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In Renaissance Europe the color yellow was associated with Jews and heretics. Later, during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, yellow came to be associated with Judas Iscariot, and therefore with his sins, namely jealousy and betrayal. Consequently the yellow rose took on these connotations, giving it a much different meaning in the West than it held in the East, the later culture seeing it as warm, healthy and positive. When the Victorian language of flowers later developed in Europe, the East had become fashionable, and eventually the Eastern associations with yellow were adopted by the West. It is therefore not uncommon to see dual meanings for the yellow rose, and yellow flowers in general, among the many books that seek to express the meaning of flowers.
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ROSES IN THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS |
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LINKS
TO ROSE VARIETIES
Black: Anarchy / Death
Blue: Mystery / Secrets
Lavender: Gay / Enchantment
Orange: Desire / Lust
Pink: Grace / Friendship
Red: Love / Romance
Silver:
Poetry / Class
White: Innocence / Chastity
Yellow: Friendship / Jealousy |
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FLOWER SORCERY
A Yellow Rose Curse
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In the Victorian Language of Flowers the yellow rose most often expressed jealousy and treachery. Today, many have forgotten this association, and it has largely been replaced with the contemporary meaning of yellow for friendship and cheer. This gives an advantage to those of us with more arcane knowledge, who are able to present a friendemy with the perceived gesture of a friendly rose, when in actuality cursing them. In itself this is a faint curse, little more than jealousy itself or the evil eye would engender. To embolden this curse one may spend the subsequent hours prior to the presentation of the yellow rose by placing it in a vase filled with your chamber lye, sulphur, and three nails (coffin nails work best). The nails can later be reused for other nefarious spells, and the solution flushed down the toilet. The yellow rose should be given along with a smile.
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YELLOW ROSE MYTHOLOGY |
A seventeenth century fable tells of the prophet Mohammed, after one of his wives was accused of adultery, being instructed by an angel to determine her guilt by throwing a bouquet of red roses into a pool. Would they have remained red, her guilt would have been proven false. Instead they turned yellow, a declaration of her guilt and the reason why yellow rose came into existence.
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YELLOW ROSE FOLKLORE
Selections on yellow rose lore from 'Folk-lore From Adam's County Illinois'
by Harry H. Hyatt
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#8979: A yellow rose given to someone of the opposite sex is a sign of jealousy. The person who wears any kind of yellow flower is jealous.
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Pfeffel, a German poet, has pleasingly accounted for the origin of the Yellow Rose, the emblem of envy and jealousy, in the following manner
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Once a White Rose-bud reared her head,
And peevishly to Flora said,
"Look at my sister's blushing hue—
Pray, mother, let me have it too."
"Nay, child," was Flora's mild reply,
"Be thankful for such gifts as I
Have deemed befitting to dispense
Thy dower the hue of innocence."
When did Persuasion's voice impart
Content and peace to female heart
Where baleful Jealousy bears sway.
And scares each gentler guest away?
The Rose still grumbled and complained,
Her mother's bounties still disdained.
"Well, then," said angered Florae—"take"—
She breathed upon her as she spake—
"Henceforth no more in simple vest
Of innocence shalt thou be drest—
Take that which better suits thy mind,
The hue for Jealousy designed!"
The Yellow Rose has from that hour
Borne evidence of Envy's power.
-Pfellel
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Listen! from the forest boughs
The voice-like angel of the spring
Utters his soft vows
To the proud rose blossoming.
And now beneath thy lattice dear!
I am like the bird complaining:
Thou above (I fear)
Like the rose disdaining.
From her chamber in the skies
Shouts the lark at break of morning,
And when day-light flies
Comes the raven's warning.
This of gloom and that of mirth
In their mystic numbers tell;
But thoughts of sweeter birth
Teacheth the nightingale.
-Cornwall.
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A flower was offered to me;
Such a flower as May never bore.
But I said I've a Pretty Rose-tree.
And I passed the Sweet flower o'er.
Then
I went to my Pretty Rose-tree:
To tend her by day and by night.
But my Rose turned away with jealousy:
And her thorns were my only delight.
-Blake
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