Flower Symbolism Through the Ages

Flowers, like soft music, invite sweet romantic moods. Flowers have always been symbols of beauty and affection. Incidentally, flowers are actually the reproductive parts of plants. Hence, flowers are very appropriate symbols used in courtship. On the other hand, flowers are also used in more gloomy situations. Flowers have been used for millennia as part of funeral rites. The earliest evidences of the use flowers in burial rites are the fossils of pollen grains and petals in a Neanderthal burial site. Flowers have been associated with procreation and life even before humans invented the written language.

Daisy is one type of flower that has a long history associated with humans. One Celtic legend tells a story of children who died in childbirth. The spirits of these children scattered daisies on the earth to cheer their sorrowing parents. On the other hand, golden hairpins with daisy designs were found in an ancient Minoan palace on the Island of Crete. These hairpins were dated to be more than 4000 years old. Egyptian ceramics are also decorated with daisies. The old English name of daisy was day’s eye, in reference to the way this flower opens and closes with the sun.