Miscellaneous Monday - Bring Flowers To Someone Day
Happy Monday Everyone!
For those that aren’t aware today is Bring Flowers To Someone Day!
Have you heard of Floriography (language of flowers)? For centuries, cultures have said flowers tell a story based on the meaning of the flower. Each flower carries a special meaning with certain symbolism behind the flower. For example:
- Amaryllis = Pride
- Begonia = Beware
- Chrysanthemum, white = Truth
- Daisy = Innocence
- Hyacinth = Sport, Game, Play
- Lavender = Distrust
- Rose, red = Love
- Thyme = Courage, Strength
- Willow = Sadness
The act of giving flowers has been a custom dating back ancient times. History documents flowers as an important part of the social customs of Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman cultures.
Learning the special symbolism of flowers became popular during the 1800s. Nearly all Victorian homes had guidebooks for deciphering the “language”, flowers were primarily used to deliver messages that couldn’t be spoken aloud. There were also rules attached to flower giving. If someone gave a bouquet of roses to another and presented them upside down, the receiver would assume the flowers were given out of anger.
One tradition is to select the flowers of a wedding bouquet based on plant symbolism. I didn't know that, I just chose flowers I liked and I still remember the feeling, how much excited I was when I saw it for the first time. I still have it - I made a decoration from the dried flowers and placed it to our bedroom.
Do you have any story connected to flowers giving/receiving, which would you like to share? Which flowers do you like? Thank you.
15 comments
For those who think romance is dead, you should come and spend some time in my company 😁
In the UK in April and may, wild garlic grows all over. It is amazing, you can use it for pesto, wild garlic oil, in stir fry, salad and I love it.
On the weekend, I went to harvest some and as a treat to my wife, I presented her the garlic flowers
I'm not sure what this symbolises, nature, frugality, the fact we have been together almost 10 years 🤣
What I would say is I think they are really pretty and they don't stink of garlic, they have a delicately sweet floral note.
As a bonus you can use them as a garnish to your meal and they taste delicious
@Hana Kučerová thanks for teaching me something new. Floriography will forever be entwined with your name!
I think my wife is in the same boat and picked a wedding bouquet of flowers she liked rather than ones that had a specific meaning. We hung it upside down in her bedroom in the house she grew up in - it's still there every time we visit her parents.
Although I have sent flowers hundreds of times in my life (mostly to my wife) I was never the recipient of flowers until recently when the Community Team sent me an arrangement while our family was going through a difficult period. That will also forever remain in my memory.
I love this word Floriography so thanks for sharing that history @Hana Kučerová! I love getting flowers! My favorites are all the flowers in Hawaii! I have so many pictures of Hawaii flowers from all my trips there. BUT I'm with @Andy Gladstone and was so pleased when I received flowers from the Atlassian Community team after I had surgery. I thought it was the sweetest thing ever and rivaled the time my family all chipped in and sent me flowers on the first valentines day after my husband passed away to keep that tradition my husband had with me going!
Flowers from Community team:
Flowers from my family:
I didn't pick my wedding bouquet based on floriography, but I went with white roses and white ranunculus because they're pretty! Turned out pretty good...white roses symbolize eternal love, a new start, and fresh beginnings while white ranunculus symbolize pure love. Awwww! :)
