The Myth of Edelweiss

"Edelweiss, edelweiss

Every morning you greet me

Small and white

Clean and bright

You look happy to meet me"

A fragment of the lyrics from the beautiful song "Edelweiss" from the timeless classic, "The Sound of Music". As a child, whenever I heard this song , my mind immediately pictured a beautiful woman smiling bright after seeing her beloved. It was only a few years back that I realised Edelweiss was a flower of the daisy family.

Now, when I visited the German and Austrian Alps, I got to know a lot more about the significance and the symbolism of this beautiful flower, Edelweiss. In German, "edel" means noble and "weiss" means white, therefore the name is the culmination of these two words. The flower grows in the harsh mountain climates, above an altitude of 2000 metres and found specifically in the Alpine region. The colour of this flower is pure white and it is a symbol of courage, purity and true love.

There is a myth about Edelweiss. High in the Alps lived a beautiful queen with a heart of pure ice. The queen’s melodious singing lured many forlorn shepherds to her cave, who tried to woo her. Since her frozen heart was unable to love, she always ordered her loyal goblin slaves to throw the men to their death. One day an ordinary shepherd found his way to her cave and the queen fell in love with him. The jealous goblins, fearing their mistress would marry this mortal and abandon them, killed him by throwing him into a valley. When she learned of the tragedy, her heart melted enough for her to shed one tear, which became an Edelweiss.

Edelweiss is the national flower of Austria and the plant has also been used as a symbol for Alpnism, for rugged beauty and purity associated with the Alps and as a national symbol especially of Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Bulgaria.

Edelweiss is a protected plant in the European countries, because it is only grown in inaccessible places and is scarcely found in the Alps.  Young men would climb the Alps often taking the most dangerous of routes to procure some edelweiss for their lady love. Those young women who are lucky enough to be gifted with an edelweiss would dry and press it and often frame it to be used as a pendant – to remember the man who had found this flower and presented it to her to show his affection and devotion.

Besides, the flower was in use before 1914, the higher rank badges in the Swiss army used to be of this flower while others were of stars. Since 2002, the Austrian two cent coin depicted an edelweiss. A record suggests that Edelweiss was Adolf Hitler's favourite flower. Even the symbol of the Swiss National Tourism Association is that of an Edelweiss.

Every souvenir shop I went to, had this flower- magnets, postcards, keyrings and even pendants. These nuggets of discovery had actually aroused my curiosity to know more, and it was such a lovely thing to hear!


Article by :- Jayita Chakraborty