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You are here: Home / Language / Where Did the Custom of Giving a Dozen Roses To a Lover Come From and What Does it Symbolize?

Where Did the Custom of Giving a Dozen Roses To a Lover Come From and What Does it Symbolize?

June 4, 2020 by Karen Hill

It was the Persians (Iranians) who initiated the idea of communicating through flowers.

The custom was introduced to Europe courtesy of Sweden’s King Charles XII (1682-1718), who lived as an exile in Turkey in the early eighteenth century.

In Persia every flower had a meaning.

This notion captured the hearts of Europeans, who began carrying out complete conversations by exchanging different kinds of flowers.

In the language of flowers, roses are said to communicate love and passion, so a dozen is like shouting out loud.

As important as roses are to Valentine’s Day, the real flower of the day ought to be a violet.

Legend says that violets grew outside the window area of the prison cell occupied by St. Valentine prior to his martyrdom in 269 AD.

It was said that he crushed up the petals of the violets to make ink for writing letters.

Related Facts

  • History of Roses
  • Where Did Roses Come From?
  • Are all Flowers Bisexual with Both Male and Female Reproductive Parts and Capable of Playing Either Role in Reproduction?
  • What Do Different Kinds of Flowers Symbolize and What Do the Colors of Flowers Mean?
  • The History of Tulips
  • Where does the expression “six of one and half a dozen of the other” originate and What does it mean?

Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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