Unraveling The History Behind The Custom Of Giving Flowers

By Mark Scott

No tradition helps in expressing human emotions in a better way than gifting flowers or bouquets. Flowers and bouquets have acted as great presents for birthdays and anniversaries, and are also useful for making personal gestures like conveying heartiest congratulations, making apologies or cheering someone up.

It is believed that this custom has roots in prehistoric traditions whose conclusive proof has been unearthed by archaeologists at excavation sites. Flowers have always occupied an important role in ancient Rome and Egypt and in the glorious civilizations of ancient Greece and China whose myths and tales clearly reflect this custom. Giving flowers was considered the best means to convey one's thoughts in these civilizations. The ancient Greeks even considered some flowers to be related to divinity.

The Middle Ages saw a furtherance of this tradition, and France and England were chiefly responsible for carrying this legacy down the ages. The present tradition of giving a specific meaning to each flower was imported to the West from Turkey, from where the French and the British imbibed it and disseminated it in Europe.

The Victorian period spread this custom of flower giving even more. As overt expression of feelings was considered objectionable during the Victorian era, the genteel Victorians cultivated excellent restraint in language and they compensated this hold over the tongue by their gesture of presenting flowers to convey emotions.

The Victorians devised a lot of rules for gifting flowers or bouquets and stuck to them with great ardour. For example, a bouquet of red roses bought from a florist would generate a rather hostile reaction form your beloved if you gifted it to her upside down. This is because red roses which are mostly associated with feelings of love can convey negative feelings when they are presented to the person upside down. In fact, a large number of books were written and disseminated on the language of flowers in the'th century.

This custom has come down the ages, and today people across the world indulge in the act of giving flowers to communicate their feelings. In the present age, the custom of giving flowers or bouquets is rich in different meanings, and guidelines concerning the propriety of the act have gained paramount importance. Gifting red roses is still considered as a passionate demonstration of love, and white lilies are known to symbolize purity and beauty. A single marigold flower is considered to be an expression of sorrow, while friendship is best exhibited by a yellow coloured rose.

Science today has helped us to grow all kinds of flowers anywhere across the globe. If you are residing in Singapore, then a visit to a Singapore flower shop will definitely provide you with the choicest of flowers, both regional as well as exotic varieties, guaranteed to express your feelings to your dear ones in an elegant manner.

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