Have you ever wonder how people came up with flower giving? Flower giving can be dated back from the ancient times when people use flowers when conveying message to others. This article cites some examples how people from early times used flowers as their medium of communication.
My earliest recollection of receiving flowers would date back some twenty years
ago when my uncle gave me a walking doll (I later on called her Tricia) and a
lei for completing my first school year as the class valedictorian. I hung on to
my lei for a couple of days before it wilt away. In between admiration and
bragging to gal pals, I wondered what the beautiful lei were for. When it
finally gave up and browned on me, I thought, “Why did Tito gave me something
that will just die?”
Egyptian inscriptions, Chinese writings, and the
symbolic use of flowers in both the
Greek and Roman mythology show that the act of giving flowers has been around
since the prehistoric times. During the Middle Ages, courtship is severely
prohibited such that lovers have managed to communicate only through the
language of flowers (otherwise known as Floriography). The type, color, and
manner of giving flowers defined the messages sent. For instance, if a
question’s been asked and a flower’s been given using the right hand, the answer
to the question is “yes”. Handing a flower via the left hand means “no”.
Presented upright, the flowers bring a positive message. A negative message
usually denotes a flower presented upside down. Surprisingly, even a piece of
clothing bearing a scent of a flower can be a message sender where it carries
the same message its flower would have.
The surge of theatre, operas, and
ballets during the Renaissance also gave room to flowers to become symbols of
superstitions. Having real flowers on stage and receiving them before a
performance connote bad luck. Prohibiting the use of real flowers on stage does make sense since the
lights will only cause it to wilt. Handing a performer after his stint is said
to bring in good luck.
Flower giving is still very rampant today and
undoubtedly will stay for the years and years to come. After all these years of
development and hybridization, the selection and messages behind flowers is just
infinite. Understanding that each flower has a distinct meaning from each other
should remind us to do our homework before we run to the flower shop the next
time we intend to hand them out. Not only will this relish and put value on the
flower language but will also help us get our message across right the first
time we say it.
This article was written by Timothy Spencer for Island Rose - Send Gifts to the Philippines. We hope you
enjoyed this article and encourage you to visit our website. Through Island
Rose, you can Send Flowers to
Philippines or simply browse through our blog for more informative
articles.
