Red Flower Symbolism with Emphasize on Iranian Culture and Art

Among the flowers, rose, Suri rose, “Golab” or Mohammadi flower is more popular among Iranians and Golab has been known since ancient times, being used in religious ceremonies and for medical purposes from the past to the present. At celebrations and mourning, people still pass around Golab. The aim of this study, while studying the symbolic concepts of red rose in the culture of Iran and other ethnic groups, is to find out whether red rose and its derivatives can be seen in illustrated manuscripts and works of art of Iran, as much as what we can see in Persian poetry and literature, relying on the symbolic concepts or its applications? This qualitative and fundamental research has been done by relying on the analytical-descriptive method and its information has been collected through the library and electronic study methods. Due to the ancient antiquity of rose and its main product, Golab, in Iran and the use of different parts of this plant in cooking, medicine, and various ceremonies, the existence of Golabdaan and Golabpash leftover from past eras and despite the emphasis of numerous written sources of Persian literature on Rose, Mohammadi, and Golab, the present study found a few illustrated designs and copies on the subject of rose and Golab making and its applications. However, decorative aspects such as flower and bird paintings of the Qajar period can be found in abundance. The result of this study showed that from a symbolic point of view, the rose is a symbol in the context of the studied cultures with common characteristics such as love and beauty, divine perfection, mysticism, light, purification, infinity.