CHAPTER IV.

Floral Ceremonies, Wreaths, and Garlands.

The application of flowers and plants to ceremonial purposes is of the highest antiquity. From the earliest periods, man, after he had discovered

“What drops the Myrrh and what the balmy Reed,”

offered up on primitive altars, as incense to the Deity, the choicest and most fragrant woods, the aromatic gums from trees, and the subtle essences he obtained from flowers. In the odorous but intoxicating fumes which slowly ascended, in wreaths heavy with fragrance, from the altar, the pious ancients saw the mystic agency by which their prayers would be wafted from earth to the abodes of the gods; and so, says Mr. Rimmel, “the altars of Zoroaster and of Confucius, the temples of Memphis, and those of Jerusalem, all smoked alike with incense and sweet-scented woods.” Nor was the admiration and use of vegetable productions confined to the inhabitants of the old world alone, for the Mexicans, according to the Abbé Clavigero, have, from time immemorial, studied the cultivation of flowers and odoriferous plants, which they employed in the worship of their gods.

But the use of flowers and odorous shrubs was not long confined by the ancients to their sacred rites; they soon began to consider them as essential to their domestic life. Thus, the Egyptians, though they offered the finest fruit and the finest flowers to the gods, and employed perfumes at all their sacred festivals, as well as at their daily oblations, were lavish in the use of flowers at their private entertainments, and in all circumstances of their every-day life. At a reception given by an Egyptian noble, it was customary, after the ceremony of anointing, for each guest to be presented with a Lotus-flower when entering the saloon, and this flower the guest continued to hold in his hand. Servants brought necklaces of flowers composed chiefly of the Lotus; a garland was put round the head, and a single Lotus-bud, or a full-blown flower was so attached as to hang over the forehead. Many of them, made up into wreaths and devices, were suspended upon stands placed in the room, garlands of Crocus and Saffron encircled the wine cups, and over and under the tables were strewn various flowers. Diodorus informs us that when the Egyptians approached the place of divine worship, they held the flower of the Agrostis in their hand, intimating that man proceeded from a well-watered land, and that he required a moist rather than a dry aliment; and it is not improbable that the reason of the great preference given to the Lotus on these occasions was derived from the same notion.

This fondness of the ancients for flowers was carried to such an extent as to become almost a vice. When Antony supped with Cleopatra, the luxurious Queen of Egypt, the floors of the apartments were usually covered with fragrant flowers. When Sardanapalus, the last of the Assyrian monarchs, was driven to dire extremity by the rapid approach of the conqueror, he chose the death of an Eastern voluptuary: causing a pile of fragrant woods to be lighted, and placing himself on it with his wives and treasures, he soon became insensible, and was suffocated by the aromatic smoke. When Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syrian king, held high festival at Daphne, in one of the processions which took place, boys bore Frankincense, Myrrh, and Saffron on golden dishes, two hundred women sprinkled everyone with perfumes out of golden watering-pots, and all who entered the gymnasium to witness the games were anointed with some perfume contained in fifteen gold dishes, holding Saffron, Amaracus, Lilies, Cinnamon, Spikenard, Fenugreek, &c. When the Roman Emperor Nero sat at banquet in his golden palace, a shower of flowers and perfumes fell upon him; but Heliogabalus turned these floral luxuries into veritable curses, for it was one of the pleasures of this inhuman being to smother his courtiers with flowers.

Both Greeks and Romans caried the delicate refinements of the taste for flowers and perfumes to the greatest excess in their costly entertainments; and it is the opinion of Baccius that at their desserts the number of their flowers far exceeded that of their fruits. The odour of flowers was deemed potent to arouse the fainting appetite; and their presence was rightly thought to enhance the enjoyment of the guests at their banqueting boards:--

“The ground is swept, and the triclinium clear, The hands are purified, the goblets, too, Well rinsed; each guest upon his forehead bears A wreath’d flow’ry crown; from slender vase A willing youth presents to each in turn A sweet and costly perfume; while the bowl, Emblem of joy and social mirth, stands by, Filled to the brim; and then pours out wine Of most delicious flavour, breathing round Fragrance of flowers, and honey newly made, So grateful to the sense, that none refuse; While odoriferous fumes fill all the room.”--_Xenophanes._

In all places where festivals, games, or solemn ceremonials were held, and whenever public rejoicings and gaiety were deemed desirable, flowers were utilised with unsparing hands.

