What Do Flower Tattoos Mean?
April 12, 2009
Pretty girls and flower tattoos just seem to go together, but flowers are more than decorations on beautiful bodies. Flowers are the perfect picture of nature and have been symbolically linked to several life cycles, like birth, life and death. Different cultures look at flower symbols and tattoos as representations of different beliefs.
The flower, in many cultures, is viewed as definitely feminine, because of it’s cup shape and non-aggressive method of growing and blooming in beautiful colors. Some flowers have powerful spiritual meanings in certain cultures, particularly in the West and East. The influence of flowers is so strong that an entire subliminal language has become common knowledge from the beliefs about certain blossoms and colors.
Flowers have been used to convey subtle meanings probably decades before the Victorian period. Evidence of this can be seen in art created in medieval times and during the Renaissance. Saints were often painted with flowers that represented their moral virtues. In Christian beliefs, for example, the white rose is believed to represent virginity or chastity.
When you are choosing your own flower tattoo design, you might want to check out some meanings before you get it applied to your body. The specific flower has particular meanings or importance, but so do the individual colors. Red, for example, is often considered by many to indicate passion, while pink might symbolize immaturity or a lesser level of passion.
While most flowers have one or two meanings associated with them, the beautiful rose has a very long list of symbolic meanings in the West.
Getting a rose tattoo with your love’s name on it might tell the world that you felt true love for that person if you used a red rose, while a pink rose could symbolize youthful energy, a love of life or desire. On the other hand, tattooing a yellow rose on your body could indicate just friendship, jealousy, infidelity or platonic love.
In the East, the mysterious lotus flower is just as versatile, and, in the language of flowers, purity, chastity, and eloquence are common meanings. Others include beauty, evolution, prosperity, creativity, birth, death and renewal. Hefty load of meanings for such a simple, but gorgeous flower.
You might not believe or even consider the secret language of flowers and their colors when you want a flower tattoo. That might be a mistake.
Perhaps you favorite color is yellow and you want a yellow rose to broadcast your new love. A yellow tulip would announce that you believe your love to be hopeless. Like daffodils? Their yellow color indicates uncertainty or unrequited love.
Common carnations are very popular in flower bouquets and can be found in tattoos. They, like the rose, have a different meaning for each color. Pink says that you have a female’s love and white shows your disdain for the person you’re involved with.
Purple carnations indicate your whimsical or changeable nature, including announcing that you can be fickle. Yellow, with this flower, advertises your disappointment, rejection or disdain. White also sends a message of disdain.
Those striped carnations are very attractive, but the language of flowers says they mean refusal.
While you might not pay attention to the meanings behind simple flowers and their individual colors, it is a good possibility is that your love’s mother or grandmother are very well-versed in the language of flowers and will be giving the object of your well-meaning tattoo an earful all the time. Invisible stress you don’t need.
I’ll bet you thought flowers were simple!
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