What Does the Willow Twig at the Olympics Closing Ceremony Symbolize?

 

“折柳寄情”，外媒科普这份中国浪漫，网友惊叹太美了！

 

The performers beautifully interacted with a LED floor to show imagery of the willow, one that showed the emotional symbolism of “a bittersweet goodbye.”

 

演员与地面上的屏幕影像完美互动，展现虚拟的柳枝，表现出了“苦涩又甜蜜的离别”的情感寄托。

 

The theme of "one world, one family" continued to be evident through the Games as 365 different individuals all held a willow branch that represented "the unwavering spirit of remembering the departed through the 365 days of a year."

 

365名普通人手捧柳枝，汇聚在场地中央，代表一年365天的思念，将“世界大同，天下一家”的主题表现得淋漓尽致。

 

The stage then turned into a beautiful shade of green, which was a symbol of the shifting of past negativity into the blossoming of a new day.

 

舞台随后变化成一片唯美的绿地，转而大地回春，一片生机盎然。

 

The willow twig is a part of the willow tree, and in Chinese, the character for the willow tree is a homophone of the character liu, which means asking a person to stay when bidding farewell. Thus it symbolizes the sorrow of separation.

 

柳枝是柳树的枝条。在汉语中，“柳”与“留”同音，蕴含着在离别时刻挽留对方的含义。因此，“柳枝”就成了“悲伤的离别”的象征。

 

In ancient days, when two friends part, the traveling party will always receive a willow twig as a gift.

 

在中国古代，朋友分离之时，远走的一方常常会被赠予柳条作为离别礼物。