Snowdrop

Though snowdrops are not mentioned by name in Shakespeare’s plays or poems, John Gerard includes a picture of them in his 1597 Herball or General Historie of Plantes on p. 121, calling them the “timely flowring Bulbus violet” in his first edition and “snowdrop” in his 1633 edition (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galanthus_nivalis).  

The genus name “Galanthus,” assigned by Carl Linnaeus in the eighteenth century, means “milk flower” in Ancient Greek.  In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth laments that Macbeth is “too full of the milk of human kindness” (1.5) and says “How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me” (1.7), associating milk with a human quality of kindness and with nurturing maternal love, although she is in the process of rejecting these qualities.  In the same play, Malcolm refers to the “sweet milk of concord” (4.3).  A milk flower seems to be a flower that connects with qualities of concord, human kindness, and maternal love.

In early modern Europe, another name for the flower was “Candlemas bells” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galanthus_nivalis), referring to the feast of Candlemas, February 2, which is approximately when these flowers often appear.  Candlemas commemorates the presentation of baby Jesus at the Temple, as well as the purification ceremony of Mary, Mother of God, after the birth of Jesus.  According to Robert Herrick’s poem “Ceremonies for Candlemas Eve” this was the day that Christmas decorations such as rosemary, bays, mistletoe and holly would be taken down in a seventheenth century Anglican church (https://allpoetry.com/Ceremonies-For-Candlemas-Eve).  The name “Candlemas bells” connects maternity, fertility and spring to traditional Christian ritual (see Luke 2:22-40 and http://holytrinity.ab.ca/ecumenical-candlemas-feast-of-the-presentation/).  Candlemas took place at about the same time as the traditional Celtic feast of Imbolc, marking mid-winter.  During Imbolc bonfires celebrated the goddess Brigid, who was associated with fire and milk (https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/imbolc).