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Tree of Life presented by Eve to Adam was the Pomegranate. It 

 is also the opinion of some, that Paris adjudged a Pomegranate to 

 Venus, and not an Apple; and that nearly always where the latter 

 fruit is alluded to in legends or popular customs relating to marriage, 

 the Pomegranate is meant. In Turkey, the bride throws a Pome- 

 granate on the ground, and from the number of seeds which exude 

 from the liroken fruit judges of the extent of her future family. 



In Dalmatia, it is the custom for a young man, when asking 



the hand of his bride from her parents, to speak figuratively, 

 and so he vows to transplant into his own garden the beautiful 

 red flowers of the Pomegranate which are then flourishing in 



the paternal parterre. In Sicily, they use a branch of the 



Pomegranate-tree as a divining-rod to discover hidden treasures: 

 it is reported to be unfailing provided that it is manipulated by an 



expert or by some one who knows the mystical formulary. 



Many references to the Pomegranate are to be found in the Bible, 

 where it is usually associated with the idea of fruitfulness. Moses 

 described the promised land as a land of Wheat and Barley, and 

 Vines, and Fig-trees, and Pomegranates ; a land of oil-Olive and 

 honey. Solomon speaks of "an orchard of Pomegranates with 

 pleasant fruits." It was used to flavour wine and meats, and a 

 wine was made from its juice : " I would cause thee to drink of 

 spiced wine of the juice of my Pomegranate " (Canticles viii., 2). 

 The Jews employed the fruit in their religious ceremonials. The 

 capitals of the pillars in the Temple of Jerusalem were covered 

 with carved Pomegranates. On the hem of Aaron's sacred 

 robe were embroidered, in blue, in purple, and in scarlet, Pome- 

 granates, alternating with golden bells. A similar adornment 

 of the fringes of their robes was affecfted by the ancient Kings of 

 Persia, who united in their own person the regal and sacerdotal 



offices. In Christian art, the Pomegranate depicTled as bursting 



open, and the seeds visible, was an emblem of the future — of hope 

 in immortality. St. Catherine, as the mystical Sposa of Christ, is 

 sometimes represented with a Pomegranate in her hand; and the 

 infant Saviour is often depicted holding this fruit and presenting it 



to the Virgin. Moore speaks of the " charmed leaf of pure 



Pomegranate," in allusion to the Persian idea as to its purif^ang 

 attributes. In the ceremonies of the Ghebers (fire-worshippers) 

 round their sacred fire, the Darvo gives them water to drink and 

 Pomegranate-leaf to chew in their mouth, to cleanse them from 



inward uncleanness. The Pomegranate was the device of 



Henry IV., who took it from the Moorish kings of Grenada, with 

 the motto, " Sour, yet sweet." The crown-like shape of its calyx 

 probably induced Anne of Austria to adopt it, with the motto, 

 " My worth is not in my crown." The Pomegranate was the 

 emblem of Katherine of Arragon, and in one of the masques held 

 in honour of her marriage with our Henry VIII., a bank of Roses 

 and Pomegranates typified the union of England and Spain. Her 



