Carnation Macro #1

Carnations are often worn on special occasions, especially Mother's Day and weddings. In 1907, Anna Jarvis chose a carnation as the emblem of... more

by Nick Boren

Title

Carnation Macro #1

Artist

Nick Boren

Medium

Photograph - Digital Image

Description

Carnations are often worn on special occasions, especially Mother's Day and weddings. In 1907, Anna Jarvis chose a carnation as the emblem of Mother's Day because it was her mother's favourite flower.[10] This tradition is now observed in the United States and Canada on the second Sunday in May. Ann Jarvis chose the white carnation because she wanted to represent the purity of a mother's love.[11][12] This meaning has evolved over time, and now a red carnation may be worn if one's mother is alive, and a white one if she has died.[13]

In Korea, carnations express admiration, love and gratitude. Red and pink carnations are worn on Parents Day (Korea does not separate Mother's Day or Father's Day, but has Parents Day on 8 May). Sometimes, parents wear a corsage of carnation(s) on their left chest on Parents Day. Carnations are also worn on Teachers Day (15 May).[citation needed]

Red carnations are worn on May Day as a symbol of socialism and the labour movement in some countries, such as Austria, Italy,[14] and successor countries of the former Yugoslavia. The red carnation is also the symbol of the Portuguese Carnation Revolution.

Green carnations are for St. Patrick's Day and were famously worn by the Irish writer Oscar Wilde. The green carnation thence became a symbol of homosexuality in the early 20th century, especially through the book The Green Carnation and Noël Coward's song, "We All Wear a Green Carnation" in his operetta, Bitter Sweet.

At the University of Oxford, carnations are traditionally worn to all examinations; white for the first exam, pink for exams in between, and red for the last exam.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

One story explaining this tradition relates that initially a white carnation was kept in a red inkpot between exams, so by the last exam it was fully red; the story is thought to originate in the late 1990s.[15]

Uploaded

April 3rd, 2014