A million 相思豆

I like this picture taken at the Singapore Science Centre. They are trying to collect 1 million red saga seeds to showcase the beauty of the seeds with magnitude. You can donate your collection to them to aid them in their cause – more information is available HERE.

I always had this fascination with red saga seeds since I was a little boy. Perhaps it was because there were saga trees growing near my home and my primary school – hence there was easy access for me to build up a collection. The solid red colour glows like a burning flame, and they also have a very beatiful chinese name: 相思豆 (literally translated as “remembrance beans”).

Here’s the story behind the chinese name:

相传，古时有位男子出征，其妻朝夕倚于高山上的大树下祈望；因思念边塞的爱人，哭于树下。泪水流干后，流出来的是粒粒鲜红的血滴。血滴化为红豆，红豆生根发芽，长成大树，结满了一树红豆，人们称之为相思豆。日复一日，春去秋来。大树的果实，伴着姑娘心中的思念，慢慢的变成了地球上最美的红色心型种子——相思豆。

Roughly translated:

Long long ago, there was a man who had to go to war. His wife sat on top of a hill, under a tree and prayed for his safe return. Her tears seeped into the soil and were transformed into the red saga seeds. Hence the name “remembrance beans” as each seed were supposed to encompass the lady’s remembrance and longing for her husband’s safe return.

Yada… my bad translation makes it sound cheesy. Better to read the chinese version. 🙂

Anyway, I tweaked the colour of the saga seeds in photoshop just to see if there will be just as attractive if they were of a different hue: