Poppy is one of the most popular images of world mythology. It symbolizes the connection with the world beyond, is a sign of unnatural peace, deathly sleep. The great interest in this plant is easily explained by its natural features: bright flowers, unusual shape of the fruit (poppy box), extremely small seeds that have a peculiar bitter taste and narcotic effect on humans.
In ancient Greek mythology, this flower was dedicated to Hypnos, the god of sleep, whose twin brother was Thanatos, the god of death in the form of a young man with a poppy crown, black wings and black clothes. The beautiful young god Hypnos, with white wings, was flying above the earth all the time with poppy heads in his hands, and on his head was a wreath of red poppies. Hypnos poured a soporific drink from the horn, and no one - neither mortals nor gods - could contradict him, not even the mighty god Zeus. Everyone who is touched by Hypnos with a poppy flower falls into a sweet sleep, because light dreams rest in every mother. Even the dwelling of Hypnos, the kingdom of sleep, was depicted planted with poppy flowers.
Poppies, according to the myth, lulled Demeter, the goddess of earthly fertility, to sleep when she was looking for her daughter, kidnapped by the god of the underworld. The suffering of the unfortunate mother aroused compassion in the god Zeus, and he ordered to make a poppy flower grow at every step of Demeter. The goddess, having collected a large bouquet, finally calmed down and fell asleep for a while. Since that time, the poppy has been considered a symbol of fertility, and the goddess Demeter is depicted in a wreath of spikelets of cereals and poppy flowers [16, p. 361]. Appendix A.
An ancient Roman legend tells that when the first people appeared on Earth, Nature made sure that they not only hunted, farmed and worked well, but also rested peacefully. For rest, she gave people Night, Sleep and Dreaming (children). But once Night, Sleep and Dreaming could not put the extremely worried man to sleep. He lay in the middle of the night on a fragrant meadow and could not fall asleep. No matter how the Night calmed him, no matter how the Dreams swayed, no matter how the Sleep did not close his eyelids - man did not sleep. Exhausted, Son became angry at his own weakness, angrily stuck the royal scepter into the ground and flew away. Dreams wrapped the rod in airy delusions, Night breathed life into them. And the wand took root, turned green and opened with magical flowers. This is how Mak appeared on Earth.. [5, p. 12].
Among the ancient Slavs, there was a deity named Makosha (Mokosh, Makesh) - the patroness of women's work, spinning and weaving, the mother of the harvest, the goddess of abundance (October 23). The name of the goddess was formed from poppy, intoxicating like love, which girls embroidered on wedding towels. Makosha is the deity of female vitality. Her only idol stood on top of the hill in the pantheon of Prince Volodymyr.
In Christian mythology, the origin of the poppy is associated with the blood of an innocent person killed. It is said that for the first time the poppy grew from the blood of the crucified Jesus Christ. Christians endowed the image of this flower with the philosophy of Christ's self-sacrifice, the death sleep in which he plunged before the resurrection. The blood-red poppy symbolizes Christ's suffering and the dream of death. In Christianity, the poppy is a symbol of innocent blood. Since then, it has been growing where a lot of blood was spilled.