My fools for senses,

Our last Review had us smell one of this year’s most incredible compositions. Borne out of John Biebel’s fragrantly creative mind, Serin reshapes the contours of olfactive families being at once so many it defines its own, either gourmand or woody, either chypre or ambery. Spectacular marriage of green and gold, Serin gives us a whiff of the union betwixt incense and marigold. And we wish to speak of the latter.

The Indian marigold is rather common to our sight yet not to our nose, growing in our mums’ gardens, it however shuns from our perfumes. Its unmistakable fragrance is recognisable amongst many, herbaceous, camphoraceous, both fruity and ketonic with the slight hint of overripe apples, it is also barely standable. Carnal, to rotting flesh akin, the fragrance of marigold is almost more animalic than that of oud yet it adorns the altars of more than a temple around the world, be they Aztec or Hindu, heathen or orthodox. Sharing its name with three different flowers altogether, each bearing another name in another country, marigold to this day still remains a mystery one can only wish to elude.

Together, my fools, let us voyage along the trail of Marigold, the Bloom of Immortality.

As usual, we shall linger a bit on etymology as it will be more helpful to our cause than any of our circumlocutions for indeed, the marigold bears many names and the one we shall study is not a dianthus but sometimes a calendula, some other times a tagetes and these two names, along with that of marigold, are dense enough of a matter to discuss.

The word « tagetes » comes from Tages, an Etruscan prophet and seer whom founded their pantheon as he sprung out of a field as it was being ploughed and gave his people the secrets of divination. That is most interesting in our case as it makes the marigold or tagetes a flower of choice in all divination rituals and it is not mere chance that translated « marigold » into « œillet » in French, from the Latin « oculo » which means… to see for after the Etruscan, the Romans will themselves use marigold to catch a glimpse of things to befall.

What is even more fascinating is that we discovered that the Mayan and later the Aztecs used the marigold to the same avail although the tagetes they use, « tagetes lucida » -note the « lucida » from Latin « lux », the light- was named « yahutli » in Nahuatl tongue, which means « the dark ». This odd dichotomy is not devoid of sense as one might imagine but rather tells us, along with archaeology and the study of Huichol traditions, how the Aztecs smoked marigold as a psychotrope enter a trancelike state of lucidity or dreaming. Moreover, they would make the most of its narcotic properties to dull the senses of sacrificial victims before they slaughtered them in honour of the Fire God, Huehueteotl.

A study carried out in 2002 proved the tradition right noting that its consumption induced such effects clarity, alertness, body tingles and a feeling of time-distortion

We can already see the first paradox contained in the marigold in that it is both « dark » and « lucid », the « herb of clouds » used to dream the invisible world and that offered to Fire and Sun Gods be they Aztecs or Graecian. For indeed, the Elders would generously present it to Apollo as marigold was believed to be the reincarnation of the nymph Caltha, whom loved Apollo and it is precisely such solar aspect that one must dwell upon in order to understand how marigold came to be a universal symbol of immortality.

For the marigold is a heliotrope. It opens at first dawn and closes as sun goes down, always following the course of the Sun. Such particularity was remarked early on and sung even by Shakespeare and added to the vibrant hues of red and gold of its petals, it turned tagetes/marigold into the perfect offering to Sun gods.

Of Caltha it also holds its other name, « calendula » or « little clock »  in Latin or perhaps is it in reference to the calends, the first day of each month, when marigolds would bloom even through the harsh winds of winter.

So where does our « Indian » marigold come from really ? Is it Greek, Etruscan or Aztec ? Many thought that the « Indian » was referring to the West Indies, that is Americas, as it was brought to Europe by Colombus and his followers but if so, one might ask how the Graecians and the Romans came to know of its oneirogenic faculties ? Perhaps one ought to look to the other side of the seas, to the East Indies – India, that is.

In this time of Diwali, we are struck by the abundance of marigold garlands in and around Hindu temples along with jasmine and tuberose. If most theories say that marigold came to India with the Portuguese –we shall speak of this later- we believe otherwise.

To understand this, one must dive into the myths and traditions of the Gonds, an indigenous people of Central India, worshipping their own pantheon where Hinduism meets animist beliefs and speaking their own dravidian language. In their beginnings, Gonds would hold Gondmuli as their tutelar deity. Legend has it that after Gondmuli had abducted his rival’s wife, he fought him and was gruesomely beheaded by him. Gondmuli’s wife shed tears as she dragged her husband’s body back and her hairpin fell onto the ground. There grew the first marigold flower and from Gondmuli’s tears got its pungent smell and it was thus named « Gonda » in honour of the dead god.

The Baiga, another indigenous people, have their own legend on the origins of marigold. It tells of how the Mother Earth had gone furious and started feasting on the villagers. Afraid, they went to a wiseman whose name was Juna and they sent him to parley with her and she told Juna that she would only stay her madness if he brought her a flower garland. However there grew no flowers on Earth at this early time so Juna descended into the Underworld and there was greeted by the great Naga, an immense cobra and he wore a marigold crown but as he saw Juna he bit him and the wiseman died. But it was not the end. Juna’s wife came to him and brought him back to life and as they told their story to the Snake, he bid them farewell not without surrendering his marigold crown and some marigold seeds to plant on Earth. Thus, Mother Earth was appeased and flowers grew in the land.

These two legends are the proof that marigold was known to exist in India long centuries before the coming of Portuguese conquerors yet it is believed that they were the one to bring it there as it had become customary in Portugal and Spain to braid marigold garlands in honour of the Virgin Mary which would explain its name « marigold » from « Mary’s Gold ». However still, the word « marigold » most likely comes from the Anglo-Saxon « mear-galla » meaning « gentian of the marshes ».

And this here is a rather miraculous happenstance, if it is, for the use of marigold in Hindu rituals of puja and Diwali is only relevant in that sense that it is the « flower from the marshes » symbolising our soul ascending above and despite the muds of our passions to reach enlightenment.

The marigold to the Baigas, the Gonds, the Graecians, the Mayan or the Hindus is no longer a mere heliotrope, nor an oneirogen but a psychopomp acting as the light guiding the dead from the world under to that of the living and leading the soul from darkness unto light.

Our journey thus ends where it begun, in Mexico, where marigolds are still widely used on the occasion of Dia de los Muertos. This rather unorthodox tradition is actually a remnant of the Aztec harvest festival during which they would weave and offer heaps of marigols in honour of the dead, hoping to bring their souls back to Earth. This custom was rooted in their belief that Mictecachihuatl, the Goddess of the Dead who kept guard over bones and souls, loved flowers so much that she would be consoled by their offerings and let her guard down for a day. The sun-coloured flowers would then act as torches lighting the path from the Underworld to the World-Above, leading the souls of the departed back to Earth.

And that is perhaps where we must see the true meaning of the « Mary’s gold » not so much as an offering of golden flowers but rather as Mary’s real treasure that is to have won over death and assumed, through her Assumption, the gift of Eternal Life.

Marigolds enable us to see the realities beyond, they teach us that clairvoyance is the reward of our renouncing earthly riches and mundane living ; that it can only bloom if we agree to descend into our underworlds, down into the marshes of our self wherefrom, like Tages, we shall birth anew from the ploughed soil of our hearts and taste the bliss of eternal life. Through its heliotrope nature and the bitterness of its fragrance, marigold teaches us that there is no revelation without renouncement nor illumination without bitterness nor eternal life without death – to ourself.

“By its colour, by its light,The marigold, that goes to bed wi' the sun
And with him rises weeping: these are flowers
Of middle summer, and I think they are given
To men of middle age. “

- Shakespeare