The Meaning And History Of Roses.
Roses have been a symbol of love, beauty, war and politics for centuries. The colour and number of roses carry symbolic meanings. Roses are the most popular romantic choice of flowers for gifts across the globe. A bunch of roses or even a single rose works wonders.
An old wives tale tells of how once all roses were white in colour until one night a nightingale fell in love with the beauty of a rose and sang a beautiful song about it. After finishing his song he pressed the thorn filled rose to his chest where it pierced his heart and the rose was forever stained red.
The oldest rose fossils, dated to more than 35 million years old, have been found in Colorado, however the origin of roses is thought to be in the Caspian region of the Northern Gulf of Persia. Ancient Egyptians considered the flowers sacred and used them as funeral wreaths and have been found in their tombs, thought to be an offering to the Goddess Isis. A report by Confucius mentioned that the Imperial Chinese library mentioned many books on roses. The Sumerians of Mesopotamia wrote about roses in an ancient cuneiform tablet written in 2860 BC. In the 15th century after the war of the English roses, winner Henry VII, created the Tudor rose to celebrate by crossbreeding a variety of roses.
On Valentine’s Day rose bouquets are given as gifts across the world as they are considered as one of the most beautiful flowers. Roses can be made into arrangements for weddings and anniversaries and can have very symbolic meanings. For example red roses symbolise deep emotions especially love, white roses are used as a symbol of humility and sympathy, while yellow roses are a symbol of friendship. A true black rose does not yet exist however there are a few varieties that are so deep red in colour they almost look black.
The world’s largest exporter of roses is the Netherlands with approximately 8000 hectares of land being used for the growing of roses. In the Zambia approximately 80 per cent of the land is given over to the cultivation of roses with Ecuador being the next biggest land user for growing of roses at 54 per cent.