“Set before your doors The images of all your sleeping fathers, With Laurels crowned; with Laurels wreath your posts, And strew with flowers the pavement; let the priest Do present sacrifice; pour out the wine, And call the gods to join with you in gladness.”--_Dryden._

In the triumphal processions of Rome the streets were strewed with flowers, and from the windows, roofs of houses, and scaffolds, the people cast showers of garlands and flowers upon the crowds below and upon the conquerors proudly marching in procession through the city. Macaulay says--

“On ride they to the Forum, While Laurel-boughs and flowers, From house-tops and from windows, Fell on their crests in showers.”

In the processions of the Corybantes, the goddess Cybele, the protectress of cities, was pelted with white Roses. In the annual festivals of the Terminalia, the peasants were all crowned with garlands of flowers; and at the festival held by the gardeners in honour of Vertumnus on August 23rd, wreaths of budding flowers and the first-fruits of their gardens were offered by members of the craft.

In the sacrifices of both Greeks and Romans, it was customary to place in the hands of victims some sort of floral decoration, and the presiding priests also appeared crowned with flowers.

“Thus the gay victim with fresh garlands crowned, Pleased with the sacred pipe’s enlivening sound. Through gazing crowds in solemn state proceeds, And dressed in fatal pomp, magnificently bleeds.”--_Phillips._

The place erected for offerings was called by the Romans _ara_, an altar. It was decorated with leaves and grass, adorned with flowers, and bound with woollen fillets: on the occasion of a “triumph” these altars smoked with perfumed incense.

The Greeks had a Nymph of Flowers whom they called Chloris, and the Romans the goddess Flora, who, among the Sabines and the Phoceans, had been worshipped long before the foundation of the Eternal City. As early as the time of Romulus the Latins instituted a festival in honour of Flora, which was intended as a public expression of joy at the appearance of the welcome blossoms which were everywhere regarded as the harbingers of fruits. Five hundred and thirteen years after the foundation of Rome the Floralia, or annual floral games, were established; and after the sibyllic books had been consulted, it was finally ordained that the festival should be kept every 20th day of April, that is four days before the calends of May--the day on which, in Asia Minor, the festival of the flowers commences. In Italy, France, and Germany, the festival of the flowers, or the festival of spring, begins about the same date--_i.e._, towards the end of April--and terminates on the feast of St. John.

The festival of the Floralia was introduced into Britain by the Romans; and for centuries all ranks of people went out a-Maying early on the first of the month. The juvenile part of both sexes, in the north, were wont to rise a little after midnight, and walk to some neighbouring wood, accompanied with music and the blowing of horns,

“To get sweet Setywall [red Valerian], The Honeysuckle, the Harlock, The Lily and the Lady-smock, To deck their summer hall.”

They also gathered branches from the trees, and adorned them with nosegays and crowns of flowers, returning with their booty homewards, about the rising of the sun, forthwith to decorate their doors and windows with the flowery spoil. The after-part of the day, says an ancient chronicler, was “chiefly spent in dancing round a tall pole, which is called a May-pole; which, being placed in a convenient part of the village, stands there, as it were, consecrated to the goddess of flowers, without the least violation offered it in the whole circle of the year.”

“Your May-pole deck with flowery coronal; Sprinkle the flowery coronal with wine; And in the nimble-footed galliard, all, Shepherd and shepherdess, lively join, Hither from village sweet and hamlet fair, From bordering cot and distant glen repair: Let youth indulge its sport, to old bequeath its care.”

