LAUREL

LAUREL

LATİN NAME: LAURUS NOBILIS

HOMELAND: MEDITERRANEAN

Leaves of the Ancient Mysticism and the first Love of Apollon

It was named after the nymph Daphne, the daughter of the river god Peneus in Greek Mythology.

According to the story, Cupid Eros, who lived as a mischievous child among people, was drinking water from a fountain in the forest one morning with his friends pigeons.

Apollo came to anger him and said: "Why are you carrying arrows, insolent boy? It is for great gods like me to do this. My arrow struck the terrible python, the snake of darkness. What can you do?"
He makes fun of Eros

Eros replied to Apollo: "Apollo can shoot snakes, but I wills hoot Apollo,"
Says Cupid, and takes out two small arrows, one of gold and one of silver, and, after touching their sticks, throws the golden one at Apollo.

He throws the silverarrow at Daphne, the nymph he sees in the fog in the forest. Apollo, who can see everything, but does not have the ability to seeo nly through the fog, sees Defne's face for a moment and falls in love with Defne with the effect of the arrow and pursues her to catch her and make her his wife.

Daphne, who does not want Apollo, runs to her father, the river god Peneus, and asks him to transform her into one of the laurel trees that are abundant around. Peneus grants her daughter Daphne's wish and begins to turn her into a laurel tree. When Apollo came, Daphne's trunk began to turn into a tree and her arms into branches, but her face is stil lvisible. While watching Defne's face turning into a tree, Apollo falls in love with her once again. Apollomakes a wreath of laurel leaves and never takes it off as symbol to his first love Daphne. He gives crowns of laurel leaves as a gift to those he wants to reward, and the crown of laurel leaves became also a prize worn on the heads of champions in the ancient Olympic games.

In ancient times, it was believed that the laurel leaves, which took place as a crown on the heads of kings, state administrators and the rich, and especially were believed to enable the Apollon oracle to see the future, were put under their pillows at night and the future could be seen in their dreams.

In addition to all these, laurel leaf, which we can call a super component with a lot of content from vitamins to minerals, sedatives to stimulants, and even essential oils, is a plant that has been used in many fields from past to present, from cosmetics to perfumes, from gastronomy to pharmacology.