What does the pomegranate flower symbolize?

Thanks to the unique climate of Azerbaijan, almost all varieties of pomegranate are grown here.
Every year, about 40 thousand tons of sweet fruits are harvested from the country’s gardens.
Many people still wonder if pomegranate is a fruit or a berry?
We decided to find out not only this, but also talk about the symbolism of pomegranate in our lives. “Eat pomegranate, as it cleanses the soul of envy and hatred,” the Prophet Muhammad advised his followers. It is believed that the birthplace of the pomegranate tree is Persia. The Moors brought pomegranate to Spain around 800 BC. The pomegranate reached the shores of America on the ships of the conquistadors during the exploration of the new continent. Pomegranate is one of the most ancient fruits known to man. The pomegranate appeared in Britain thanks to King Henry VIII. Images of pomegranates were found on Egyptian pyramids,
ancient Byzantine fabrics, in the ornaments of the ancient Greeks. The holy book of Muslims, the Koran, stipulates that pomegranate trees grow in the Garden of Eden. And according to the Biblical legend about Eden, in the same Garden of Eden, the serpent seduced the first woman, Eve, with a pomegranate, and not an apple, and that the pomegranate is the real “apple of paradise.” The pomegranate is mentioned among the seven plant species that are symbols of Israel’s fertility. According to Feng Shui, the symbol of a strong family is the pomegranate. If you are expecting a new addition to your family and want to avoid problems at birth, place a juicy fruit, cut into two parts, in the northern part of the apartment. From the myths of Ancient Greece it is known that the pomegranate fruit gives a person immortality. One of the legends says that the first pomegranate tree in Cyprus was planted by the goddess of love Aphrodite. This is where the tradition of breaking a pomegranate at a Greek wedding comes from, which symbolizes fertility, and pomegranate juice itself has a reputation as a “love potion.” At a wedding in China, it is customary to eat sweet pomegranate seeds, thereby blessing the young couple, and a painting of a ripe pomegranate is a popular wedding gift there. In some regions of Azerbaijan, there is a different tradition: during the wedding procession, the groom must meet the bride at the threshold of her new home and throw a pomegranate or apple in her direction. If the bride catches it, she will rule in the house, otherwise she will have to obediently obey her husband. In cosmetology, a unique pomegranate oil is used, which stimulates collagen production and skin regeneration. Additionally, the oil can be used to treat eczema and psoriasis. To obtain just 1 liter of pomegranate oil, you need 500 kg of fruit. Since ancient times, in the East, pomegranate has been considered the “king” of all fruits, since the sepals form a kind of “crown”. There is an opinion that it was the garnet that suggested the shape of the kings’ headdress – the crown. The pomegranate became the symbol of the first European Games in 2015. As symbols of Azerbaijani nature and cultural heritage, the images of Jeyran (gazelle) and Nar (pomegranate) were presented as the official mascots of the 2015 European Games in Baku. POMEGRANATE ROUND DANCE IN GOYCHAY People in Azerbaijan write poems about the pomegranate, sing songs, organize holidays where the symbol is honored, and even erect monuments On the eve of winter, in the Azerbaijani city of Goychay, for many years there has been a tradition of gathering for the pomegranate holiday – Nar Bayramy. The word “nar” translated from Azerbaijani means “pomegranate”. Surprisingly, these days in the town you will meet residents not only from different parts of the republic, but also from different countries of the world. By the way, it is generally accepted that Goychay pomegranate has no equal in taste. The village of Bygyr (Bığır) is known even outside of Goychay precisely because of this bush. The pomegranate is 65% edible, and its juice content can be up to 84%. The pulp of pomegranate seeds contains many minerals, amino acids and vitamins. And keep in mind that real pomegranate juice is a rich red-burgundy color, half transparent in sunlight. Pomegranate has many varieties. Such varieties of pomegranate are known as “Shelly Melesi” (Şəlli mələsi), “Shakhnar” (Şahnar), “Azerbaijan Guleyshesi” (Azərbaycan gülöyşəsi), “Gyrmyzygabyg” (Qırmızıqabıq), “Bala Mursal” (Bala Mürsəl), “Nazik” gabyg” (Nazikqabıq). If you store the fruits in one box, then thanks to just one spoiled pomegranate, there will not be a single whole fruit left there. But sour pomegranate varieties last the longest. Experts advise not to use
When preparing pomegranate dishes, utensils and tools are made of aluminum and carbon steel, since when interacting with them the juice becomes bitter. The pomegranate traditionally occupies a special place in Armenian culture and is found in all areas of fine art – in architecture, painting and even in cinema (remember, for example, “The Color of Pomegranates” by Sergei Parajanov or “Ararat” by Atom Egoyan). Moreover, in the modern view, the pomegranate is a national symbol, identified with the Armenian ethnic group itself. It is therefore surprising that for centuries he was practically not depicted on Armenian cultural monuments. Why this happened and what the pomegranate symbolizes, we’ll look into our material. Consideration of ancient pictorial monuments allows us to compile a list of plants, images of which, along with pomegranate and grapes, can be found on the Armenian Highlands from ancient times until the period of the developed Middle Ages. Thus, there is an equally frequent motif that has passed from millennium to millennium – this is the lily motif. Traditionally, the following plant motifs were also depicted: “Christmas tree”, palm tree, lotus, olive, almond, cypress, acacia and others. There are also many plant motifs, so stylized and generalized that they have lost touch with the original, natural form, such as palmettes, a climbing vine motif, and plant garlands. In general, the appearance of this or that plant in ancient times was not accidental – plants were depicted that had cult significance and were associated with such a fundamental concept for most cultures as the Tree of Life. At the same time, the object of cult could only be a plant of the local flora, because only a plant that was well known and, accordingly, growing in a given area could be venerated. Thus, in the Germanic tradition, the worship of the Tree was associated with the yew tree, in the East