Wolmyeongdong’s landscape built by Pastor Jung Myeong Seok – The fragrance of lilies like female college students that give off wisdom and beauty.

The beautiful, colorful spring flowers which covered Wolmyeongdong have all withered, and lilies that are red like the lips of a female college student are now decorating Wolmyeongdong. Lilies (Naris) are in full bloom around the Ambition Masterpiece, the blue-tiled house, and the large pine arm-span trees behind the 33-ton rock.

‘Nari’ is the Korean word for lily and is a much-beloved flower, along with roses and chrysanthemums. Lilies bloom in April and May, and when they do, people pick them together with garden balsams and four o’clocks to dye their fingernails or draw patterns on paper or cloth.

‘Nari’ originates from ‘Na-euri,’ a word that is used to address someone in a higher position or a government official. Among the types of ‘Naris,’ ‘pure Naris (tiger lilies)’ especially mean that they are the best and deserve the highest recognition.

There are many legends behind Naris. One of them says that, on the third day of Creation, God created lilies in the early morning when His creative thoughts arose. It is also said that when Adam and Eve were cast out after eating the forbidden fruit and began to experience worldly pains, the tears that Eve shed in agony dropped to the ground and became a lily.

In Korean legends, Naris are flowers that once bloomed over the grave of a young lady who chose to throw herself down a cliff instead of being raped by the son of a district magistrate. Symbolizing fidelity and virtue, they give off a horrible smell to repel anyone who touches them carelessly. In the language of flowers also, Naris mean ‘purity’ and ‘unchanging beauty.’

There are over ten species of pure Korean lilies that have ‘Nari’ in their names: tiger lily, Morningstar lily, lilium dauricum, lilium leichtlinii, lilium amabile, lilium callosum, lilium cernuum, lilium tenuifolium, lilium medeoloides, Korean wheel lily, and Hanson lily.

Lilies also symbolize ‘abundance.’ According to the belief that a year with many lilies would be a year of abundance, the weather was predicted each year by the number of lilies in bloom. Lilies are especially abundant in Wolmyeongdong this year!! We hope that it will be a year of abundance in lives, national economy, the Word, and love for the Lord.

[Reference]Naver encyclopedia