What is the origin or history of Valentine's Day flowers and the giving of Valentine's Day flowers ?
The origin or history of Valentine's Day flowers and the giving of Valentine's Day flowers began when Charles II of Sweden introduced to the Swedish court the ancient Turkish poetical art called "Selam" (literally "peace" in Turkish and Arabic, but used as a greeting and as a salutation). A "Selam" was and is a bouquet whose symbolic arrangement forms a code. The purpose of this code is for the sender of the flowers to communicate feelings of affection, attraction, or love to the receiver of the flowers. In this "flower language", each flower symbolizes or represents a message or meaning, and the carefully arranged and hence, coded bouquet of flowers based on this flower language revealed the secret message or messages to the receiver. Throughout the 1700's, floral lexicons were published, and soon this custom spread across Europe. With flower language, it became possible to have entire conversations with a bouquet of flowers. This custom became very popular in Victorian England because during those times, there were severe restraints on displaying emotions and courtship, and so the language of flowers gave the Victorians a secret language with which to communicate their feelings.
In addition to the "Selam" custom, the language of flowers in Europe also derived from two other sources: the Western tradition of floral symbolism which filtered down from antiquity, with contributions from religion, medicine, and mythology, and from the "emblematic" use of flowers in heraldry during the 16th century.
So how did the giving of Valentines Day flowers begin?
The giving of Valentine Day flowers began when the popularity of the floral lexicons enabled many Victorians to become fluent in the language of flowers. At the same time, certain flowers became more popular than others, and as a result, had more traditions and meanings associated with them. The red rose became the most well-known flower in terms of universally symbolizing and representing romantic love. This was due to a belief that the red rose was the favorite flower of the Roman Goddess of Love, Venus, which gave the rose its symbolic meaning as the flower of love and passion. From this belief, it very quickly became popular to give red roses on Valentine's Day. Ever since, the rose has been the traditional Valentine's Day flower, and based on the language of flowers, each color shade and number of roses given to the receiver conveys a specific meaning.
Valentine's Day Candies
Find out about Valentine's Day candies.
Valentine's Day Cards
Send awesome and animated Valentine's Day ecards.
Valentine's Day Chocolates
Find out about various Valentine's Day chocolates.
Valentine's Day Flowers
Discover fabulous Valentine's Day flowers.
Meanings of Valentine's Day Flowers
Discover the symbolic meanings of Valentine's Day flowers and flowers in general.
Valentine's Day
Go to our Valentine's Day home page.
To go to the Valentines's Day Home Page on this website, just click the "Valentine's Day" link below:
Valentine's Day
Click To E-Mail Us Here!
Tell A Friend About This Valentine's Day Web Page!
Bookmark Our Valentine's Day Home Page!
Netscape Users: Press Ctrl + d to bookmark our Valentine's Day Home Page!
Mac Users: Press Apple + d to bookmark our Valentine's Day Home Page!