From book:

May 13 – Lavender

“Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender.” – Alice Walker

Scented sprigs of lavender blossoms remind me of amethyst crystal beads set upon the nape of an Englishwoman’s slender neck in the Victorian age. Lavender is an endearing, enduring gift from the heavens with its violet, fragrant spikes for they attract the pollinator bee and the transformational butterfly.

According to lore, a “lavender” was the name given to washerwomen many centuries ago in Holland. This stems from the Latin word lavare meaning “to wash.”  Hence, peasants called the herb with a fresh, clean and menthol fragrance – lavender.

Lavender is one of the oldest aromas together with rose, frankincense and myrrh. Many lavender fields ago, women in labor clutched lavender stalks for courage and strength. In ancient Greece, Rome and Arabia, herbalists touted lavender as a disinfectant, antiseptic and a cure for skin infections. Science today acknowledges and verifies most of these claims.