Old John Stowe tells us that on May-day, in the morning, “every man, except impediment, would walk into the sweet meadows and green woods, there to rejoice their spirits with the beauty and savour of sweet flowers, and with the harmony of birds praising God in their kind.” In the days of Henry VIII. it was the custom for all classes to observe the May-day festival, and we are told that the king himself rode a-Maying from Greenwich to Shooter’s Hill, with his Queen Katherine, accompanied by many lords and ladies. Chaucer relates how on May-day

“Went forth all the Court both most and least; To fetch the floures fresh, and branch and blome, And namely Hawthorn brought both page and grome; And then rejoysen in their great delite, Eke each at other threw the floures bright. The Primrose, Violette, and the Golde, With garlands partly blue and white.”

The young maidens repaired at daybreak to the meadows and hill-sides, for the purpose of gathering the precious May-dew, wherewith to make themselves fair for the remainder of the year. This old custom is still extant in the north of England and in some districts of Scotland. Robert Fergusson has told how the Scotch lassies swarmed at daybreak on Arthur’s Seat:

“On May-day in a fairy ring, We’ve seen them round St. Anthon’s spring Frae grass the caller dew-draps wring, To wet their ein, And water clear as crystal spring. To synd them clean.”

In Ross-shire the lassies pluck sprigs of Ivy, with the May-dew on them, that have not been touched by steel.

It was deemed important that flowers for May garlands and posies should be plucked before the sun rose on May-day morning; and if perchance, Cuckoo-buds were included in the composition of a wreath, it was destroyed directly the discovery was made, and removed immediately from a posie.

In the May-day sports on the village green, it was customary to choose as May Queen either the best dancer or the prettiest girl, who, at sundown was crowned with a floral chaplet--

“See where she sits upon the grassie greene, A seemly sight! Yclad in scarlet, like a mayden queene, And ermines white. Upon her head a crimson coronet, With Daffodils and Damask Roses set: Bay-leaves betweene, And Primroses greene Embellished the sweete Violet.”--_Spenser._

The coronation of the rustic queen concluded the out-door festivities of May-day, although her majesty’s duties would not appear to have been fulfilled until she reached her home.

“Then all the rest in sorrow, And she in sweet content, Gave over till the morrow, And homeward straight they went; But she of all the rest Was hindered by the way, For every youth that met her Must kiss the Queen of May!”

At Horncastle, in Lincolnshire, there existed, till the beginning of the present century, a ceremony which evidently derived its origin from the Roman Floralia. On the morning of May-day, a train of youths collected themselves at a place still known as the May-bank. From thence, with wands enwreathed with Cowslips they walked in procession to the may-pole, situated at the west end of the town, and adorned on that morning with every variety of wild flowers. Here, with loud shouts, they struck together their wands, and, scattering around the Cowslips, testified their thankfulness for the bounteous promise of spring.

Aubrey (MS., 1686), tells us that in his day “at Woodstock in Oxon they every May-eve goe into the parke, and fetch away a number of Haw-thorne-trees, which they set before their dores.” In Huntingdonshire, fifty years ago, the village swains were accustomed, at sunrise, to place a branch of May in blossom before the door of anyone they wished to honour. In Tuscany the expression, _Appiccare il maio ad una porta_, has passed into a proverb, and means to lay siege to a maiden’s heart and make love to her. In the vicinity of Valenciennes, branches of Birch or Hornbeam are placed by rural swains at the doors of their sweethearts; thorny branches at the portals of prudes; and Elder boughs at the doors of flirts. In the villages of Provence, on May-day, they select a May Queen. Crowned with a wreath, and adorned with garlands of Roses, she is carried through the streets, mounted on a platform, her companions soliciting and receiving the offerings of the towns-people. In olden times it was customary even among the French nobility to present May to friends and neighbours, or as it was called, _esmayer_. Sometimes this presenting of May was regarded as a challenge. The custom of planting a May-tree in French towns subsisted until the 17th century: in 1610, one was planted in the court of the Louvre. In some parts of Spain the name of _Maia_ is given to the May Queen (selected generally as being the handsomest lass of the village), who, decorated with garlands of flowers, leads the dances in which the young people spend the day. The villagers in other provinces declare their love by planting, during the preceding night, a large bough or a sapling, decked with flowers, before the doors of their sweethearts. In Greece, bunches of flowers are suspended over the doors of most houses; and in the rural districts, the peasants bedeck themselves with flowers, and carry garlands and posies of wild flowers.

