36 pPaat "bore, 'heger^f, and Tsijricy. 



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 

 Torveya nucifera, and the dried fruit of the Kaki. 



S^at?a'r^f, (ifiapfet/, af^ @\f/tea\?if. 



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 Vishmipurana, the sage Durvasas (one of 

 the names of 5iva, the destroyer), receives of the goddess 5ri (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 -pzy 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 

 m the time of Moses, and on certain occasions the mitre of the 

 High Priest was adorned with a chaplet of Henbane {Hyoscyamus 



