The Easter Lily
The Easter Lily, also known by its Latin name Lilium longiflorum, has become the traditional Easter flower. With all the different flowers available in the spring garden, it is this beautiful white flower that has come to symbolize the spiritual values of Easter: purity, life and renewal. The flower’s trumpet shape is a reminder of the heralding of Jesus, returning triumphant to Jerusalem.
The Easter Connection
According to Biblical scholars, the Easter Lily was found growing in the Garden of Gethsemane where Judas is said to have betrayed Jesus. Legend tells that white lilies miraculously sprung up from the ground where drops of Jesus’ sweat and tears fell during his last hours. The Easter Lily also has close associations with Jesus’ mother, the Virgin Mary. In early religious paintings, the Archangel Gabriel is pictured extending a branch of white lilies to Mary, symbolizing that she had become the virgin mother to the savior. Today, many churches use large bouquets of lilies to adorn their altars and crosses during the Easter season. – from holiday.net
Lilies were always a big part of Easter celebrations when I was a child – our church used those big white ones all over the sanctuary, and sometimes my mother would have one in the house – and the church we attended previously used them near the pulpit. You could donate an Easter lily in honor or in remembrance of loved ones, and there they’d be on Easter morning, lined up on the dais and on the rail in front of the choir loft, trumpeting fragrance in dizzying waves. They smelled wonderful, but every Easter Sunday, I’d be sniffly and unable to breathe by halfway through the service, with three dozen lilies all clustered less than ten feet from my face.
The church we attend now is different. For one thing, we meet in the middle school auditorium because we don’t have a building. For another, dress is very casual; it’s common for people to show up in jeans. I’m singing with the praise band, and I’ll probably wind up wearing jeans along with all of them. In some ways I miss having a new Easter dress and an orchid corsage, the way I always had as a kid. I miss not singing “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today.” And I do miss those lilies, symbols of purity and joy and new life, pollen machines or not.
I’ll be wearing the smell of lilies, in any case, and thinking about purity and joy and new life. Lily perfumes never make me sneeze, and I never associate lilies with funerals. No, for me lilies are Easter.
There are some lovely fragrances featuring lilies – here’s a short list of soliflores and lily-centered scents:
Serge Lutens Un Lys – Lovely soliflore. Notes: lily, vanilla, musk. It’s pretty but doesn’t make any emotional impact on me. Robin of Now Smell This likes it much better than I do: her review is here. Victoria of Bois de Jasmin reviews it here.
Frederic Malle Lys Mediterranee – This is beautiful; it’s mostly lilies, but with a waft of salty breeze, and a hint of floral aqueousness from water lily. I have a sample that I enjoy very much. Notes: sea water, ginger, lily, angelica, orange blossom, lotus, vanilla, musk. Bois de Jasmin review here. Review of several lily scents, including Lys Mediterranee, by Marina of Perfume-Smellin’ Things here.
Donna Karan Gold – This is what I’ll wear. It’s discontinued (what a shame!), and I got my 1oz bottle of edp on ebay for $8. Notes: lily, acacia, cloves, jasmine, amber, patchouli. Very spicy, yet satiny-cool. Robin at NST reviews it here, and Victoria of BdJ here. Also, For the Love of Perfume here.
Cynthia Rowley (for Avon) Flower – Notes: freesia, citrus, violet leaf, lily, water lily, jasmine, cashmere wood, vanilla, sandalwood. I have a small bottle of this. It is pretty, and higher-pitched than many of the other scents on the list. Like many of the Avon scents (I grew up on them), it does smell a bit cheap. Having said that, I think this would be a terrific scent for a young girl. No blog reviews available.
Annick Goutal Des Lys – I have not smelled this limited edition scent, but I am sure it’s just as uncomplicatedly pretty as the other scents in the Goutal soliflore line. Notes: lily, ivy, cassis. Angela at Now Smell This reviewed this scent, here.
Van Cleef & Arpels Collection Extraordinaire Lys Carmin – Notes: cinnamon, pink pepper, lily. Review from Patty of Perfume Posse here and from March at PP, here.
Cacharel Anais Anais – I haven’t smelled this in years, but my mother used to wear it. It’s a rich composition, but clean-smelling and focused on lily. Notes: galbanum, citruses, honeysuckle, lavender, orange blossom, hyacinth, black currant, lily, jasmine, carnation, tuberose, ylang-ylang, lily of the valley, rose, leather, sandalwood, amber, patchouli, musk, oakmoss, vetiver, incense, cedar. Reviews here: Donna at PST, Brian at I Smell Therefore I Am.
Tocca Stella – Another composition I haven’t smelled. Described as being mostly citrus-lily in reviews on fragrance forums. Notes: orange, freesia, lily, orchid, sandalwood, musk. Reviews: Victoria’s Own, Blogdorf Goodman.
I wish you a wonderful, meaningful Easter: He is risen. He is risen indeed.
Muse in Wooden Shoes 
I have come a long way in terms of the religious beliefs I was raised on as a child ( hard-core Pentecostal!) but Easter still holds so much meaning for me. And I remember getting that new dress, gloves, and even a little wee hat.
I have yet to find a lily fragrance to love, though of all the ones I have tried, Demeter’s Funeral Home comes closest! The scent of Easter lilies reminds me a little of suntan lotion, of all things.
A very joyous Easter to you and your family!
Suntan lotion! That’s funny.
I think I got hats until I was maybe… 8?… but never wore gloves. I finally quit the “new dress for Easter” thing about the time of the third baby. Sigh.