In some parts of Italy, in the May-day rejoicings, a May-tree or a branch in blossom and adorned with fruit and ribbands, plays a conspicuous part: this is called the _Maggio_, and is probably a reminiscence of the old Grecian _Eiresione_.

Of the flowers specially dedicated to May, first and foremost is the Hawthorn blossom. In some parts of England the _Convallaria_ is known as May Lily. The Germans call it _Mai blume_, a name they also apply to the Hepatica and Kingcup. In Devon and Cornwall the Lilac is known as May-flower, and much virtue is thought to be attached to a spray of the narrow-leaf Elm gathered on May morning.

In Asia Minor the annual festival of flowers used to commence on the 28th of April, when the houses and tables were covered with flowers, and every one going into the streets wore a floral crown. In Germany, France, and Italy, the _fête_ of the flowers, or the _fête_ of spring, commences also towards the end of April, and terminates at Midsummer. Athenians, on an early day in spring, every year crowned with flowers all children who had reached their third year, and in this way the parents testified their joy that the little ones had passed the age rendered critical by the maladies incident to infants. The Roman Catholic priesthood, always alert at appropriating popular pagan customs, and adapting them to the service of their church, have perpetuated this old practice. The little children crowned with flowers and habited as angels, who to this day accompany the procession of the Corpus Domini at the beginning of June, are taught to scatter flowers in the road, to symbolise their own spring-time and the spring-time of nature. On this day, along the entire route of the procession at Rome, the ground is thickly strewn with Bay and other fragrant leaves. In the worship of the Madonna, flowers play an important rôle, and Roman altars are still piled up with fragrant blossoms, and still smoke with perfumed incense.

After the feast of Whitsuntide, the young Russian maidens repair to the banks of the Neva, and fling in its waters wreaths of flowers, which are tokens of affection to absent friends.

In the West of Germany and the greater part of France the ceremony is observed of bringing home on the last harvest wain a tree or bough decorated with flowers and gay ribbons, which is graciously received by the master and planted on or near the house, to remain there till the next harvest brings its successor. Some rite of this sort, Mr. Ralston says, seems to have prevailed all over the North of Europe. “So, in the autumnal harvest thanksgiving feast at Athens, it was customary to carry in sacred procession an Olive-branch wrapped in wool, called _Eiresione_, to the temple of Apollo, and there to leave it; and in addition to this a similar bough was solemnly placed beside the house door of every Athenian who was engaged in fruit culture or agriculture, there to remain until replaced by a similar successor twelve months later.”

Well-Flowering.

From the earliest days of the Christian era our Lord’s ascension into heaven has been commemorated by various ceremonies, one of which was the perambulation of parish boundaries. At Penkridge, in Staffordshire, as well as at Wolverhampton, long after the Reformation, the inhabitants, during the time of processioning, used to adorn their wells with boughs and flowers; and this ancient custom is still practised every year at Tissington, in Derbyshire, where it is known as “well-flowering.” There are five wells so decorated, and the mode of dressing or adorning them is this:--the flowers are inserted in moist clay and put upon boards cut in various forms, surrounded with boughs of Laurel and White Thorn, so as to give the appearance of water issuing from small grottoes. The flowers are arranged in various patterns, to give the effect of mosaic work, and are inscribed with texts of Scripture and suitable mottoes. After church, the congregation walk in procession to the wells and decorate them with these boards, as well as with garlands of flowers, boughs, &c. Flowers were cast into the wells, and from their manner of falling, lads and lasses divined as to the progress of their love affairs.

“Bring flowers! bring flowers! to the crystal well, That springs ’neath the Willows in yonder dell.

* * * * *

And we’ll scatter them over the charmed well, And learn our fate from its mystic spell.”

