The lily is native of the Balkan Peninsula in south-eastern Europe, from where it was imported in other European countries, where it became first one of the most admired flowers and then on of the most popular flower tattoos.
Traditionally Lily flowers are white - noble, elegant, white flowers, which have been often associated with ideas of purity and innocence.
Christians made of the lily a symbol of purity to represent the divine virginity. St. Joseph is often depicted with a stick from which sprout white lilies. A legend says that Mary chose Joseph because she saw him among many with a white lily in his hand.
Throughout the centuries the lily has been associated with several Saints and the Archangel Gabriel.
But a lily has not always symbolized purity and chastity: Lilies' typical phallic pistil and their erotic fragrance made quite the opposite impression on ancient Greeks, who linked these flowers with concepts like fertility and procreation.
Christians made of the lily a symbol of purity to represent the divine virginity. St. Joseph is often depicted with a stick from which sprout white lilies. A legend says that Mary chose Joseph because she saw him among many with a white lily in his hand.
Throughout the centuries the lily has been associated with several Saints and the Archangel Gabriel.
But a lily has not always symbolized purity and chastity: Lilies' typical phallic pistil and their erotic fragrance made quite the opposite impression on ancient Greeks, who linked these flowers with concepts like fertility and procreation.
