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# The lily as a symbol of innocence and a virginity test from a 17th-century book
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/s-davnikh-por-lilii-byli-simvolom-nevinnosti/
- Published: 2017-08-10T12:10:15.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:56:23.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Faith, Books, Mores, Humour

Since time immemorial, lilies have been a symbol of innocence. Christians linked the image of this flower with the tears of Eve and with the Virgin Mary. In the Middle Ages the lily, precisely in its meanings associated with purity, was widespread in mythology, in iconography and in heraldry alike. But at times the plant's association with virginity passed into the realm of alchemy and even of medicine. Thus, in a seventeenth-century book of women's secrets, De secretis mulierum: item de virtutibus herbarum lapidum et animalium, the following recipe is given:

to satisfy yourself of a maiden's chastity, invite her to eat a lily; if the girl immediately passes water, then she is not a virgin.

Take note.