Roses have become a symbol of Valentine’s Day
The Valentine’s Day celebration often comes with roses, especially the red ones, and here is the reason why this flower became the most popular during this occasion.
On different occasions, different items or symbols are associated with them. Just like during Thanksgiving, turkey is a staple meal item. For many people, pumpkin has become the symbol of Halloween.
When it comes to the celebration of Heart’s Day, people often opt to give roses to the special people in their lives.
Based on the article in Reader’sD Digest, a total of $23.9 billion was spent on Valentine’s Day and $2.3 billion was for flowers and these numbers typically increase every year.
Sandra Varley, a florist with more than a decade of experience and the sales and marketing manager for Flying Flowers said, “Plants are great for long-lasting tokens of love, and a simple red rose plant is ever popular.”
Several origins sprouted about the reason why roses have become part of the Heart’s Day celebration. Sara Cleto, Ph.D., a folklorist and co-founder of the Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic said that some stories say that the red rose was created when the Greek goddess Aphrodite was scratched by a white rose’s thorn. It was said that the rose turned red.
Another version of the story says that the first red rose grew on the ground where Adonis, Aphrodite’s lover, died and the goddess’s tears fell.
The history behind the tradition of the rose during Valentine’s Day came from the delight that Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, wife of a British ambassador to Turkey had for the version of Turkish “flower language” or giving meaning and symbolism to certain flowers. However, she seemed to misinterpret this because it was more rhyming words than the significance of the flowers themselves.
“Still, the concept of ‘flower languages’ caught on, especially in 19th-century England, and over the course of that century, roses became ever more tightly linked to romantic love,” Cleto said.
The florist added that the main reason why roses are given during the Heart’s Day was “simply because roses are beautiful, fabulous-smelling flowers that happen to travel really well.” Red roses are more popular because the red color is associated with passion and romantic love.