Rose tattoo symbolism

The rose, dare I say it, is the most widespread woman tattoo, the most popular flower for the body art fans, and the most romantic symbol ever.

No doubt, the great history of these flowers contains many well-known facts and stories connected with roses somehow. For example, in the XVI century, the rose tattoo marked condemned to death prisoners. The flower is mentioned in the old legends.

In Greek mythology, the rose was associated with Aphrodite, goddess of love. In ancient Rome, goddess Diana was supposed to turn her sweetheart into a rose because of jealousy. Christianity symbolizes this wonderful flower with Divine blood. The first rosary was combined of the rose buds; the beads appeared in a while.

There are different parable stories. For example, about a nightingale in love with a white rose that turned red when the bird hugged it and pierced itself with the thorns. All in all, there have always been many different stories about this flower, adding to its special energy and hidden meaning.

The rose tattoo symbolism is complicated and directly depends on the color, the shape, and the attributes of the picture. The most popular tattoo interpretation is beauty, love, and purity. The roses are used in both wedding and funeral ceremonies. In the first case, they joint the just-married loving hearts together, and as for the other - it symbolizes the eternity and the memory. The white rose means innocence, purity, and loyalty. The golden flower is pictured over the Pope emblem and means the perfection and the sublimity.

The yellow rose, probably one of the rarest rose tattoos, symbolizes sadness and separation. The black flower is worth talking about a little bit more. Traditionally, the black rose tattoo means melancholy loss, romantic heartbreak, or striking for unattainable. This symbol might also mean the loss of a sweetheart, or that feelings have gone. Nevertheless, some of the black rose pictures should not be interpreted like that. One shouldn't take the classical black rose for the blackwork-style tattoo that pictures any subject as a tracery.

The rose thorns

Once the color is chosen, think about your tattoo design. Every added to the main subject attribute changes its meaning. For example, the rose thorns are the masculine symbol. Actually, any thorns tattoo characterizes its owner as a strong power, tough, and bitter-ended person. It's a sign of a defense.

Rose thorn tattoo has another hidden meaning: somehow, they say there is no beauty without sacrifice, no love without pain, and no big gain without a risk. Meshed flowers is a symbol of harmony. For example, the combination of roses with and without thorns stands for the unity of masculine and feminine. Flower compositions tattoos might depict an inscription, or a story. The opportunity to lay a figure or a word with the petals or the rose buds provides an unlimited reach of an artist's imagination.

Once the rose symbol is clear, it is time to make up your mind about its location. Here cannot be any canons as well. The only thing to say is that the tattoo artists are most often addressed to make a hand and a shoulder rose tattoo. Actually, that doesn’t mean as much. The flowers will match any part of your body -from the neck to the footstep. So choose the best one and comment!