SNOWBALL

SNOWBALL / LAURISTINUS

LATIN NAME: VIBURNUM TINUS LUCIDUM

MAIN HOMELAND: MEDITERRANEAN COASTS and CHINA

The White Goddess of Eastern European Folklore

There are disagreements as to whether the homeland of the Viburnum Tinus Lucidum plant, which is likened to a snowball in every region it blooms, with the appearance of small white flowers on its branches resembling small bouquets in the form of balls, is the Mediterranean Coast or China.

The snowball plant, which is almost never seen in the historical and folkloric fields in the Mediterranean and Chinese cultures, which is considered to be its homeland, was first found among the items of the mummy Ötzi in 1991 in the 3210-meter-high Finelspitze region of the Ötztal Alps which formed the Austria-Italy border, frozen for 5000 years. It was determined that the 14 arrows of Ötzi’s equipment were made from the branches of the snowball plant.

The region, which we can call the place where the snowball plant shapes life, stands out as the most important figure with the name Kalyna, which has entered every detail of life from early history to the present day, from belief, folk remedies, folklore and literature, in the geography where the Dnieper River spreads to today's Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

Each feature of the plant body, flower and fruit, such as its appearance, smell and taste, have been the most used similes to describe each subject in songs, poems and novels in traditions.

All kinds of emotions, from the innocence of the young girl to the privacy of the woman, from the pain of unrequited love and separation to the happiness of reunion, are associated with a characteristic of the snowball plant.

Ukrainian Poet Luibov Zabashta’s “My love for you is filled to the brim with the bitterness of kalyna”

The Ukrainian poet Zoia Kohut, who immigrated to Australia, said, “There is everything here, even freedom, but I have not come across Kalyna.” strings are just a few of the best-known examples.

It is thought that this important place of the snowball plant in the folklore of the region is due to the fact that it was a kind of worship symbol that was gathered around it to worship the gods in pre-Christian times.

Tea, mouthwash water and wound cleaning water prepared from bark, fruits and flowers with traditional methods that have been going on for centuries by the peoples living in the Dnieper River geography are still used in the treatment of almost every known disease and ailment, especially gynecological diseases.