Roses are ancient symbols of love and beauty. The rose was sacred to a number of goddesses (including Isis and Aphrodite), and is often used as a symbol of the Virgin Mary. Roses are so important that the word means pink or red in a variety of languages (such as Romance languages, Greek, and Polish).
A red rose (often held in a hand) is also a symbol of socialism or social democracy; it is also used as a symbol by the British and Irish Labour Parties, as well as by the French, Spanish (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), Portuguese, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Brazilian, Dutch (Partij van de Arbeid) and European socialist parties. This originates from the red rose used as a badge by the marchers in the May 1968 street protests in Paris.
According to the Victorian "Language of flowers", different colored roses each have their own symbolic meaning:
Red: love
Pink: grace, lesser feelings of love
Dark Pink: gratitude
Light Pink: admiration, sympathy
White: innocence, purity, secrecy, friendship, reverence and humility.
See also: White Rose
Yellow: Yellow roses generally mean dying love or platonic love. In German-speaking countries, however, they can mean jealousy and infidelity.
Yellow with red tips: Friendship, falling in love
Orange: passion
Burgundy: beauty
Blue: mystery
Green: calm
Black: slavish devotion (as a true black rose is impossible to produce)
Purple: protection (paternal/maternal love)
The rose has various supernatural/literary attributes that are not discussed in this article.
The rose came to symbolize the Republic of Georgia's non-violent bid for freedom during its Rose Revolution.
The symbol of a rose can also refer to the red rose of Lancaster, and the white rose of York, from the Wars of the Roses period.
Mythology and Superstition
Superstitions regarding the rose are much more numerous in England and Scotland than anywhere else.
In some pagan mythologies, no undead or ghostly creatures (particularly vampires) may cross the path of a wild rose. It was thought that to place a wild rose on a coffin of a recently deceased person would prevent them from rising again. (This particular myth was a plot device used in the 2006 movie, Stay Alive.)
Since the earliest times, the rose has been an emblem of silence:
In Greek Mythology, Eros presents a rose to the god of silence.
The phrase sub rosa or "under the rose", means to keep a secret—derived from the ancient Roman practice of placing a wild rose on the door of a room in which a confidential discussion or meeting was being held.
In a Celtic folk legend, a wandering, screaming spirit was silenced by presenting the spirit with a wild rose every new moon.
Roses were used in very early times as a very potent ingredient in love philters.
According to Indian mythology, one of the wives of Vishnu was found inside a rose.
In Rome it was often customary to bless roses on "Rose Sunday".
In the east it is still believed that the first rose was created from a tear of the prophet Mohammed, and it is further believed that on a certain day in the year the rose has a heart of gold.
In Scotland, if a white rose bloomed in autumn it was a token of an early marriage.
The red rose, it is believed by many religions, cannot grow over a grave.
Rose leaves thrown into a burning flame are said to give good luck.
If a young girl had more than one lover, it is believed in one mythology, she should take rose leaves and write the names of her lovers upon them before casting them into the wind. The last leaf to reach the ground would bear the name of the lover whom she should marry.
It is believed that if a rose bush were pruned on St. John's Eve, it would be guaranteed to bloom in the autumn.