Why do we like to give and receive flowers on Valentine's Day?

Plant language is the highest and oldest in history.

It is loaded with symbolism and beauty, it is universal and profound.

It is also the most eloquent in its simplicity.

In times of artificial intelligence, augmented realities,

threads, reels, microblogging

and GPT chat, isn't it fascinating to be able to transmit the most frank emotions with a flower that has sprouted in nature?

“Flowers, which in prehistoric societies constituted food for man, began to be used as symbols and amulets in offerings and rituals 7,000 years before Christ.

This would be the origin of floral culture,” explains architect and landscape designer Marta Gallego, also a professor of Garden History at the Castillo de Batres School of Landscaping.

Ancient Egypt is the first moment in history in which the use of floral arrangements among the elites and in the environment of the pharaohs is documented.

With the blue lotus (

Nymphaea caerulea

) as the protagonist, bouquets were made for funeral cults, garlands for parties and crowns for celebrations.

More information

Why does everyone want a perennial garden?

The orchard with a lively air that never fades

In ancient Greece, flowers and vegetables became popular among all social classes as offerings to the gods and to celebrate victories in battles.

Cornucopias emerge that combine flowers and fruits as a symbol of abundance and wealth, and the heroes are adorned with laurel wreaths.

Species with symmetrical shapes – lilies, orchids, daffodils… – were the most appreciated due to their geometric perfection.

Mythology gave symbolic value to flowers, relating each species to a god.

The roses were for Aphrodite.

This is the first historical link that connects the queen of flowers with love and the first outline of a language of flowers, still very primitive.

“There are also references in

Eros and Psyche,

a myth from Antiquity loaded with plots of love, heartbreak, crushes and jealousy that culminates with a wedding for eternity in which red roses sprout on Olympus,” adds Marta Gallego.

Roses for Aphrodite… and for all lovers

Today, seven out of every 10 flowers sold in Spanish florists on Valentine's Day are roses, according to the Spanish Association of Florists (AEFI).

“For Valentine's Day alone, each florist sells an average of 800 rose stems.

Not to mention wild bouquets, carnations, arrangements of preserved flowers, compositions of cut flowers in baskets or candy boxes for those looking for something alternative... Or ornamental potted plants, such as the orchid, loaded with erotic connotations thanks to mythological stories, for those who They prefer the live flower,” they say in AEFI.

Marta Gallego explains a curious fact: “The Anglo-Saxon tradition of Valentine's Day did not reach Spain until the middle of the 20th century.

It was introduced by the founder of Galerías Preciados, who detected a commercial vein in the custom of giving flowers and generating consumption with the excuse of a day dedicated to love."

Thus, from their warehouses on Madrid's Gran Vía, the gesture of giving flowers and chocolates on February 14 immediately spread to the rest of the country.

Today, seven out of 10 flowers sold in Spanish florists on Valentine's Day are roses.Anjelika Gretskaia (Getty Images)

Dahlias, lilies, orchids and daisies for all types of love

“It is believed that the custom of giving flowers as a demonstration of love dates back to weddings in the Middle Ages, when it became fashionable to decorate with bouquets to perfume the atmosphere and mask bad odors at wedding celebrations,” says landscaper Fernando. Pozuelo.

Beyond this unusual cosmetic function, the true turning point in the use of the flower as a signifier of love in Western cultures takes place in the 19th century, when floral art becomes a symbol of status and good taste in the Victorian society.

“Wealthy ladies attended classes to master the design of bouquets and arrangements and canonical rules were established regarding the use of the various species and the combination of shapes and colors,” explains Marta Gallego.

Thus Floriography or language of flowers was born, a silent slang encrypted with codes that only the elite that handles plant art is capable of interpreting.

Bouquets and

bouquets

allow a silent form of social expression equivalent to the language of the fan.

Depending on the flower chosen, the color, the position of the stem when delivering it, the hand (right or left) with which the recipient picks it up or the context surrounding the moment of delivery, the eloquence of what was expressed without mediation. word was almost infinite.

“The rose, with all its varieties and cultivars, was the great protagonist,” says Gallego.

The custom of giving flowers as a demonstration of love dates back to weddings in the Middle Ages.LightFieldStudios (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Due to its historical and artistic connection throughout the centuries with the beautiful and carnal Aphrodite, the red rose embodies desire and passion in Floriography.

The dahlia, eternal fidelity and commitment.

The lily of the Incas or alstroemeria, devotion and unconditional friendship.

“The orchid, a symbol of lust and sensuality, and the daisy, a symbol of purity and tenderness, are other species that refer to various ways of professing love,” adds Fernando Pozuelo.

Also the almond flower, which connects with the story of Saint Valentine himself: defying the laws of the Empire, this Roman monk secretly married soldiers, who were prohibited from marriage so as not to be distracted from their obligations in battle.

He was discovered and tortured, and died on February 14.

An almond tree was planted next to his grave, whose pink flower, which blooms just at this time, symbolizes the eternal strength of love.

The eloquence of flowers

Curiously, in an increasingly technical and virtual environment, the language of flowers has continued to enrich and inspire our ability to express feelings.

Although the exact codes of Floriography are barely used anymore, everyone interprets the gesture of giving a bouquet

or

corsage as an unequivocal sign of love—more or less platonic, more or less carnal .

The democratization of flowers as an ornament and as a gift has allowed us to overthrow that elitist and exclusive character reserved for ladies in the 19th century, and today there are many people of any socioeconomic level who give them and receive them as a token of love.

And flowers embody many of the attributes and qualities associated with desire and affection: pleasure, seduction, trust, attraction, fidelity, lust, commitment...

“In addition, it is scientifically proven that surrounding yourself with plants causes a positive emotional impact in humans that connects with the sensations of joy, fullness, joy and well-being that are triggered by being in love,” adds Fernando Pozuelo.

This innate sense of connection with nature “improves mood, reduces stress, connects both the giver and the recipient with the present and the idea of

​​carpe diem

, and allows positive feelings to be expressed without the need for words.” ”, adds the landscaper.

Analog is 'sexy'

“Flowers evoke sensations that transport us to happy moments,” explains florist Jesús Viñambres. Daniela Duncan (Getty Images)

More than a thousand years after the decoration of wedding ceremonies began to make the trend of surrounding oneself with flowers

viral

to celebrate love, giving and being given flowers we still like it “for the same reason that we like a hug from our mother or an aroma that takes us back to childhood,” says Jesús Viñambres, from the Madrid florist Lufesa.

“Flowers evoke sensations that transport us to happy moments.

Being given the latest in technology is great, but contact with that object will never be able to move your emotions.

It also does not allow us to forge ties with nature or with the people you love.

Plants do,” he says.

The plant world nourishes the body, and also the spirit.

That is why the aesthetic and stimulating language of flowers is and always will be perfect for communicating the deepest feelings.

Analog is

sexy

.

And a flower will never cease to be the most eloquent way to say “I love you.”