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Roses in Folklore -- Part 2

© Mark Whitelaw

Roses were used in folklore in many different cultures. The ancient Persians are not without their own myths and folklore. The Islamic invasions of the seventh century and subsequent destruction of records leave modern rose scholars little to study, however.

One of the most noted fables of the time comes from the seventh century and involves Mohammed himself. After one of his wives is accused of adultery, the prophet is instructed by an angel to have her cast a bouquet of red roses into a pool of water. If the roses turn yellow, she would be guilty of the act; if not, her innocence would be proven. As legends go, the bouquet turns yellow and hence we now have yellow roses. In fact, the bouquet remained the same color and (again, according to another legend) the laws for determining adulterous behavior were changed.

We also know from eleventh century Sufi poetry that the rose became the symbol of life — its beauty a metaphorical representation of perfection, and the thorns a representation of the difficulties one must overcome to reach that perfection.

Even as late as the first half of the twentieth century, the folklore of Islamic Morocco dictates that rosewater should be mixed with saffron and used in writing special charms in the pre-dawn hours of the first Sunday of the month. Rosewater is considered a purification agent in clothes. Roses, created in the form of amulets, are to be worn as protection against the "evil eye" and crushed roses or rose hips are frequently applied to tombstones, especially those of women.

Whether this latter practice is directly linked to Islam or to the Romans as their empire spread across most of Europe, the Near East and northern Africa is subject to scholarly debate. The use of roses as a part of burial rituals can be found throughout the former Empire of Rome, including Wales where white roses are to be placed on the grave of young children as a sign of their innocence.

Just as the Islamic Empire was spreading throughout western Asia and northern Africa, the post-Roman influence waned in central and western Europe. The cultivation and use of roses, closely associated with pantheistic Rome, was frowned upon by the early Christian churches of the Dark Ages. Its use in myths of the time is associated with deception and trickery. In the tale of Merlin and Viviane, the Lady of the Lake, Arthur's wizard is entrapped in a tower created from a white rose while he is walking in the Breceliande forest.

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