Previously we looked at what a rose is and where it grows naturally across the world. Now we want to examine how this holiday flower came to be associated with Valentine’s Day and celebrations of love.
Read on to learn about the symbolism attached to roses and their early importance to the Western cultures that invented Valentine’s Day.
Roses and Symbolism
Throughout human history the rose has had a powerful meaning to different cultures and nationalities. Many languages (Greek, Spanish, Italian, Polish and others) even use the equivalent of the word “rose” to mean red or pink — typical rose colours. Ancient cultures like the Egyptians considered the rose to be a sacred flower to Isis and was given a high degree of reverence because of this.
In tracing their connection to Valentine’s Day, however, we have to go back to the Western cultures that gave birth to the holiday itself, seeing how roses eventually became such an important symbol of love.
Roses in Western Culture
In the ancient Western tradition roses have always been of immense importance, signifying love and beauty to so many cultures that the flower itself became an important part of religion and myth. Roses were considered sacred to the Greeks and early Romans. Aphrodite and Venus held the rose as a blessed flower and, as they was the Grecian goddesses of love, its connection to the most intimate human emotion can be seen as existing for quite a long time. The Romans also saw the rose as an emotionally resonant blossom. When secret or confidential issues were being discussed in a building a rose would be placed outside the door to show others that the matter at hand was serious and not to be disturbed.
As the West began to adopt Christianity, the rose continued to be an important object. Folk traditions and Classical interpretations of the rose would maintain relevance to the Romans and the lands that they touched as their empire expanded. Next time we’ll see how this happened.
