The First Snow...

In Korea we have a tradition where many women, young or old, dye their finger nails with the sap of "touch-me-not", a type of wild flower.  Touch-me-not is a deep raspberry colored flower which flourishes in mid to late spring everywhere in Korea.  

The ladies would pick and crush them until the raspberry pink sap comes out.  Then they lay the crushed flower over the finger nails so that the sap penetrates into the nail and dyes it.  Whenever the ladies use hand gestures or wave, you get the glimpse of the color of this wild flower and the spirit of the spring in their nails.  

As the seasons go by, the nails grow out and get clipped off little by little until none remain, and the spirit of spring disappears. This normally occurs around late fall or early winter.  The legend says, if you have the pink nail until the first snowfall of the year, you will meet the love of your life.  

It snowed for the first time of the season yesterday, but alas, there is no lover waiting to claim my heart.  Maybe it is because I didn’t dye my nails with touch-me-not…

Megan.