Have you ever wondered why you send Red Roses on Valentine’s Day?
With Valentine’s day just around the corner, we wanted to research the significance of the most romantic day on the annual calendar each year. Our questions reached far and wide and we found interesting answers to each of our questions:
- What do red roses mean when you send them?
- What is the significance of the single red rose?
- Why send a dozen red roses?
- What does the colour of the rose I send mean?
- What does the number of rose petals signify?
- Why is the heart a sign of love?
- Where did Valentine’s Day originate from for 14th February?
What sending a red rose means:
Red roses carry emotions with their delivery – love, desire and often lust. They can also be sent to convey respect and admiration. The number of red roses included in a delivery have special romantic meanings too.
Why send a single red rose?
A single red rose was initially a symbol of the Roman goddess Venus, the goddess of love. The original mean of the single red rose is ‘I love you’. Throughout history, people have gifted single red roses to one another to show their love for another. Sigh!
Why send one dozen red roses?
One dozen of classic red roses are the modern symbol for true love. They can be used to represent perfect beauty or to express our complete love and gratitude. One dozen red roses have become the definitive symbol for true love.
Likewise, 24 red roses meaning' symbolism is meant to say “I think of you 24 hours a day.”
What do coloured roses signify?
Roses have become the traditional Valentine's Day flower, they represent romance and love. However there are many other flowers that people send to communicate the different types of love they feel for those important people in their lives.
The colour of the rose you select is significant. Each colour has a distinct meaning:
- Red - the lover's rose, signifies enduring passion
- White - purity, humility and innocence (coincidentally the traditional wedding rose selection)
- Yellow - expressing friendship
- Pink - joy, gratitude, appreciation and admiration
- Orange - enthusiasm and desire
- Lilac and Purple roses - represent enchantment and love at first sight.
The significance of the number of petals on a rose?
Wild roses have 5 petals and 5 sepals. Large number of petals is a result of mutation and it can be seen in modern cultivated roses. Roses are well known by their prickles and often cultivated roses have less thorns and also less fragrance because of their mass production.
The five petals of the traditional rose reflect the five languages of love:
- Receiving gifts,
- Quality time
- Words of affirmation,
- Acts of service,
- Physical touch.
It’s common for each individual to have a natural preference for one of the above languages of love without realising it. Do you or your partner show love by leaving love messages for one another? Or perhaps washing the car is a way to show you care? Everyone shows their affection differently and it’s important to recognise how.
What is the significance of the heart shape?
The heart shape (❤) is a symbol used to express the idea of the "heart" in its metaphorical or symbolic sense as the centre of emotion, including affection and love, especially romantic love. (At Edible Blooms we especially love this because of our love for heart shaped creamy chocolates in our delicious bouquets!)
The origin and romance of celebrating love on 14th February for St Valentine
As for the origins of Valentine’s Day and how we came to celebrate love annually on the 14th February, there are many colourful tales throughout history with the oldest dating back to the Feast of Saint Valentine in AD 496.
This feast was established by Pope Gelasius I to be celebrated on February 14 in honour of the Christian martyr, Saint Valentine of Rome, who died on that date in AD 269 and overtime romance and love have threaded their way to continue our celebrations on this auspicious date.
In more recent times, the famed verse ‘Roses are Red’ can be traced as far back as Edmund Spenser’s epic The Faerie Queene (1590):
"She bath'd with roses red, and violets blew,
And all the sweetest flowres, that in the forrest grew."[61]
A more modern version of these classic Valentine's Day prose can be found in the collection of English nursery rhymes Gammer Gurton’s Garland (1784):
"The rose is red, the violet's blue,
The honey's sweet, and so are you.
Thou art my love and I am thine;
I drew thee to my Valentine:
The lot was cast and then I drew,
And Fortune said it shou'd be you."
So if you’re read this far, why send Red Roses from Edible Blooms?
- They are not prickly – our roses are not delivered with thorns.
- They taste amazing – you can’t eat real petals but you can eat our chocolate flower centres.
- They last longer – freshly made just for you, our chocolate red roses will last up to 6 months - if your willpower does. You can also order refills to make it the gift that keeps on giving.
- You can personalise your bouquet with a message on your ribbon, a sticker message and also your free gift card included with every Edible Bloom.
Wishing you and your partner a happy and joyful St Valentine’s Day on the 14th February!
With love from all the team at Edible Blooms
xx
