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occasion; they adorned with them the sacrificial victims, the statue 

 of the god to whom sacrifice was offered, and the priest who per- 

 formed 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 com- 

 posed 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 con- 

 fined 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 Kamadeva, 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 Mahadeva, and both male and 

 female worshippers wear chaplets composed of the same sacred 

 flower on his festivals. The Moo-lc-hiia, 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 customar)'^ in the spring of the year. The 

 Swiss peasants are fond of making garlands, for rural festivities, of 

 the Globe-flower {Twlliiis Euyopcens), 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. 