“And she whose flower most tranquilly Glides down the stream our Queen shall be. In a crown we’ll wreath Wild flowers that breathe; And the maiden by whom this wreath shall be worn Shall wear it again on her bridal morn.”--_Merritt._

Before the Reformation the Celtic population of Scotland, the Hebrides, Ireland, Wales, and Cornwall were in the habit of naming wells and springs after different saints and martyrs. Though forbidden by the canons of St. Anselm, many pilgrimages continued to be made to them, and the custom was long retained of throwing nosegays into springs and fountains, and chaplets into wells. Sir Walter Scott tells us that “in Perthshire there are several wells dedicated to St. Fillan, which are still places of pilgrimage and offerings, even among Protestants.”

“Thence to St. Fillan’s blessed well Whose spring can frenzied dreams dispel, And the crazed brain restore.”

Into some of these Highland wells flowers are cast, and occasionally pins, while the surrounding bushes are hung with rags and shreds, in imitation of the old heathen practice. The ceremony of sprinkling rivers with flowers was probably of similar origin. Milton and Dryden both allude to this custom being in vogue as regards the Severn, and this floral rite is described in ‘The Fleece’ as follows:--

“With light fantastic toe the nymphs Thither assembled, thither every swain; And o’er the dimpled stream a thousand flowers, Pale Lilies, Roses, Violets, and Pinks, Mix’d with the greens of Burnet, Mint, and Thyme, And Trefoil, sprinkled with their sportive arms. Such custom holds along th’ irriguous vales, From Wreken’s brow to rocky Dolvoryn, Sabrina’s early haunt.”

Bridal Floral Ceremonies.

In all countries flowers have from time immemorial been chosen as the happy accompaniment of bridal ceremonies. Among the ancients it was customary to crown newly-married persons with a chaplet of red and white Roses. On arriving at the house of her husband, the Roman bride found woollen fillets round the door-posts, which were adorned with evergreens and blossoms, and anointed with the fat of wolves to avert enchantment.

In M. Barthélemi’s ‘Travels of Young Anacharsis’ the author, describing a marriage ceremony in the Island of Delos, says that the inhabitants of the island assembled at daybreak, crowned with flowers; flowers were strewn in the path of the bride and bridegroom; and the house was garlanded with them. Singers and dancers appeared crowned with Oak, Myrtles, and Hawthorn. The bride and bridegroom were crowned with Poppies, and upon their approach to the temple, a priest received them at the entrance, and presented to each a branch of Ivy--a symbol of the tie which was to unite them for ever.[6]

[6] ‘_Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis en Grèce, vers le milieu du quatrième siècle avant l’ere vulgaire._’

At Indian nuptials, the wedding wreath, the _varamâlâ_, united bride and bridegroom. At the marriage feasts of the Persians, a little tree is introduced, the branches of which are laden with fruit: the guests endeavour to pluck these without the bridegroom perceiving them; if successful, the latter has to make them a present; if, however, a guest fails, he has to give the bridegroom a hundred times the value of the object he sought to remove from the tree.

In Germany, among the inhabitants of Oldenburg, there exists a curious wedding custom. When the bridegroom quits his father’s roof to settle in some other town or village, he has his bed linen embroidered at the corners with flowers surmounted by a tree, on whose branches are perched cock birds: on each side of the tree are embroidered the bridegroom’s initials. In many European countries it is customary to plant before the house of a newly-married couple, one or two trees, as a symbol of the good luck wished them by their friends.

Floral Games and Festivals.

