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Chile | Añañuca: flowers nurtured by love

Writer's picture: Myth PuzzleMyth Puzzle

Monte Patria is a city and one of four communes in the Limarí Province of Chile's north-central IV Coquimbo Region. Añañuca is a type of flower that grows there.
 

A greedy young man arrived at the town of Monte Patria to search for gold. In the town, there was a beautiful young girl called Añañuca. When the man saw Añañuca, he immediately fell in love with her. He soon won her over, and the two got married.



In the beginning, the newlyweds lived happily together. One night, The man had a dream in which he saw a goblin. The goblin revealed a spot where the man could find gold. When he woke up the next morning, the man sneaked out of the room and left home to find gold.  He didn’t tell anyone where he went, not even to his wife.


When Añañuca woke up and found that her husband was gone, she became devastated. She waited and waited, but days, weeks, and months went by and the young man never returned.


In the meantime, a storm killed her husband when he was on his way to find gold. No one knew where he died. 


After hearing about his death, Añañuca fell into great sorrow and died shortly after. The townspeople buried her in the heart of the valley on a da a light shower was coming down.


When the sun came up again the following day, the townspeople were shocked. The place where they buried Añañuca was covered by a lush layer of red flowers.


The people believed that the girl’s love for her husband was so much that her body became the flowers. They were touched and named the red flowers after the girl: Añañuca.


 


Gold

From its gleaming appearance to its rarity, gold shows great wealth. Therefore, above everything else, gold is frequently used to represent greed from the myth of Añañuca to the story “The Emperor’s New Groove”. When gold appears in myths and folklore as a symbol of greed, they rarely lead to a good outcome. There are either misfortunes like the one Añañuca’s husband experienced or instances where the greedy people are harmed by their own avarice.


Flower

The flowers are named after Añañuca to praise her loyalty to love.


Flowers are objects associated with multiple symbolic meanings among various cultures. The roses of Valentine’s Day, the carnations of Mother’s Day, the Poinsettia of Christmas — they all represent different sentiments of wishes. Similarly, añañuca, a flower of a reddish-pink color, is a symbol of the love in the girl’s heart. It grows; it flourishes; it shows its beautiful color, and then repeats the cycle over and over again. This is just like the faithful girl who, year after year, looked forward to her husband to come back. Even though he never did. 











Reference:

Monte Patria. (2020, June 01). Retrieved July 11, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Patria


Picture Source: Pinterest

Click to read more from Women in Latin American mythology

#chile #love #flower

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