Red or Pink Hyacinth Meaning

Red or pink hyacinths mean play. 

For the most part, this relates to the story about Apollo, the sun god playing a game of discus with his favorite companion, Hyacinthus.  Although the story starts out well with the two trying to see who can throw the discus farther, it ends with the death of Hyacinthus because he gets hit on the head with the discus. 

It’s not all Apollo’s fault because Zephyr had a hand in changing the direction of the discus.  It’s just because he was jealous of Apollo’s and Hyacinthus’ friendship.  Where Hyacinthus lay dead, the red hyacinth bloomed.

Based on witch lore, the hyacinth is a symbol of positive things.  When the red and pink hyacinth means play in Victorian flower language, it means happiness, love and protection in witch-lore.

• Name:  Red or Pink Hyacinth
• Color:  Hyacinths are special types of flowers that produce a wide variety of colored flowers.  More than red flowers, the hyacinth can also have tones of pink in it.  As you can imagine, the lighter shades of  hyacinth would be pink and the darker shades would be red.  The darkest red hyacinths can also have demarcations of pink or yellow on the petals.
• Shape:  Red or pink hyacinths look like ovoid bulbs that sit on a stem and leaves of green.  If you get close enough to these bulbs, you’ll see the details of how it’s composed of star shaped flowers.
• Fact:  To keep hyacinths alive for a long time, it’s customary to cut way the flower stalks.  As for the leaves, you can leave this to die naturally so that the plant can store enough energy for next year’s blooming season.
• Poisonous:  The color of the hyacinth is insignificant.  All hyacinths are poisonous.
• Number of Petals:  A cluster of red or pink hyacinths can have a hundred petals in it although the individual flowers only have six petals.
• Victorian Interpretation:  Credited more to their bright and vibrant color, the pink or red hyacinth means play in the Victorian interpretation.
• Blossom Time:  Spring is the time for pink or red hyacinths.

Superstitions - Red or Pink Hyacinth

Although the Victorians gave the red hyacinth a positive meaning, in the Bible, it’s a different story.  Red hyacinths were mentioned in Revelation 9: 17.  The apostle John talked about seeing horses in his vision and on these steeds rode horsemen who wore breastplates of fiery red hyacinths.

• The Shape:  Most hyacinths grow like ovoid bulbs on a tube stem but there are also hyacinths where the flowers are not that compact.  For blossoms where the flowers are loose on the bulb, it looks like there are red stars and pink stars around a cluster of red.
• Petals:  Whether you’re looking at the hyacinth as a cluster or for its individual flowers, it’s a thing of beauty.  The petals look like a group of stars put together and singly, they’re small and delicate flowers that form a part of a whole.
• Numerology:  Hyacinths, pink, red or otherwise, have the expression number of 7 - these points to knowledge as well as physical reaction.
• Color:  Apart from having the only true shade of blue, hyacinths have a special quality to their petals where they can have bi-colors. For the red hyacinth, the petals can have streaks of yellow running through it.  For the pink hyacinth, there can be red streaks running through the length of the petals.

Herbalism and Medicine:  

The red hyacinth is good for many ailments.  For the inflammation of joints, it can reduce the swelling.  For problems with the skin like irritation or wounds, it can relieve the pain and heal the wound a lot faster.