Snipped from the history books
The violet has a fragrant breath.(Emily Jane Brontë)
In our current culture, you don’t see or hear much about violets. But I’ve always loved them. When I was a child on Vancouver Island, we lived near a creek. I loved to crawl under creekside boughs to sit and study yellow violets in their secret, damp mossy places. I knew there were purple, shades of pink and even white violets. My yellow ones had no scent but the others: my goodness! Like candy.
Some years ago, researching a historical, I wondered what my 1897 immigrant heroine might have worked at back in Italy. I stumbled on the history of violet culture. I’d been dimly aware of symbolism and candied violets and posies – I had some learning to do.
I abandoned the story but in recent years, violets have made a home in my garden.
A Potpourri of History
Violets grow all around the Mediterranean, so it’s no surprise they had early mentions by the Greeks. They’re native everywhere around the Northern Hemisphere as well as random places like the Andes.
I tried to find information on the yellow violets of my childhood, as certainly the indigenous peoples used them medicinally, but was only able to find references to native use on the praires and south of the border.
Violets were the emblem of Athens, and feature in myths and legends. The Athenians decorated their houses with violets and wore violet crowns at celebrations. Homer mentioned them often. Romans made wine from violets and spent more time cultivating violets than olives. They wore the wreaths at celebrations and used them to symbolize remembrance at funerals. No Greek or Roman apothecary was complete without violets.
Reconstruction of the garden of the House of the Vettii in Pompeii Photo: Sailko, Wikimedia Commons
Through medieval times violets hid in the herbalist’s apothecary. Featured in Christian art, they often were used in illuminated manuscripts.
Violet posies were all the rage for women in Victorian times. Used to ornament hats, dresses and hair, they were pressed into books and decorated china, linens and greeting cards. Flower sellers sold posies from baskets on street corners. There were perfumes, candies, cakes and pastries.
Some famous women became entranced with violets
Empress Josephine of France had her wedding gown embroidered with violets. She planted them at Malmaison and they were strewn on her grave. Napoleon took a bouquet of violets with him when exiled, and supposedly wore a locket with one in it.
Portrait of Josephine by François Gerard
The Empress Sisi of Austria, the tragic and conflicted celebrity known for her beauty, also loved violets. Obssessed with sports, diet and maintaining her slenderness, it’s suspected she was bulimic. She loved sugared violets and violet ice cream and had them regularly delivered to her. Assassinated by an anarchist in 1898, she left volumes of troubled poetry to be published 60 years following her death. Instead, the papers stayed hidden in the Swiss Archives until a historian discovered and published them in 1984, with the proceeds going to the UN Refugee Agency.
Empress Elisabeth of Austria in Courtly Gala Dress with Diamond Stars, by Franz Xaver Winterhalter
Queen Victoria mentioned violets 105 times in her journals, starting from girlhood. A violet variety was named after her, and they were grown commercially in England and exported all around the world.
Portrait with her spaniel Dash by George Hayter
Violets found a home in Udine, Italy. The Count of Brazza cross-bred violets to produce the white Conte de Brazza violet. His American wife, Cora Slocomb developed agriculture in these. (and my abandoned heroine might have done this) Violets were grown at the ends of grapevine rows and protected with mats or eggshells during harsh winters. The Friulian Agrarian Association provided glass covered frames to send posies to the markets of Istanbul, Alexandria, Russia and the United States. They might take up to 9 days to arrive in St. Petersburg, but then would last even longer.
Symbolism
Around the world, the violet symbolizes love and femininity. In Asian cultures, it represents endurance and resilience. In European cultures, the violet came to symbolize secret love and love between women. Often, they are associated with death and remembrance. Christian modesty, purity and humility are symbolized by the violet and the colour features in church vestments.
The Science & Medicinal
The scent is due to compounds like ionone, which temporarily desensitize the nose to their fragrance. In other words, if you smell violets, for a few seconds you can’t smell anything else.
Violets contain salicyclates, flavanoids and alkyloids and are high in Vitamins A and C. For centuries they’ve been used for pain. They’re also used to treat high blood pressure and are beneficial for the skin. Benefits include antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Science has discovered their power and violets are currently being used in cancer treatments.
Culinary
The stems are not edible but the flowers and leaves are and can be eaten in salads and sandwiches and the leaves stirred into soups. There are violet candies, ice cream, cakes, vinegars, and even beer.
You can make a tea from violets and leaves (for ease of identification, pick them only when flowers are blooming) by addding a tablespoon or two of leaves and flowers to a cup and adding boiled water.
Candied violets are made by washing the flowers, brushing with a bit of egg white and dipping in sugar. They’re uniquely pretty on cakes and cupcakes.
By the 1920’s after WW1 and the influenza epidemic, violets were fading from significance. A nematode worm decimated crops and labour was no longer cheap.
Today violets have been forgotten at the back of the garden. They exist in the realm of herbalists, foragers and science. In several spots such as Toulouse, France where the violet is still grown commercially and in Udine, Italy, violets, soaps and perfumes exist for the benefit of locals and tourists.
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.(Mark Twain)
