajalaõis) and in

Slavic mythology Slavic mythology or Slavic religion is the religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and the 13th century. The South Slavs, who likely settled in the B ...

( be, папараць-кветка, pl, kwiat paproci, russian: цветок папоротника, uk, цвіт папороті).

Tradition

According to the myth, this flower blooms for a very short time on the eve of the

summer solstice The summer solstice, also called the estival solstice or midsummer, occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the summer ...

(celebrated on June 21 or sometimes July 7). It brings fortune to the person who finds it. In some tales, it allows animal speech understanding. It is closely guarded by

evil spirits A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, anime, ...

and its picker can have earthly riches, which have never benefited anyone, so some leave it alone.

Estonian and Baltic

In the Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian tradition, the fern flower is supposed to appear only on the night of 23 to 24 June during the celebration of the

which is called

Jāņi Jāņi () is an annual Latvian festival celebrating the summer solstice. Although astronomically the solstice falls on 21 or 22 June, the public holidays—Līgo Day and Jāņi Day—are on 23 and 24 June. The day before Jāņi is known as Līg ...

in Latvia,

Joninės Saint Jonas' Festival, also known as ''Rasos'' (''Dew Holiday''), ''Joninės'', ''Kupolė'', Midsummer Day or Saint John's Day) is a midsummer folk festival celebrated on 24 June all around Lithuania. While midsummer day is celebrated throughout ...

or Rasos in Lithuania,

Jaaniõhtu Jaanipäev (''St John's Day'' in English) and Jaaniõhtu, also ''Jaanilaupäev'' (''Saint John's Eve'' in English) are the most important days in the Estonian calendar, apart from Christmas. The short summer seasons with long days and brief ni ...

or Jaaniöö in Estonia and

juhannus Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer usually held at a date around the summer solstice. It has pagan pre-Christian roots in Europe. The undivided Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian mar ...

in Finland. The celebration has pre-Christian origins. In addition to the idea that the finder of the fern flower will become rich or happy, here, the fern flower is sometimes perceived a symbol of

fertility Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Fertili ...

. During this supposedly magical night, young couples go into the woods "seeking the fern flower", which is most commonly read as a euphemism for

sex Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones (ova, oft ...

. Sex can lead to pregnancy; the child could be thought of as the fern flower. Referring to this tradition
Papardes zieds
("fern flower" in Latvian) is the name of an

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

in Latvia that promotes education about matters pertaining to

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

, fertility, and relationships.

Swedish

Similar beliefs are attested in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, where the fern flower was said to be found only at midnight on

Midsummer's Eve Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer usually held at a date around the summer solstice. It has pagan pre-Christian roots in Europe. The undivided Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian mar ...

, and even then was protected by magic and thus hard to obtain. This also applied to

horsetail ''Equisetum'' (; horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of ferns, which reproduce by spores rather than seeds. ''Equisetum'' is a "living fossil", the only living genus of the entire subclass Eq ...

and

daphne Daphne (; ; el, Δάφνη, , ), a minor figure in Greek mythology, is a naiad, a variety of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. There are several versions of the myth in whi ...

flowers; of daphne, a flowering plant, it was said: "The flowers are a rarity if picked on nights when they are ''believed'' to bloom. The naturally occurring flowers no one believes to be daphne flowers.""Blommor äro en raritet om de tagas de nätter de ''tros'' blomma. De blommor som äro naturliga tror ingen vara tibastblommor." Ericsson, ''Folklivet i Åkers och Rekarne härader'', p. 251.

Slavic

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, the holiday is practiced on the eve of

Ivan Kupala Day Kupala Night ( be, Купалле, pl, Noc Kupały, russian: Иван-Купала, uk, Івана Купала, Купайла), also called Ivanа Kupala, is a traditional Slavic holiday that was originally celebrated on the shortest night of ...

. Young girls wear wreaths in their hair and couples go into the woods searching for the fern flower. When they come out of the woods, if the male is wearing the girl's wreath, it means the couple is engaged to be married. According to folklore, the flower is Chervona Ruta. The flower is yellow, but according to legend, it turns red on the eve of Ivan Kupala Day.

Blooming ferns

Fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...

s are not

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s, but the myth may be rooted in a reality when the grouping of plants was not exactly the same as the modern taxonomy. Numerous flowering plants resemble ferns, or have fern-like foliage, and some open flowers during nighttime."Saint John's Wreaths and Fern Flower"
Some true ferns, like ''

Osmunda regalis ''Osmunda regalis'', or royal fern, is a species of deciduous fern, native to Europe, Africa and Asia, growing in woodland bogs and on the banks of streams. The species is sometimes known as flowering fern due to the appearance of its fertile fr ...

'', have

sporangia A sporangium (; from Late Latin, ) is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular. Virtually all plants, fungi, and many other lineages form sporangia at some point in their life cy ...

in tight clusters (termed "fertile fronds") which may appear in flower-like clusters and so be commonly known as "flowering ferns".

Notes

References

{{Slavic mythology Mythological plants Slavic mythology Baltic mythology Flowers in religion