LAVENDER LORE Legend tells that Adam and Eve took lavender with them when they were banished from the Garden of Eden. You actually may not know the name in the Bible as lavender but as spikenard. In the gospel of Luke the writer reports: "Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment."
Lavender was regarded as a safeguard against evil. A cross of lavender was hung over the door for protection.
Romans used lavender oils for bathing, cooking, and scenting the air.
In Tudor times a maiden would sip lavender dew on Saint Luke's day while murmuring: "St. Luke, St. Luke, be kind to me. In my dreams, let my true love see."
Apline girls tucked lavender under their lover's pillows to turn their thoughts to marriage. Once married, they would use lavender to ensure their husbands' marital passion.
Here in the United States the Quakers were the first to commercialize lavender and produce their own herbs and medicine and sold them to the "outside world".
Lavender, rosemary and lad's love were dried and mixed together in bags to scent linen & act as a moth repellent. Sprigs were included in posies for visitors in England and colonial America.
Women used to throw linen and clothing over bushes to absorb the scent of lavender as they dried. The scent of lavender is known to destress and relax you...and on that note here is a great recipe!
Lavender Linen Spray
2 teaspoons of witch hazel (you can find this any many health food stores)
40 drops of Lavender essential oil
4 ounces of distilled water
Spray bottle
Mix the witch hazel with the essential oil and let sit for a few minutes. Add the water. Shake before each use and spray away!
I am going to make this, this weekend since it is laundry weekend for me! Enjoy the natural qualities of lavender!
And don't forget, plant fresh lavender in your garden for good luck and happiness!
Lavender is one of my favorite scents :)))))
ReplyDeleteI like shower foam to wash me.
I am even on the toilet to hang a fresh air LOL
But that lavender has existed as long as I did not know, very interesting to know.......
Thanks for the interesting tips, I still learn something from this blog HEHE
I like lavender too! this was a very pretty and relaxing post! lol
ReplyDeleteI love lavender. The farmer's market in Hawaii has a booth selling all things lavender I used to go to that booth they have great lavender body scrub!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE lavender and will definitly be making this. Thanks! :-)
ReplyDeleteI love lavender! I grow it in the garden, sip it in tea, inhale it for fun, bath in it for a treat, suds with it in the shower, and continually find new ways to incorporate it into my lavender-lovely life! Wonderful historical facts. Who knew it was lavendar that the young woman lavished on Jesus' feet? What a sweet blessing she gave and received.
ReplyDeleteI visited your blog for the first time today, and must tell you and I love it even more than your first blog, which is pretty fab in itself.
ReplyDeleteWhere do you get all the inspiration from? It is truly marvellous.
Please keep coming up with more of your ideas, I find them truly inspiring!
I love the smell of lavender :)
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago, there was a lovely cooking blog called "The Gilded Fork," now faded from the ether-net, but lovely to look at and very entertaining.
ReplyDeleteOne of the featured recipes was for a pound cake (vanilla, I believe) with a beautiful lavender syrup, made of the blossoms and sugar and several other ingredients, then strained to be the most beautiful pale rosy purple. It seemed as if it would taste of jewels or moonbeams or other delicately-precious things.
I was waiting for my small plants to bloom, and somehow never got around to it, and now the recipe is gone . . .
I adore lavendar! It is the best laundry smell ever! And I learned quite a bit from your post that I wasn't aware of! How did your spray turn out Michelle? It seems like it would smell wonderful! Vanna
ReplyDeleteWhoops can't spell! Lol! That's "lavender"
ReplyDeleteDid the spray turn out? I just wonder if it smells as nice as it sounds, since Witch Hazel also has a strong smell (at the least the brands I have used in the past). If it turned out, I would love to try it as well - sounds wonderful!
ReplyDelete-Kath