Say It With Roses

As the day of the romantic festival of Valentine’s Day approaches I am reminded of my days in school as a young girl. Once as a grade one pupil our teacher let us create a Valentines card made out of a bond paper using our crayons and scissors. Despite my lack of artistic talent I managed to draw a single rose complete with stem and two leaves. With a little stroke of crayons I made a presentable card. Our teacher then inspected what had come out of our imagination as kids. Alas! I was the only one who had drawn the rose.

My classmates had cut out the paper into a heart shape or drawn heart and what was left of the red crayon was the paper wrapper. If you are imaginative enough, you would know where the residue of the crayon would go. Yeah, right to the finger nails, to the face and worst to the clothes my classmates were wearing. I wrote a simple dedication on my card to my teacher. The following day, my card was already pinned, displayed on our art bulletin board.

Rose is among the most popular symbol of Valentine’s Day. It symbolizes beauty, passion and love. People around the world sent roses on Valentine’s Day to express love and sincere feelings through this lovely flower. It is believed to be the favorite flower of Venus the Goddess of Love. And if you may take notice of it, when the letters are interchanged, the word “ROSE’ could mean “EROS”.

Eros in Greek religion and mythology is god of love. He was the personification of love, including physical passion at its strongest, tender, romantic love, and playful, sportive love. In most legends he was the son of Aphrodite and Ares and was represented as a winged youth armed with bow and arrows. In Hellenistic and Roman myth, he was represented as a naked, winged child, the son and companion of Venus. To the Romans he was Cupid, or Amor, which in English word means Love.

This lovely rose has different colours and the colours have its meaning as well. Here are some of them –

Red Roses – Love, courage, respect, passion
White Roses - True love, purity of the mind
Yellow Roses – Friendship, care
Pink Roses - Friendship or Sweetheart
Light Pink Roses - Elegance, admiration, joy
Deep Pink Roses – Delivers “Thank you” message
Orange roses – Enthusiasm, desire
Peach Roses - Appreciation, gratitude, sympathy
Purple Rose – Enchantment, love at first sight
Black Roses – Farewell, death, new beginnings