Roses and their various colours play a part in the celebration of Christmas with the blooming of the "Christmas Rose".
That title covers a variety of plants, but they all are steeped in the legend that speaks of a young girl named Madelon who wanted to worship the infant Christ.
She had no gold, frankincense and myrrh so she searched for a flower as a gift.
But in the cold and harsh winter, no flowers were growing at all.
As she stood weeping, an angel saw her sorrow and there, where her tears had fallen, sprang up a cluster of beautiful winter roses, waxen white (innocence and purity) with pink (admiration and worship) tipped petals.
In truth, it's not just Christmas or Christianity that incorporates the rose into mythology.
Roses have always been an essential part of many ceremonies and festivities and their particular colour has held deep meaning for almost every society over many thousands of years.
The early Greeks believed that flecks of seafoam dripping from the body of Aphrodite at her birth turned into white roses - representing purity and innocence.
When she tried to comfort her wounded lover Adonis, she shed a few drops of blood onto a white rose and it became red - representing desire and passion.
The colour of roses has always has great cultural significance and resonant mythological meaning.
Red Roses generally stand for love, desire and passion.
Deep pink roses imply gratitude and appreciation while a light pink rose suggests admiration or sympathy.
White Roses equate to innocence, purity and humility.
Yellow Roses reflect joy and gladness, orange roses are said to embody enthusiasm and joviality, while red, yellow and pale blends are the rose of gaiety, joviality and friendship.
No one is entirely sure what the Blue rose signifies!That could be because genuine blue roses just do not exist- at least not yet.
You can get them by cutting specially selected immature white roses from the plant and cultivating them in a blue dye solution so that the colour can grow into the petals as well as the leaves and stems.
This produces a very deep and impossibly blue rose, but a bunch of Australian and Japanese Scientists working at the CSIRO may have discovered the genetically modified route to the genuine blue rose article! What about the Black rose? It doesn't exist in nature, but could probably be achieved by the same route as the Blue Rose.
If it's associated with anything, then it could be death or sorrow.
But according to Aretha Louise Franklin it does exist.
There is a rose in Spanish Harlem, a rose in Black in Spanish Harlem.
It is a special one, it's never seen the sun.
It only comes out when the moon is on the run and all the stars are gleaming.
It's growing in the street right up through the concrete, soft and sweet and dreamin'.
The Queen of Soul can't be wrong.
The Black rose is optimism and determination personified.
That title covers a variety of plants, but they all are steeped in the legend that speaks of a young girl named Madelon who wanted to worship the infant Christ.
She had no gold, frankincense and myrrh so she searched for a flower as a gift.
But in the cold and harsh winter, no flowers were growing at all.
As she stood weeping, an angel saw her sorrow and there, where her tears had fallen, sprang up a cluster of beautiful winter roses, waxen white (innocence and purity) with pink (admiration and worship) tipped petals.
In truth, it's not just Christmas or Christianity that incorporates the rose into mythology.
Roses have always been an essential part of many ceremonies and festivities and their particular colour has held deep meaning for almost every society over many thousands of years.
The early Greeks believed that flecks of seafoam dripping from the body of Aphrodite at her birth turned into white roses - representing purity and innocence.
When she tried to comfort her wounded lover Adonis, she shed a few drops of blood onto a white rose and it became red - representing desire and passion.
The colour of roses has always has great cultural significance and resonant mythological meaning.
Red Roses generally stand for love, desire and passion.
Deep pink roses imply gratitude and appreciation while a light pink rose suggests admiration or sympathy.
White Roses equate to innocence, purity and humility.
Yellow Roses reflect joy and gladness, orange roses are said to embody enthusiasm and joviality, while red, yellow and pale blends are the rose of gaiety, joviality and friendship.
No one is entirely sure what the Blue rose signifies!That could be because genuine blue roses just do not exist- at least not yet.
You can get them by cutting specially selected immature white roses from the plant and cultivating them in a blue dye solution so that the colour can grow into the petals as well as the leaves and stems.
This produces a very deep and impossibly blue rose, but a bunch of Australian and Japanese Scientists working at the CSIRO may have discovered the genetically modified route to the genuine blue rose article! What about the Black rose? It doesn't exist in nature, but could probably be achieved by the same route as the Blue Rose.
If it's associated with anything, then it could be death or sorrow.
But according to Aretha Louise Franklin it does exist.
There is a rose in Spanish Harlem, a rose in Black in Spanish Harlem.
It is a special one, it's never seen the sun.
It only comes out when the moon is on the run and all the stars are gleaming.
It's growing in the street right up through the concrete, soft and sweet and dreamin'.
The Queen of Soul can't be wrong.
The Black rose is optimism and determination personified.
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