Editing Galanthus (section)

==In popular culture==
{{Quote box|title=''Blow, Northern Wind''|align=right|border=2px|bgcolor = Cornsilk|width=200px|fontsize=75%
| title_fnt = blue
| quote=
<poem><br />[[File:Letter B, drop capital illustration.png|15px]] low, northern wind; fall snow;
And thou—my loved and dear,
See, in this waste of burthened cloud
::How Spring is near!
</poem>|source= ''Walter de la Mare (1950)''{{sfn|de la Mare|1950}}}}
[[File:Franz Hoffmann-Fallersleben Schneeglöckchenstrauß.jpg|frameless|right|upright]]
Snowdrops figure prominently in art and literature,<ref name=Harlandintro/> often as a symbol in poetry of spring, purity, and religion (see [[Galanthus#Symbolism|Symbols]]), such as [[Walter de la Mare]]'s poem ''The Snowdrop'' (1929).{{sfn|de la Mare|1929}} In this poem, he likened the triple tepals in each whorl ("A triplet of green-pencilled snow") to the [[Holy Trinity]].{{sfn|Harland|2016}} He used snowdrop imagery several times in his poetry, such as ''Blow, Northern Wind'' (1950) – see Box.{{sfn|de la Mare|1950}} Another instance is the poem {{ws|[[s:Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1836/The Snowdrop|''The Snowdrop'']]}} by [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]] in which she asks "Thou fairy gift from summer, Why art thou blooming now?"<ref> {{cite book|last =Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1836|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=2dBbAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PA12-IA10|section=poetical illustration|page=15|year=1835|publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.}}</ref>
* In the fairy-tale play ''The Twelve Months'' by Russian writer [[Samuil Marshak]], a greedy queen decrees that a basket of gold coins shall be rewarded to anyone who can bring her galanthus flowers in the dead of winter. A young orphan girl is sent out during a snow storm by her cruel stepmother to find the spirits of the 12 months of the year, who take pity on her and not only save her from freezing to death, but also make it possible for her to gather the flowers even in winter. The [[The Twelve Months (1956 film)|Soviet traditionally animated film ''The Twelve Months'' (1956)]], [[Lenfilm]] film [[The Twelve Months (1972 film)|''The Twelve Months'' (1972)]], and the anime film [[Twelve Months (1980 film)|''Twelve Months'' (1980)]] (''Sekai meisaku dowa mori wa ikiteiru'' in Japan), are based on this fairy-tale play.
* "Snowdrops" was the nickname that the British people gave during the Second World War to the [[military police]] of the United States Army (who were stationed in the UK preparatory to the invasion of the continent) because they wore a white helmet, gloves, gaiters, and [[Sam Browne belt]] against their olive drab uniforms.
* In the German fairy tale, ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'', "Snowdrop" is used as an alternate name for the Princess [[Snow White]].
* The short story ''The Snowdrop'' by [[Hans Christian Andersen]] follows the fate of a snowdrop from a bulb striving toward the light to a picked flower placed in a book of poetry.
*  Russian composer Tchaikovsky wrote a series of 12 piano pieces, each one named after a month of the year with a second name suggesting something associated with that month. His "April" piece is subnamed "Snow Drop". The Russian climate having a later spring, and winter ending a bit later than in other places.
* [[Johann Strauss II]] named his very successful [[waltz]] ''Schneeglöckchen (Snowdrops)'' op. 143 after this flower. The inspiration is especially evident in the [[cello]] introduction and in the slow unfurling of the opening waltz. Strauss composed this piece for a Russian Embassy dinner given at the ''Sperl'' ballroom in [[Vienna]] on 2 December 1853, but did not perform it publicly until the year 1854. The ''Sperl'' banquet was given in honour of her Excellency Frau [[Maria Kalergis|Maria von Kalergis]], daughter of the Russian diplomat and foreign minister Count Karl Nesselrode, and Strauss also dedicated his waltz to her.{{sfn|Kemp|1989}}
* In the 2007 film, [[Stardust (2007 film)|Stardust]], a glass snowdrop flower is gifted to the female protagonist, and serves to protect the bearer from all Witches' magic and bring them good luck.

=== Symbolism ===
Early names refer to the association with the [[religious feast]] of [[Candlemas]] (February 2) – the optimum flowering time of the plant – at which young women, robed in white, would walk in solemn procession in commemoration of the [[Purification of the Virgin]], an alternative name for the feast day. The [[French language|French]] name of {{lang|fr|violette de la chandaleur}} refers to Candlemas, while an [[Italian language|Italian]] name, {{lang|it|fiore della purificazione}}, refers to purification. The [[German language|German]] name of {{lang|de|Schneeglöckchen}} (little snow bells) invokes the symbol of bells.<ref name=Churchgal/>{{sfn|Harland|2016}}

In the [[language of flowers]], the ''snowdrop'' is [[synonymous]] with '[[hope]]' (and the goddess [[Persephone]]'s/[[Proserpina]]'s return from [[Hades]]), as it blooms in early [[Spring (season)|springtime]], just before the [[March equinox|vernal]] [[equinox]], and so, is seen as '[[herald]]ing' the new spring and new year.

In more recent times, the snowdrop was adopted as a symbol of sorrow and of hope following the [[Dunblane massacre]] in Scotland, and lent its name to the subsequent campaign to restrict the legal ownership of handguns in the UK.{{sfn|McGivern|2016}}<ref>{{Cite web|title=The "Snowdrop" Campaign |website=www.wcc-coe.org |url=http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/dunblane.html |access-date=2020-04-10}}</ref>