“Grow and love me, my beloved yellow rose” *
How many confessions of love, secret messages, how much attention, joy, worry and excitement at blooming roses, how many whispered memories and belated conversations with home, after it was planted in husband’s garden, did the rose — the companion of humans through different stages of life, a teacher of beauty, growth and transience — sustain?
So much so that it became a symbol used in Slovenian poetry, painting, sayings…, where, with an intuitive language, it connects us to the rich experiences of past generations, summons deep memories and stirs our inner world. Because of the countless stories that have unfolded between it and people across long centuries, and the knowledge about both, it has become part of our cultural heritage.
The tale of the rose could begin anywhere: in prehistoric times, from which come fossils with the characteristic leaves of its predecessor, the dog rose; from the earliest records of the Sumerians mentioning the rose 5,000 years ago; or perhaps with the song of the Greek poetess Sappho “On the Rose” , in which she described the rose as the most beautiful ornament of the world, the most radiant among plants, the eye of all flowers and the reflection of all beauty, bestowing on it the royal status it still holds today. Or in stories from the frescoes of the Knossos palace on Crete, the cradle of European civilization.
The rose was never merely pleasantly scented. It carried a whole range of additional meanings that developed through history as it spread from Persia via ancient Greece and Rome across Europe and the world; alongside shared meanings, the symbolic realm was enriched by characteristics of individual cultural contexts. The common thread in all is admiration for the rose’s beauty and its symbolic connection to love and transience.
Even in the first troubadour love ballad written in the Slovenian language, a red rose is indispensable: “Rasi in lubi me luba moja gartroža rumena” is a verse that was once displayed in old Ljubljana.
There are many stories connected with rose varieties, their colors, their messages… both joyful and melancholic. In certain periods, coded messages played an important role: with a single flower the deepest emotions and secret wishes could be expressed — feelings that otherwise might not find their way to the beloved. Wonderful examples of rose symbolism can be seen in paintings exhibited in the National Gallery and in the National Museum in Ljubljana: roses are often in the foreground, sometimes with the loud message “I am here,” other times gently placed on a nearby cabinet, or in the background as a symbol of farewell.
The rose stands out for another reason: on a symbolic level it combines qualities that in our bipolar views appear as opposing — even mutually exclusive.
Perhaps therein lies its special beauty.
Written by: Lidija Drobež
* The oldest known Slovenian record of a rose – gartroža – is in the Turjaški Manuscript from the 14th or 15th century (yellow means red in the language of the 15th century).
** Images: National gallery Ljubljana, Mihael Stroj, Luiza Pesjak, public Domain; Fortunat Bergant, Ana Marija Baronica Erberg in City Museum, Mihael Stroj, Žena dr.Maderja s hčerko , all public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Cover photo: photo Simon Chang, Volčji Potok Arboretum, silk square Rosarium roses;