Floral games have for many years been held at Toulouse, Barcelona, Tortosi, and other places; but the former are the most famed, both on account of their antiquity and the value of the prizes distributed during the _fêtes_. The ancient city of Toulouse had formerly a great reputation for literature, which had, however, been allowed to decline until the visit of Charles IV. and his bride determined the capitouls or chief magistrates to make an effort to restore its prestige as the centre of Provençal song. Troubadours there were who, banded together in a society, met in the garden of the Augustine monks to recite their songs, _sirventes_, and ballads; and in order to foster the latent taste for poetry, the capitouls invited the poets of the Langue d’oc, to compete for a golden Violet to be awarded to the author of the best poem produced on May 4th, 1324. The competition created the greatest excitement, and great numbers of people met to hear the judges’ decision: they awarded the golden Violet to Arnaud Vidal for his poem in honour of the Virgin. In 1355, three prizes were offered--a golden Violet for the best song; an Eglantine (Spanish Jasmine), for the best _sirvente_, or finest pastoral; and a _Flor-de-gang_ (yellow Acacia) for the best ballad. In later years four prizes were competed for, viz., an Amaranth, a Violet, a Pansy, and a Lily. In 1540, Clemence Isaure, a poetess, bequeathed the bulk of her fortune to the civic authorities to be expended in prizes for poetic merits, and in _fêtes_ to be held on the 1st and 3rd of May. She was interred in the church of La Daurade, on the high altar of which are preserved the golden flowers presented to the successful competitors at the Floral Games. The ceremonies of the _fêtes_ thus revived by Clemence Isaure commenced with the strewing of her tomb with Roses, followed by mass, a sermon, and alms-giving. In 1694, the _Jeux Floraux_ were merged into the Academy of Belles Lettres, which gives prizes, but almost exclusively to French poets. The festival, interrupted by the Revolution, was once more revived in 1806, and is still held annually in the Hotel-de-Ville, Toulouse.

St. Medard, Bishop of Noyon, in France, instituted in the sixth century a festival at Salency, his birth-place, for adjudging a most interesting prize offered by piety to virtue. This prize consists of a simple crown of Roses bestowed on the girl who is acknowledged by all her competitors to be the most amiable, modest, and dutiful. The founder of this festival had the pleasure of crowning his own sister as the first _Rosiere_ of Salency. This simple institution still survives, and the crown of Roses continues to be awarded to the most virtuous of the maidens of the obscure French village. A similar prize is awarded in the East of London by an active member of the Roman Catholic Church--the ceremony of crowning the Rose Queen being performed annually in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham.

In the middle ages the Queen of Flowers contributed to a singular popular festival at Treviso, in Italy. In the middle of the city the inhabitants erected a mock castle of upholstery. The most distinguished unmarried females of the place defended the fortress, which was attacked by the youth of the other sex. The missiles with which both parties fought consisted of Roses, Lilies, Narcissi, Violets, Apples, and Nuts, which were hurled at each other by the combatants. Volleys of Rose-water and other perfumes were also discharged by means of syringes. This entertainment attracted thousands of spectators from far and near, and the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa himself accounted it a most pleasing diversion.

The custom of pelting with Roses is still common in Persia, where it is practised during the whole season that these flowers are blooming. A company of young men repair to the places of public entertainment to amuse the guests with music, singing, and dancing, and in their way through the streets they pelt the passengers whom they meet with Roses, and generally receive a small gratuity in return.

Striking features of the Japanese festival on New Year’s Day are the decorations erected in front of nearly every door, of which Mr. Dixon tells us the principal objects are, on the right a _Pinus densiflora_, on the left a _P. Thunbergius_, both standing upright: the former is supposed to be of the female and the latter of the male sex, and both symbolise a robust age that has withstood the storms and trials of life. Immediately behind each of the Pines is a Bamboo, the straight stem of which, with the knots marking its growth, indicates hale life and fulness of years. A straw rope of about six feet in length connects the Bamboos seven or more feet from the ground, thus completing the triumphal arch. In the centre of the rope (which is there to ward off evil spirits) is a group in which figures a scarlet lobster, the bent back of which symbolises old age: this is embedded in branches of the _Melia Japonica_, the older leaves of which still remain after the young ones have burst forth. So may the parents continue to flourish while children and grandchildren spring forth! Another plant in the central group is the _Polypodium dicotomon_, a Fern which is regarded as a symbol of conjugal life, because the fronds spring in pairs from the stem. There are also bunches of seaweed, which have local significance, and a lucky bag, filled with roasted Chesnuts, the seeds of the _Torreya nucifera_, and the dried fruit of the _Kaki_.

Garlands, Chaplets, and Wreaths.

