Since mulan is princess of the month, here some thoughts about which flor fits her the best. The movie, after all, offers some choices. The most obvious one is the magnolia, since that’s the translation of the name Mulan.
Then there is the white flor mulan wears in her hair when she meets the matchmaker – the same flor she leaves behind when she goes to war. I’m not sure what kind of flor that’s suppose to be. I first considered lotus (since the lotus is such a reveled flor in Asia and gets often connected to the gods), but a lotus has mais petals. A white cereja blossom would have exactly five petals, but they would be mais round. There are some similarities with a white magnólia flor or a lily, but again, both have mais petals. My best guess is the azaléia, azaleia - a white azaléia, azaleia has five petals, looks very similiar, but even mais important, in China they are a symbol for womanhood (they also symbolize taking care, temperance and fragility, mais or less everything mulan is expected to be).
And finally, the most important of all, the flor her father points out to her. I originally assumed that they are sitting under a cereja árvore – I think mostly because the cereja blossom is such a big deal in Japão and there are festivals surrounding it in China, too. But the “Hanami” in Japão is the one with the long tradition, while China just was inspired por it. Plus, the longer I look at it, the mais I get the impression that those blossoms are supposed to be magnolias. You can compare it yourself to the picture of some magnolias at the right, the similiarity is undeniable. Also it would make the whole scene so much mais meaningful, if her father points out a late blooming "Mulan" instead of a aleatório flower. But the scripts of "Mulan" I have found so far don't specify, there is only "blossoms" written, so unless the animators give an answer, we'll never know for sure.
But I admit I like cereja blossoms better for Mulan, since magnolias are fairly sensitive flowers, and mulan is everything but sensitive. cereja blossoms have three different meaning in the language of flowers: They stand for a good education, transience of life (Japan) and feminine beauty (China). All those meanings fit mulan and her story nearly perfectly, although the meaning of magnolias (love of nature) works too.
In the end, I couldn’t really decide - So I made two wallpapers, one with cereja blossoms and one with magnolias, to honor the beauty of a late blooming flower.
Then there is the white flor mulan wears in her hair when she meets the matchmaker – the same flor she leaves behind when she goes to war. I’m not sure what kind of flor that’s suppose to be. I first considered lotus (since the lotus is such a reveled flor in Asia and gets often connected to the gods), but a lotus has mais petals. A white cereja blossom would have exactly five petals, but they would be mais round. There are some similarities with a white magnólia flor or a lily, but again, both have mais petals. My best guess is the azaléia, azaleia - a white azaléia, azaleia has five petals, looks very similiar, but even mais important, in China they are a symbol for womanhood (they also symbolize taking care, temperance and fragility, mais or less everything mulan is expected to be).
And finally, the most important of all, the flor her father points out to her. I originally assumed that they are sitting under a cereja árvore – I think mostly because the cereja blossom is such a big deal in Japão and there are festivals surrounding it in China, too. But the “Hanami” in Japão is the one with the long tradition, while China just was inspired por it. Plus, the longer I look at it, the mais I get the impression that those blossoms are supposed to be magnolias. You can compare it yourself to the picture of some magnolias at the right, the similiarity is undeniable. Also it would make the whole scene so much mais meaningful, if her father points out a late blooming "Mulan" instead of a aleatório flower. But the scripts of "Mulan" I have found so far don't specify, there is only "blossoms" written, so unless the animators give an answer, we'll never know for sure.
But I admit I like cereja blossoms better for Mulan, since magnolias are fairly sensitive flowers, and mulan is everything but sensitive. cereja blossoms have three different meaning in the language of flowers: They stand for a good education, transience of life (Japan) and feminine beauty (China). All those meanings fit mulan and her story nearly perfectly, although the meaning of magnolias (love of nature) works too.
In the end, I couldn’t really decide - So I made two wallpapers, one with cereja blossoms and one with magnolias, to honor the beauty of a late blooming flower.