VIII: Martagon
When is a flower a hat?
Good morning. Today is octidi, the 8th of Prairial, Year CCXXXI. We celebrate le martagon, a beautiful and delicate flower that's poisonous to cats.
There's a claim that the "martagon" in the name refers to a special turban worn by sultans in the Ottoman empire, but this is not backed up by any linguistic research. Still, the common name of this flower is "turk's cap" betraying the European intent to refer to sultanic turbans, and the turban-like shape of this lily is definitely its most obvious feature.
Europeans were fascinated by the dress and courtly life of the Ottoman Empire, a constant presence on the eastern flank of the Holy Roman Empire that shaped so many of the alliances and diplomatic calculations of the European kings. The interest in Ottoman turbans was spurred by the strict dress code rules of Suleiman the Magnificent (16th century), captivating Europeans who were also conscious of class and status and loved the idea of universal hat language to convey these bits of information.
