#60 Rosesopenweekend Entry - The Meaning of Roses 🌹 粉玫瑰和白玫瑰

The roses you see here are from a flower market in Antwerp, Belgium, but I bought them and took the pictures on different days. There were also roses in yellow, orange, lilac, and a wide varieties of red in different tints and shades.

Different colors are said to carry varied connotations. Pink roses are symbolic of grace, elegance and admiration. White roses are associated with innocence, purity and loyalty. Red roses are a widely known symbol of love, passion and courage. But I constantly heard different versions from the rose sellers. I don't really care what each color means, all colors are appealing to me ;).

Earliest roses are known to have grown 35 million-years ago, and from ancient Egyptian tombs, petrified rose wreaths have been unearthed.

In Greek mythology, Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, is said to have created the rose. According to the poet Anacreon, sea foam dripping from her newborn body turned into white roses; thus symbolizing her innocence and purity. Later, her wounded lover Adonis' blood was shed onto a white rose, and the red rose represented her desire and passion.

The Romans, with their counterpart Goddess of Love - Venus, also adopted the rose as a symbol of love and beauty. Cupid offered a rose to bribe the God of Silence to hush his mother Venus's affairs. And when he shot arrows at bees which had stung him, thorns grew from the rose stems where the bees were missed.

There's even The War of the Roses. In this civil war in England in the 15th century, the House of York adopted a white rose, while the House of Lancaster chose a red rose. At last, the winner - Tudor Henry VII created the Tudor Rose by merging his Lancastrian rose with the red rose of his York bride. This Rose is also known as the Rose of England.

So what do you think of the significance of a rose? Which color is your favorite? Feel free to share your comments!

The head image is my entry for the 4th week of #Rosesopenweekend contest hosted by @adrianobalan. Check out this exclusive contest about Rose if you are interested. =)

这两张照片里的玫瑰花🌹是我先后在比利时安特卫普的一个鲜花市场里买的。在古希腊神话中，玫瑰就集爱神与美神于一身，直到今天都是广受大家~~好像更多是女性~~喜爱的一种花。西方国家还有很多女孩子的名字就直接用玫瑰这个词。

从植物学的角度来看，玫瑰（Rosa rugosa）、
月季（Rosa chinensis）和蔷薇（Rosa multiflora）都是蔷薇属（Rosa）的植物。而在英文里都统称Rose，真是为我这种眼盲省去了好多辨别的麻烦。对我来说，最容易区别的就是颜色，而不是什么茎、叶、花瓣之类的细微差别（长吁一口气......）。

我这里拍的两种颜色都比较淡雅，当然也有其他鲜艳的颜色，比如黄色，橙色，丁香色，还有最常见的深浅浓淡不同的各种红色，每种颜色又被人类赋予各自的花语，含义还随着花朵数量有所变化。但是除了众所周知的红玫瑰代表挚爱和热情，其他颜色的花语我看到好多版本，可能很多时候取决于卖花的怎么说吧，呵呵。一般认为粉色寓意优雅、关怀和敬意，白色象征纯洁、真诚和忠心。

你最喜欢哪种颜色的玫瑰/月季/蔷薇？欢迎留言评论，谢谢关注！ :D