LOPÉZ VÁSQUEZ, CECILIA / VILLEGAS, LAURA / VILLEGAS JIMÉNEZ, BENJAMIN
This beautiful and versatile flower, of multiple varieties and colors, has fascinated diverse cultures throughout the ages. After first receiving its scientific name in ancient Greece in commemoration of Zeus, today it is the national flower of Spain, Monaco, and Slovenia, as well as the state flower of Ohio and the Balearic Islands. The Romans also identified her with Jupiter and Diana the huntress. Since then, many stories have started to emerge around this flower, making this plant the one that has perhaps inspired the greatest number of myths in the history of mankind. Christians associate it with the maternal love of the Virgin and the Passion of Christ; for the cultures of the Balkans and the Middle East, it is loaded with religious and political meanings... The carnation, symbol of multiple movements and of the noblest human feelings, has been represented in art since the Middle Ages and continues today in pictorial representations with its characteristic passion.
This book is exactly that: a compilation of carnation stories that includes beautiful images, unknown stories and surprising facts about this plant, which has also become the most important export flower in Colombia. In fact, the book concludes by explaining how our nation supplies almost all of the world's carnations.
