A tiny bit about the use of calendulas in Scandinavian tradition
I just remembered that I stole some calendula seeds last fall (because they grow better when they have been stolen). And it also occurred to me that we are hopefully seeing the last nights with frost around now, and that we can finally sow directly outside. Badass thief took a picture of the goods to brag muahaha:
Then I remembered that I wrote a bit about the calendula at some point some years ago. Bear with me if you've seen it before (in a slightly different version).
In Danish and some Norwegian dialects, the calendula is named morgenfrue - "morning lady" or "lady of the morning". She is named so because she folds out her petals in the morning at sunrise and close them again as the sun begins to set. Unless there will be rain at some point during the day, in which case they will remain closed. The "lady" in the name being Frøya (to the heathen, anyway), and in later (or at any rate, Christian) tradition, the Virgin Mary.
These flowers are otherwise all love and sunshine, and if you lie down, relax and look between the stems of a field of "morning ladies", you might get to see the "hidden people" - the "alfs" - whose mother is the "frue" herself, Frøya, the lady of - among a lot of other things - both love and magic.
Gently wrap one flower in a small scrap of silk and tie it on the inside of your left elbow, and the person you put that arm around will not be able to resist you.
You can also put powdered dried petals into the beloved person's drink or food for the same purpose. In difficult cases, you can add some of the root as well.
Or maybe not. I am growing a bit iffy regarding that sort of manipulation, myself.
Betty Cai took the above photo, and I cropped it.
The "lady of the morning" will also...
...favour you in court cases if you carry an odd number in your pocket to court. ...protect you from bad influences if you hang a wreath on the door post. ...make you dream true if you strew the flowers under your bed.
And, if you are poor and can't afford the correct amount of saffron for your Lussi buns (Lussi = in Norway an amalgam of St. Lucy and a female wight often thought to be Frøya in disguise), you mix it with not more than an equal amount of dried pulverised calendula petals.
Oh, and don't eat her. All her parts are completely edible and apparently nutritious, but her leaves will give you a weird burn at the very back of your mouth. Her petals look awfully nice in salads and as dessert decoration, though.