The History of Giving Flowers As A Gift.

By Jannet Ellis

There is no one date that anyone can point to saying “ this is the day civilization began giving flowers as a gift. But what we do know is that ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Chinese all have stories and folklore regarding the use of flowers to express emotions. It was the Roman brides who first started to carry a wedding bouquet of flowers since it was thought to ward off evil spirit and promote fertility. The ancient Greeks associated various flowers and their meanings with their gods and goddesses.

The middle-ages really started the modern flower gift giving tradition. Carl II, of Sweden brought to Europe flowers and flower meanings after he observed the Persians in Turkey. The Persians mastered  the art of giving flowers and asserting meaning to the flowers. It was their way of expressing emotions and conveying messages. It said (whether legend or not) that Persians used flowers to covertly convey military messages. King Carl was so impressed he brought the meanings home.

The Persians’ mastery of flower giving was the starting point for the Victorian era style of flower giving. The Victorian era was a time where you did not express emotions. It was a society full of formality, protocols  and traditions. So the Victorians created not only meanings for each flower but meanings for how they were given. They even created meanings for combinations of flowers that were given. There were numerous books written during the time but there was not always a consensus on what a particular flower combination meant.

Though we do not have the same formality in giving flowers today, we do tend to use them to mark certain rights of passages like births, deaths, weddings, retirement, and graduations. And, we do use certain types of flowers to convey certain meanings such as the red rose. Nevertheless, there are some notable cultural differences on giving flowers in modern times. For example,  in Russia, you would only give a single flower to a person on their birthday. In China, you would not give a potted plant as a gift since it is considered to have a negative message of restrictions. White lilies to the romantic Europeans have a meaning of death and would not be given on festive occasion.

We hope that you liked our little history lesson today. Remember, we are here to help you in giving the  appropriate flower card for all your occasions. Our flower cards are delivered anywhere in the United Kingdom. You can shop directly for our flower cards  from our Facebook page or on our website at www.freshasadiasycards.com.