Rose (symbolism)

The rose has long been used as symbols. "Rose" means pink or red in a variety of languages (such as the Romance languages and Greek).

The rose was an icon of veneration in the pre-Christian era, and was used in ancient Rome to symbolize devotion to the goddess Venus. Following the Christianization of Rome under the emperor Constantine, the rose became identified with the Virgin Mary. The rose symbol eventually led to the creation of the rosary and other devotional prayers in Christianity.

The cultivation of geometrical gardens, in which the rose has often held pride of place, has a long history in Iran and surrounding lands. In the lyric ghazal, it is the beauty of the rose that provokes the longing song of the nightingale - an image prominent, for example, in the poems of Hafez.

In turn, the imagery of lover and beloved became a type of the Sufi mystic's quest for divine love, so that Ibn Arabi, for example, aligns the rose with the beloved's blushing cheek on the one hand and, on the other, with the divine names and attributes.

Other well-known examples of rose symbolism in Sufism include;

Catalonians have traditionally celebrated Saint George's Day (April 23)—which commemorates Saint George (Sant Jordi), the patron saint of Catalonia—as the dia dels enamorats (lovers' day), on which lovers exchange blood-red roses.

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