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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 . Thunheygius, 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 Japónica, 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.
©Rapf©!/, a * ^ ©Y^r©atR/,
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 Vishnupurdna, the sage Durvásas (one of
the names of 5 iva, the destroyer), receives of the goddess ¿"ri (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
m 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 brow^.
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
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