What’s in a Rose?
Happy Valentine’s Day! FARZANA SHAKIR on the message behind the rose
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching I bet everyone is feeling the excitement of love in the air.
Flowers, gifts, cards with secret messages, chocolates and loads of mystery are all part of the Valentine’s Day tradition. Now the rose is considered to be one of the greatest symbols of love and appreciation, so naturally this evocative and redolent flower is the number one choice for Valentine’s Day. Indeed, like they say, ‘the rose has been a favourite flower of poets since poetry began. Maybe it’s because like a poem, a rose can say so much without saying much at all.’ But with so many different colours of roses to chose from, I’ve often wondered about the unique meaning behind each rose tint. So, this V-Day, to help make the interpretation of true feelings behind every bud or a bouquet given or received more significant, here’s a guide to the message behind the flower.
Romantic Red
Nothing says ‘I love you’ quite like a bouquet of red roses. It is considered to be the traditional symbol of love and romance. The colour red in a rose signifies romantic love, beauty, longing and desire. It can also be used to convey feelings of respect, devotion and admiration. But if you receive a bouquet of red roses from your boss, it can easily mean ‘Congratulations on a job well done!’ There’s a lot in the numbers where red roses are concerned, for example, the ever-popular bunch of a dozen means ‘I love you’ and ‘Be mine’.
Pleasantly Pink
Generally pink roses are used to convey gentle emotions like innocence, appreciation, joy and admiration. Different shades of pink can connote different emotions from the sender. For example, deep pink roses are sent as a thank you gesture, conveying gratitude and appreciation. Regular pink roses represent happiness. Hence if you’re blissfully happy in your relationship, pink’s the way to go in roses for your partner on Valentine’s Day. Light pink on the other hand can mean ‘sympathy.’ So if a friend or loved one is mourning a loss, light pink roses can be used to express condolence.
Happy Yellow
Yellow roses symbolize friendship, joy and care. Being the colour of the sun it subconsciously evokes warm, happy feelings often shared by friends. If you wish to send flowers to a friend to say that you care for them, yellow roses can be a perfect choice. Similarly, if you receive yellow roses from someone don’t jump to the conclusion that they have a romantic interest at heart; it simply means that the sender is happy and grateful for your friendship which he prefers to keep platonic.
Second only to red roses as a harbinger of love, the orange rose represents excitement, energy, pride, fervour and romance.
Orange Ardour
With their fiery blazing hue, orange roses signify passion and energy. They convey the message of intense desire and fascination by the sender for the receiver. If you receive orange roses this Valentine’s Day you’d be safe to assume the sender desires you or desires to get to know you better. Second only to red roses as a harbinger of love, the orange rose represents excitement, energy, pride, fervour and romance.
Wonderful White
What colour comes to mind when you think of innocence, purity and chastity? Of course, the colour white. And so is the significance of white roses that symbolize all of these characteristics and more. White roses are associated with new beginnings and hence their popularity as bridal bouquets. They are also used to communicate feelings of sympathy and spirituality. When combined with red roses in an arrangement, the two rose shades signify unity. Secrecy, humility, youthfulness and silence are also some traits associated with white roses.
Lovely Lavender
You have reasons to feel over the moon if you receive lavender roses, because they symbolize falling in love. If someone sends you lavender roses they carry the simple and subtle message that you are the object of their love and they are enchanted by you. Traditionally this coloured rose is used to express feelings of love at first sight. Lavender is the colour of enchantment and that is what it symbolizes in a rose: fascination, adoration, splendour and also a degree of royalty.
If your partner bestows blue roses on you, he is basking in his good fortune at having bagged someone like you who he considers a rare find.
Valiant Blue
A perfect blue rose is hard to find. They are elusive as they do not occur naturally and are very hard to reproduce, so the interpretation of a blue rose is that of the unattainable or the mysterious. They represent a desire to attain the inaccessible. So if an admirer sends you blue roses, he is admitting and lamenting that he can’t stop thinking about you even though he knows he can’t have you, that you are the object of his desire but something that’s unattainable and impossible. If your partner bestows blue roses on you, he is basking in his good fortune at having bagged someone like you who he considers a rare find.
Black Finale
Black roses like the blue ones are not easy to find, and many believe they don’t actually exist. One theory is that black roses are in fact really dark red roses that give an illusion of being black. Black is the colour of mourning and death and they signify the death of a feeling or an idea. If someone sends you black roses it indicates the end of a relationship or a farewell of some kind.
A mixed bunch
And then there are bunches of mixed roses. As is obvious by the arrangement, the sender is not quite sure how he feels about you but likes you enough to send you roses. His emotions and feelings are jumbled at present, but given time they could evolve into something meaningful.
