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Theme: religion
Roses were so closely associated with luxury in the Roman world, and with the pre-Christian love goddess Venus, that centuries passed before the Church accepted roses as symbols of spiritual beauty.
From the 13th Century onwards cathedrals incorporated stained-glass windows in circular patterns known as rose windows. Paradise was described in the form of a rose with God's glory at the golden centre and the blessed enthroned in its petals.
The rosary was a complex of rose images and the golden rose was the highest honour conferred by the Pope.
The Virgin, representing the purified embodiment of love, was called the 'rose without a thorn' and many paintings showed her in a rose garden.
The five petals of a single rose represented Christ's wounds - white was the colour of purity, red of his sacrificial blood.
With their green leaves, rose colours also stood for the three virtues, faith (white), hope (green) and love (red). This colour symbolism applied to other flowers, especially pinks, stocks and lilies.
The lily itself is a strong Christian symbol, with its association with the Virgin Mary and the immaculate conception. Read more about this in the purity theme.
The ancient American civilisations of Mexico and Peru, especially the Incas, adopted sunflowers as the emblems of the sun god. They were carved on temples, worked into golden priestly regalia and carried in garlands by priestesses. Thus they summoned to earth the heavenly powers of regeneration attributed to the sun itself. |
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