All the nations of antiquity--Indians, Chinese, Medes, Persians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans--were accustomed to deck themselves, their altars, and their dwellings with flowers, and to weave chaplets and garlands of leaves and blossoms. In the Vedic _Vishnupurâna_, the sage Durvâsas (one of the names of Siva, the destroyer), receives of the goddess Srî (the Indian Venus) a garland of flowers gathered from the trees of heaven. Proceeding on his way, he meets the god Indra, seated on an elephant, and to pay him homage he places on his brow the garland, to which the bees fly in order to suck the ambrosia. The Persians were fond of wearing on their heads crowns made of Myrrh and a sweet-smelling plant called Labyzus. Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syrian king, once held some games at Daphne, to which thousands of guests were invited, who, after being richly feasted, were sent away with crowns of Myrrh and Frankincense. Josephus, in his history of the Jews, has recorded the use of crowns in the time of Moses, and on certain occasions the mitre of the High Priest was adorned with a chaplet of Henbane (_Hyoscyamus niger_). Wreaths and chaplets were in common use among the Egyptians at a very early period; and although the Lotus was principally preferred in their formation, many other flowers and leaves were employed--as of the Chrysanthemum, Acinos, Acacia, Strychnos, Persoluta, Anemone, Convolvulus, Olive, Myrtle, Amaracus, Xeranthemum, Bay-tree, and others. Plutarch says that when Agesilaus visited Egypt, he was so delighted with the chaplets of Papyrus sent him by the King, that he took some home when he returned to Sparta. In India, Greece, and Rome, the sacrificial priests were crowned, and their victims were decorated with garlands of flowers.

In ancient Greece and Rome the manufacture of garlands and chaplets became quite an art, so great was the estimation in which these adornments were held by these highly-civilised nations. With them the composition of a garland possessed a deep significance, and warriors, statesmen, and poets alike coveted these simple insignia at the hands of their countrymen. Pliny tells us that the Sicyonians were considered to surpass all other people in the art of arranging the colours of garlands and imparting to them the most agreeable mixture of perfumes. They derived this taste from Glycera, a woman so skilled in the art of arranging chaplets and garlands that she won the affection of Pausias, a celebrated painter, who delighted in copying the wreaths of flowers so deftly arranged by his mistress. Some of these pictures were still in existence when Pliny wrote, four hundred and fifty years after they were painted. Cato, in his treatise on gardens, directs specially that they should be planted with such flowers as are adapted for chaplets and wreaths. Pliny states that Mnestheus and Callimachus, two renowned Greek physicians, compiled several books on the virtues of chaplets, pointing out those hurtful to the brain, as well as those which had a beneficial influence on the wearer; for both Greeks and Romans had found, by experience, that certain plants and flowers facilitated the functions of the brain, and assisted materially to neutralise the inebriating qualities of wine. Thus, as Horace tells us, the floral chaplets worn by guests at feasts were tied with the bark of the Linden to prevent intoxication.

“I tell thee, boy, that I detest The grandeur of a Persian feast; Nor for me the binder’s rind Shall no flow’ry chaplet bind. Then search not where the curious Rose, Beyond his season loitering grows; But beneath the mantling Vine, While I quaff the flowing wine, The Myrtle’s wreath shall crown our brows, While you shall wait and I carouse.”

Besides the guests at feasts, the attendants were decorated with wreaths, and the wine-cups and apartments adorned with flowers. From an anecdote related by Pliny we learn that it was a frequent custom, common to both Greeks and Romans, to mix the flowers of their chaplets in their wine, when they pledged the healths of their friends. Cleopatra, to ridicule the mistrust of Antony, who would never eat or drink at her table without causing his taster to test every viand, lest any should be poisoned, commanded a chaplet of flowers to be prepared for the Roman General, the edges of which were dipped in the most deadly poison, whilst that which was woven for her own brow was, as usual, mixed with aromatic spices. At the banquet Antony received his coronet of flowers, and when they had become cheerful through the aid of Bacchus, Cleopatra pledged him in wine, and taking off the wreath from her head, and rubbing the blossoms into her goblet, drank off the contents. Antony was following her example, but just as he had raised the fatal cup to his lips, the Queen seized his arm, exclaiming, “Cure your jealous fears, and learn that I should not have to seek the means of your destruction, could I live without you.” She then ordered a prisoner to be brought before them, who, on drinking the wine from Antony’s goblet, instantly expired in their presence.

