Marigold - other uses

From decoration to dyes, brightly coloured yellow and orange marigolds provide familiar splashes of colour in South Asia. They are mainly used to make garlands and for adorning buildings and statues of spiritual significance but have also been used to make skin creams. In Britain, marigold is favoured by gardeners who plant it to discourage pests.

Crafts

Marigold flowers are used at many religious ceremonies and festivals. Strung together they make colourful garlands and are used as offerings and to decorate religious buildings and statues.

Yellow and orange strings of marigolds dangle from a large Hindu shrine.
Marigold garlands decorate this shrine in Calcutta.

The petals are used in South Asia to dye fabrics yellow or orange. Plant dyes have always been important during the Hindu festival Holi, although now synthetic dyes are generally used instead. However, many of these synthetic dyes thrown over people during the celebrations can be harmful to health. Dyes prepared from plants like marigold are safer.




Cosmetics

Petals and flower heads of marigold were traditionally added to water to make an infusion that could be used as a body lotion. Today extracts from the petals and flower heads are used in a range of cosmetics including face and hand creams.