Switzerland’s National Treasure: The Edelweiss Flower
How do you test whether or not someone experienced a period in their life where they obsessively watched The Sound of Music? Simple. You break into the ‘Edelweiss’ song and see if they join in. Besides being a tune that gets stuck in my head at least once a year (mainly because Christopher Plummer was a dreamy hunk with a great voice), the Edelweiss flower is also the iconic image and national flower of Switzerland.
Thanks to the power of folktales and just enough science, this flower overshadowed many of its mountainous contendents, gaining cult status in the mid-19th century. As it adorns Swiss airlines, coins, and even the Swiss tourism office, it remains an important symbol of Swiss culture. But how did this come to be? Although there is a strong association with the Alps, plot twist, Edelweiss actually originates from the Himalayas and Siberia. Read below to learn how this fluffy flower became Switzerland’s national treasure and when and why you should send Edelweiss to your special someone with Russian Flora.
Switzerland’s National Treasure: The Edelweiss FlowerRead More »
Alex is a hopeless romantic who was supposed to be born in Italy (her dream destination), but proud to be South African nonetheless. She lives by her heart, and, consequentially, leaves a little bit of herself in everything she writes. She wholeheartedly believes that mermaids (and fairies) exist and is deadly afraid of the age ’30’.