Grew up in a moderate (as opposed to conservative) Baptist church and married a Presbyterian (“God’s Frozen People”); went to his church for 15 years and have been attending a nondenominational church that actually lines up fairly closely with the church of my childhood. I love it there. I don’t think The CEO would switch back, either.
I haven’t tried any Demeters – that would be one that appeals, and I’d also like to try Flower Shop, Gingerale, and… wait, what was it? New Zealand, I think.
And happy Easter to you too!
God’s Frozen People- I love it! I grew up going to a Presbyterian church and it was a bit, well, dry. My favorite part was singing the hymns.
And I have tons of Gingerale (and Hot Toddy and Wet garden) and will be more than happy to send some to you – let me know!
Yeeeah, Presbyterians can be lovely people, but the services tend toward (as you say) the dry-as-dust…
I sang in the choir for years, and toward the end I wasn’t even getting any joy out of the music. Sad.
Happy Easter to you and your family!
Thanks! And to you.
HAPPY EASTER
I love you. May your family have a wonderful Easter darling!
And to you, Tamara sweetie!
The photograph above reminded on a friend who ignored my warning about getting too close when smelling the Stargazers in my yard. That telltale yellow nose stayed with her most of the afternoon and she was not happy!
Had I thought of it in my haste to get ready this morning, I would have worn Vanille Galante (perfume was the last thing on my mind today). It’s all lily on me with little to no vanilla anywhere. DK Gold would have worked too as you mentioned above.
Instead I spritzed Défilé New York for no particular reason other than it was the first thing I saw. How dumb is that! However, I did smell quite nice!
Oh, yep, yellow pollen nose… when I cut my Stargazers for bouquets, I snip off the stamens. It cuts down on my allergic reaction, as well as the stain. I once utterly *ruined* a white eyelet dress at church – they had white lilies planted outside that bloom in early August, the tall ones that grow to about 5′. I sniffed too closely and regretted it immediately…
Grr.
Vanille Galante I have not smelled. It sounds nice, but I suppose I felt I had my Lily Scent cubby filled up with Gold, and hadn’t sought out a sample. If one comes my way, I’d probably like it!
Happy Easter, Mals, to you and yours! Lilies are a beautiful way to celebrate Easter, aren’t they? For me, it’s always hyacinths, though. Purple ones. Dunno why.
That’s a great list!!! I was sure I would love Lys Med – just positive…but the musk came in and tore me a new one. I am hoping it will change its ways sometime…
I wore Diorissimo which always says Easter to me. No hat, no gloves, alas. I remember a gorgeous yellow Easter dress and jacket (remember those?) when I was about 8 – white piping. Matching hat. White gloves. Black Mary Janes. Remember it like it was yesterday, 47 years later!
xoxo
Hi, A! I think of hyacinths earlier than Easter, I suppose (but Easter was late this year, wasn’t it?)… I love them, but it’s hyacinths and lilies of the valley in March for me and lilies at Easter.
I am thankful that musk does not usually trouble me. I keep running into a musk note in the Smell Bents that *does* bother me, though, so I do sympathize. And musk goes on forevvveerrrrrr…
Hats and gloves at church are going the way of the dinosaur, aren’t they? (sigh) Oh, a matching dress and jacket! I had a set once my mother made me, when I was about that age – she also made one for my younger sister, and the pictures are adorable: little girls in robin’s egg blue, with knee socks and Mary Janes, and white hats. They were lovely, and we wore the coats (Peter Pan collars! lined! fabric-covered buttons!) with other dresses, too. Mom also made us complementary yellow-and-white dresses one year – same yellow bodice with pearl buttons, different pattern skirts. I think A’s was plaid and mine was Swiss dotted…
And hope your Easter was blessed too!
Stargazer lilies are the ones I think of as “funeral” lilies and the scent is just too overpowering for me. White lilies definitely remind me of Easter – our church was the same in that you could “donate” a lily in someone’s memory and get to take it home after the service.
No hats or gloves, but always a new dress and there were several years when I was very young that my Mother (or Grandmother) made matching dresses for me and my mom. Cute pics for sure!
Stargazers are funeral lilies for you? Interesting. They seem like wedding flowers to me, but that may be because I keep seeing them at weddings.
I don’t really have any “funeral flower” associations. I suppose I’ve gotten used to seeing varied arrangements at funerals (there have been too many of those lately, sad to say). Roses, carnations, lilies, chrysanthemums, freesias, bells of Ireland… oh, different things. Which is good, probably.
I always think of both my late grandmothers when I think of peonies – Nell because she grew them, and Sarah Lou because she loved them.
Hi Mals,
I’m reading this a little late, but what a lovely Easter tribute! Thanks for sharing your memories; some of those could have been mine as well. It’s one of my favorite and most joyous holidays, although this year it was tinged with a bit of sadness as my beloved mother-in-law is having to go into a nursing home.
BTW, I think I have some Donna Karan Gold around here if you’d like it (and maybe even
the Vanilla Galante — gotta go check), so let me know.
Hope everyone in your family is well now ….
Hi, Ann! I love Easter. Sorry to hear about your MIL. Looks like my FIL will be in the nursing home for the foreseeable future, following his stroke. It’s supposed to be a rehab center, so we’re hoping that he will be able to come home at some point.
I’m stocked on Gold. Bought a bottle for something like $12 on ebay! My daughter likes it; I can’t complain. She *could* be wearing Pink Sugar. Or… whatever it is that teenagers wear now. 🙂 (She says that the high school locker room smells like an explosion in a cupcake factory. She’s not a fan. I’m just wondering why it is that florals are not in favor among the young. We could blame Angel, I suppose.)