The Romans wore garlands at sacred rites, games and festivals, on journeys and in war. When an army was freed from a blockade its deliverer was presented with a crown composed of the Grass growing on the spot. In modern heraldry, this crown of Grass is called the Crown Obsidional, and appertains to the general who has held a fortress against a besieging army and ultimately relieved it from the assailants. To him who had saved the life of a Roman soldier was given a chaplet of Oak-leaves: this is the modern heraldic civic crown bestowed on a brave soldier who has saved the life of a comrade or has rescued him after having been taken prisoner by the enemy. The glories of all grand deeds were signalized by the crown of Laurel among both Greeks and Romans. This is the heraldic Crown Triumphant, adjudged in our own times to a general who has achieved a signal victory. The Romans were not allowed by law to appear in festal garlands on ordinary occasions. Hence Cæsar valued most highly the privilege accorded him by the Senate of wearing a Laurel crown, because it screened his baldness, which, both by the Romans and Jews, was considered a deformity. This crown was generally composed of the Alexandrian Laurel (_Ruscus Hypoglossum_)--the Laurel usually depicted on busts and coins. The victors at the athletic games were adjudged crowns differing in their composition according to the place in which they had won their honours. Thus, crowns of

Olive were given at the Olympic games. Beech, Laurel, or Palm „ „ „ „ Pythian „ Parsley „ „ „ „ Nemean „ Pine „ „ „ „ Isthmian „

It is not too much to say that Greeks and Romans employed garlands, wreaths, and festoons of flowers on every possible occasion; they adorned with them the sacrificial victims, the statue of the god to whom sacrifice was offered, and the priest who performed the rite. They placed chaplets on the brows of the dead, and strewed their graves with floral wreaths, whilst at their funeral feasts the parents of the departed one encircled their heads with floral crowns. They threw them to the successful actors on the stage. They hung with garlands the gates of their cities on days of rejoicing. They employed floral wreaths at their nuptials. Nearly all the plants composing these wreaths had a symbolical meaning, and they were varied according to the seasons and the circumstances of the wearer. The Hawthorn adorned Grecian brides; but the bridal wreath of the Romans was usually composed of Verbena, plucked by the bride herself. Holly wreaths were sent as tokens of good wishes. Chaplets of Parsley and Rue were worn to keep off evil spirits.

But the employment of garlands has by no means been confined to the ancients. At the present day the inhabitants of India make constant use of them. The Brahmin women, who burn themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands, deck their persons with chaplets and garlands, and present wreaths to the young women who attend them at this terrible sacrifice. The young Indian girls adorn themselves with garlands during the festival of Kâmadeva, the god of love, which takes place during the last days of spring. In the nuptial ceremonies of India, the garland of flowers is still a feature which possesses a recognised symbolic value. In Northern India garlands of the African Marigold are placed on the trident emblem of Mahâdeva, and both male and female worshippers wear chaplets composed of the same sacred flower on his festivals. The _Moo-le-hua_, a fragrant Jasmine, is employed in China and other Eastern countries in forming wreaths for the decoration of ladies’ hair, and an Olive crown is still the reward of literary merit in China. The Japanese of both sexes are fond of wearing wreaths of fragrant blossoms.

The Italians have artificers called Festaroli, whose especial office it is to manufacture garlands and festoons of flowers and other decorations for feasts. The maidens of Greece, Germany, and Roumania still bear wreaths of flowers in certain processions which have long been customary in the spring of the year. The Swiss peasants are fond of making garlands, for rural festivities, of the Globe-flower (_Trollius Europæus_), which grows freely on all the chain of the Alps. In Germany a wreath of Vervain is presented to the newly-married, and in place of the wreath of Orange-blossoms which decorates the brow of the bride in England, France, and America, a chaplet of Myrtle is worn. The blossom of the _Bizarade_ or bitter Orange is most prized for wreaths and favours when the fresh flowers can be procured.

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