By Paul Scott

Down the ages, human feelings have found great expressions through the custom of gifting flowers or bouquets. Flowers and bouquets are made use of for several purposes, from congratulating someone on the occasion of his or her birthday or anniversary to expressing an apology, or even to just cheer up someone.

Some people think that this tradition started way back during prehistoric times with archaeologists finding proof of its existence at ancient sites. Ancient Greek mythology, Chinese stories and history concerning the Romans and Egyptians all show that flowers had an indispensable role to play in their culture. In these cultures, it was thought that feelings could find their most suitable expression through the gifting of flowers. Greek mythology is replete with identification of certain flowers that were thought to be representations of gods and goddesses.

The Middle Ages saw a continuation of this tradition, and France and England were mainly responsible for transferring this legacy down the ages. The modern custom of assigning a meaning to each flower is thought to have been brought to Europe after the French and the British experienced it in Turkey.

The tradition of flower giving touched new heights in the Victorian era. Exhibiting emotions verbally and publicly was against the tradition during the Victorian era, and hence people used subtle ways to demonstrate their emotions in the form of presenting flowers or bouquets.

The Victorians devised many rules for gifting flowers or bouquets and implemented them with great ardour. To take an example, buying a bouquet of red roses from a florist and presenting to your beloved upside down would surely annoy her. Red roses, that otherwise symbolize love, can depict anger if presented upside down. In fact, the 19th century saw many books published on the topic of language of flowers.

This custom continues till the present day, where people gift flowers to others to express their feelings. Through gradual changes over the years, we have reached a stage where a lot of flowers now have some meaning and gifting flowers or bouquets has to be done according to fixed rules and regulations. Gifting red roses is still considered as a passionate demonstration of love, and white lilies are known to represent purity and elegance. A lone marigold flower is regarded as an expression of sorrow, on the other hand friendship is best exhibited by a yellow coloured rose.

Science today has helped us to grow all kinds of flowers anywhere in the world. If you are located in Singapore, then a visit to a Singapore flower shop will surely provide you with the best quality flowers, both local as well as exotic varieties, guaranteed to express your feelings to your dear ones in an elegant manner.

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