Slavic tradition – with the birch. As for the Armenian Highlands, here the veneration of the Sacred Tree had deep roots, and already in the Urartu period the pomegranate was often depicted as it. In the first centuries of Christianity in Armenia, the pomegranate motif is almost never found on pictorial monuments. How can we explain the absence of the pomegranate motif during this period, given that it was so widespread during the period of the Kingdom of Van, as well as in Armenian medieval architecture after the mid-7th century? Why has this symbol become so common in modern culture? The only known image of a pomegranate from the early Christian period in Armenia is a relief on a stele in Sardarapat, dated to the 4th-5th centuries. Probably, pomegranate stopped appearing due to the prevalence in that era of ornaments with vines – a symbol of the new faith. Pomegranate fruits, according to a book on Armenian embroidery published in Lebanon, were dedicated to the mother goddess Anahit. With the adoption of Christianity, the veneration of Anahit was replaced by the veneration of the Mother of God, and instead of pomegranate, grapes began to be used in religious rituals. It is possible that this is also due to the fact that pomegranate cultivation began to decline, while grape cultivation expanded. At the same time, the garnet has not disappeared from the art of neighboring Byzantium and Persia in the 4th-6th centuries. In Byzantium, after the adoption of Christianity, this motif was associated with the church, Christ and Mary. The pomegranate, an ancient symbol of fertility and immortality, began to be understood as a symbol of the Resurrection of Christ. In addition, Christian teaching inherited the ancient symbolism of the pomegranate as the Tree of Life, which is reflected in its individual images, as well as in floral designs, where the pomegranate is often depicted intertwined with grapes. The red juice of the pomegranate symbolized the blood of the holy martyrs, and the many seeds enclosed in a single shell embodied the idea of ​​conciliarity, people united in a church community. So, while in Byzantium the symbolic understanding of the pomegranate was “adapted” to Christianity, in Armenia they abandoned this symbol important for the pagan cult, writes Nina Stepanyan. In Sasanian Persia, the pomegranate was also associated with the veneration of the goddess Anahit (Anahita), but in the Zoroastrian cult. Moreover, in Sassanian art, the pomegranate motif became most widespread at the beginning of the 4th century – precisely in the era of the struggle against infidels and, accordingly, religious disagreements with Christian Armenia. Perhaps this is why in Armenia such an “intolerant” attitude towards the image of a pomegranate arose in comparison with Byzantium – as a contrast to neighboring Persia. However, after several centuries of “oblivion,” the pomegranate motif began to be revived in Armenia thanks to the beginning of the construction of Zvartnots in the mid-7th century by Catholicos Nerses III Tayetsi. Nowadays the ornamental motifs of the temple are perceived as purely traditional, but for the contemporaries of the Catholicos, the image of a pomegranate on the walls of an Armenian Christian temple was by no means ordinary. The pomegranate in Zvartnots is depicted not schematically, but “lively” – in the form of bushes. But the most striking detail is that it was not found either in the architecture of the temples that preceded it or those built after it – these are huge pomegranate fruits, larger than a human head, placed above the triangles between the arches. Among the ornaments of many early medieval Armenian churches built after Zvartnots and under its influence, one can find images of pomegranates. In just a few decades at the end of the 7th century, monuments were erected on the walls of at least six of which garnet was present as one of the main decorative motifs. Among them are the cathedral in Talin, the Cathedral of St. Gregory in Aruch, the Zoravar Church in Yeghvard, the Church of St. Sarkis in Artik, the Church of St. Hovhannes in Sisian and a monument in the center of the village of Agitu. But how did Nerses the Builder manage to bring the pomegranate out of the “underground”? Of course, the revival of the pomegranate motif on the walls of Zvartnots can be considered as a proclamation of certain ideas, and most likely they were the ideas of national reconciliation, conciliarity, the unification of various popular movements, and the removal of confrontation between the pagan cults that continued to exist and the Christian Church. In this context, the choice of pomegranate, which was banned in the first centuries of Christianity, as one of the main decorative motifs, obviously meant the “legalization” of an ancient, pagan motif, says Nina Stepanyan. Medieval art is famous for its symbolism. The Matenadaran stores commentaries on horans in Armenian manuscripts, where direct designations of image-symbols are found. And without exception, all comments speak of the symbolic meaning of only four plants – pomegranate, palm tree, olive and lily. To summarize, we can highlight the following interpretations of the pomegranate motif: the bitterness of the peel symbolizes the Old Testament, and the sweetness of the grains symbolizes the New Testament and the Church; the bitter peel containing many pomegranate seeds are the bitter parables of the prophets, carrying the sweetness of the Good News; the bitterness of threats, captivities and troubles that fed the pagans is contrasted with the sweet fruit of all the trials they endured, found in the Church; The life of the righteous, full of bitterness and trials, carries within itself the sweetness of the fruit of immortality acquired after the resurrection. It is also worth noting that if in the first centuries of Christianity there was indeed a ban on the depiction of pomegranates, then it is possible that the plant itself was destroyed, the researcher suggests, especially since similar cases are known in world history. Thus, materials on the history of fine art, indicating the absence of images of pomegranate on cultural monuments in the 4th-7th centuries, and some botanical data, which fully allow for the massive cutting down of pomegranate plantations, are completely consistent and complement each other. However, there is no direct confirmation of this. And if the pomegranate was subsequently “rehabilitated” in culture, then this is still to come for the plant itself. The cover design uses the painting “Ripe Pomegranate” by Elizaveta Yashina. Photo: livemaster.ru