Rose
Blooms:
Summer (flower of June in English Floral Calendar)
Victorian Language:
Red: Love, beauty, romantic love, I love you, courage passion
Yellow: Joy, friendship, or a new beginning, jealousy, infidelity
White: Purity, innocence, humility, youthfulness, sincerity
Dark Pink: appreciation, thank you
Light Pink: Elegance, gracefulness
Peach: Desire, anticipation, optimism toward the future, closing the deal, let's get together
Coral: Desire
Orange: Enthusiasm, desire
Lavender (violet): Love at first sight,
Blue: Mystery, attaining the impossible
Red and White together: Unity
Red and Yellow together: Joy
Emblems:
National Flowers of: the USA, England, Bulgaria
State Flowers of: New York, Iowa, North Dakota, Georgia, Alberta (Canada)
City Flowers of: Washington D.C., Portland, Oregon, Islamabad (Pakistan)
Others: The labor/ Socialist/ Social-Democratic parties of Europe. Rugby Union.
Summer (flower of June in English Floral Calendar)
Victorian Language:
Red: Love, beauty, romantic love, I love you, courage passion
Yellow: Joy, friendship, or a new beginning, jealousy, infidelity
White: Purity, innocence, humility, youthfulness, sincerity
Dark Pink: appreciation, thank you
Light Pink: Elegance, gracefulness
Peach: Desire, anticipation, optimism toward the future, closing the deal, let's get together
Coral: Desire
Orange: Enthusiasm, desire
Lavender (violet): Love at first sight,
Blue: Mystery, attaining the impossible
Red and White together: Unity
Red and Yellow together: Joy
Emblems:
National Flowers of: the USA, England, Bulgaria
State Flowers of: New York, Iowa, North Dakota, Georgia, Alberta (Canada)
City Flowers of: Washington D.C., Portland, Oregon, Islamabad (Pakistan)
Others: The labor/ Socialist/ Social-Democratic parties of Europe. Rugby Union.
Mythology/ Folklore:
Chloris, the Greek goddess of flowers, crowned the rose queen of all flowers. The legend of the origin of the rose-- from the Roman empire-- Rhodanthe, a woman of such exquisite beauty that she had many, many suitors-- she showed little interest in any of them and sought refuge in the Temple of Diana. Her suitors were persistent, however, and followed here there, breaking down the gates to get close to her. Diana became incensed at this and turned Rhodanthe into a beautiful rose and the suitors into thorns. From this legend, the rose has become a symbol of love and beauty.
Eros presents a rose to Harpocrates, god of silence. The term sub rosa, 'under the rose,' comes from the Roman practice of hanging a rose over a conference table to indicate that no gossip passed then could be repeated-- today sub rosa means confidential or in secret.
In a Celtic folk legend, a wandering, screaming spirit was silenced by presenting the spirit with a wild rose every new moon.
According to some Biblical legends, the original rose growing in the Garden of Eden was white, but turned red as it blushed with shame upon Adam and Eve's fall from grace.
In German Folklore the soul is supposed to take the form of a flower, as a lily or white rose.
To the Arabs, roses signify masculine beauty, and the white rose was often associated with Mohammed.
In Swiss roses were associated with death, and cemeteries were sometimes called rose gardens. However, the rose also symbolized rebirth and resurrection.
In Hinduism, Pagoda Sin, one of the wives of Vishnu, was discovered in a rose.
Roses were considered the most sacred flowers in ancient Egypt and were used as offerings for the Goddess Isis, goddess of motherhood, magic and fertility.
Sir John Mandeville tells us how when a holy maiden of Bethlehem, “blamed with wrong and slandered,” was doomed to death by fire, “she made her prayers to our Lord that He would help her, as she was not guilty of that sin;” whereupon the fire was sudddenly quenched, and the burning brands became red “roseres,” and the brads that were not kindled became white “roseres” full of roses. “And these were the first roseres and roses”-- henceforth the rose became the flower of the martyrs.
If a maiden had more than one lover, it is believed in one mythology, she should take rose leaves and write the names of her lovers upon them before casting them into the wind. The last leaf to reach the ground would bear the name of the lover whom she should marry.
Chloris, the Greek goddess of flowers, crowned the rose queen of all flowers. The legend of the origin of the rose-- from the Roman empire-- Rhodanthe, a woman of such exquisite beauty that she had many, many suitors-- she showed little interest in any of them and sought refuge in the Temple of Diana. Her suitors were persistent, however, and followed here there, breaking down the gates to get close to her. Diana became incensed at this and turned Rhodanthe into a beautiful rose and the suitors into thorns. From this legend, the rose has become a symbol of love and beauty.
Eros presents a rose to Harpocrates, god of silence. The term sub rosa, 'under the rose,' comes from the Roman practice of hanging a rose over a conference table to indicate that no gossip passed then could be repeated-- today sub rosa means confidential or in secret.
In a Celtic folk legend, a wandering, screaming spirit was silenced by presenting the spirit with a wild rose every new moon.
According to some Biblical legends, the original rose growing in the Garden of Eden was white, but turned red as it blushed with shame upon Adam and Eve's fall from grace.
In German Folklore the soul is supposed to take the form of a flower, as a lily or white rose.
To the Arabs, roses signify masculine beauty, and the white rose was often associated with Mohammed.
In Swiss roses were associated with death, and cemeteries were sometimes called rose gardens. However, the rose also symbolized rebirth and resurrection.
In Hinduism, Pagoda Sin, one of the wives of Vishnu, was discovered in a rose.
Roses were considered the most sacred flowers in ancient Egypt and were used as offerings for the Goddess Isis, goddess of motherhood, magic and fertility.
Sir John Mandeville tells us how when a holy maiden of Bethlehem, “blamed with wrong and slandered,” was doomed to death by fire, “she made her prayers to our Lord that He would help her, as she was not guilty of that sin;” whereupon the fire was sudddenly quenched, and the burning brands became red “roseres,” and the brads that were not kindled became white “roseres” full of roses. “And these were the first roseres and roses”-- henceforth the rose became the flower of the martyrs.
If a maiden had more than one lover, it is believed in one mythology, she should take rose leaves and write the names of her lovers upon them before casting them into the wind. The last leaf to reach the ground would bear the name of the lover whom she should marry.
History/ Modern uses
Roses were used in very early times as a very potent ingredient in love philters.
Josephine Bonaparte, Napoleon's empress, was an ardent rose lover and had a collection of over 250 varieties.
In Unitarian chapels roses are often used in chidren's naming ceremonies.
“[Name] We give you this rose today,
We have taken the thorns off it for this occasion.
But we know that even if we would, we cannot remove the thorns from your life.
Therefore we hope that your life, like this rose, will be beautiful in spite of the thorns.”
Literary Appearances:
What's in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet. — William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet act II, sc. Ii
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,/Old Time is still a-flying — Robert Herrick, To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
'Tis said, as Cupid danced among the gods, he down the/ nectar flung,/ Which, on the white rose being shed, made it for ever/ after red-- Herrick.
O, my love's like a red, red rose/That's newly sprung in June — Robert Burns, A Red, Red Rose
Information appears to stew out of me naturally, like the precious ottar of roses out of the otter. Mark Twain, Roughing It
Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses. — James Oppenheim, "Bread and Roses"
“Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose”— Gertrude Stein, Sacred Emily (1913), a poem included in Geography and Plays.
The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose - Kahlil Gibran
'I love to see you at my table, Nick. You remind me of a- of a rose, an absolute rose.' - Daisy Buchanan, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
“Truths and roses have thorns about them”
