Project on choosing Vietnam national flower of Culture, Sports, Tourism Department not only draw attention of Vietnamese people but also foreigners who used to live in Vietnam. This is considered as the way to express their love to Vietnam.
“In some countries, criteria of national flower are symbol of people. In Vietnam, I realize that these criteria have relation with spirit symbol which is accepted and honored by majority of Vietnamese people” Mr.Michael Till (South Africa) shares. “I am not Vietnamese but through my communcation with them, I see that Vietnamese people have a big love for lotus and they regard it as a symbol of peace and wealth”.
Mr.David Bell from England said that rose is national flower of his country and many other countries for its attractive beauty and scent. More than that, roses symbolizes honor, respect and loyalty.
However, every county in England choose once more flower for their own. For example, Scotland adoptes thistle as floral emblem and Wales’ is daffodil.
“ With criteria of distinctive cultural identity and sprit, lotus is totally perfect national flower. Image of lotus can be found at any regions in Vietnam, it even appears in cuisine”, Mr.David Bell said
Mr.Rob Owen, Canadian thought that it’s normal and natural for Vietnam to choose their own national flower.
When being ask about the flower he would choose to be national flower if he were Vietnamese, Mr.Rob Owen said “ I think I will choose lotus. In my opinion, lotus contains 2 main factors: scent and beauty. Thus, it totally may be chosen as flower symbolizing Vietnamese spirit: Pride and purity.
Have been teaching English in Vietnam for over 1 year, Mr. Jame Girling, (England) has big love with Vietnamese nature and people. He thought that most of Vietnamese people would agree with the idea of choosing lotus to be national flower.
Michael Mutti, (America) said that he really like Lotus of Vietnam and if he were Vietnamese people, he would choose this flower. “I really like a folk song of Vietnam about lotus, in spite of growing from muddy water, lotus has pure beauty and fragrant scent. In addition, lotus plays an important role in perfect beauty of Vietnam nature and protecting environment.”
Living in Vietnam for 4 years and particularly care about culture, Mr. John Farrington said that he would be very excited if lotus was chosen as national flower of Vietnam. He thought lotus has close connection to Buddhism.
Besides serenity and purity meaning, Mr. John Farrington realized that lotus was also used to scent tea and be processed to medicine or pure Vietnamese specialties.