San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-02-27
ADJOINING THE GRAVE.
ORIGIN OF THE CUSTOM OF PLANT
ING TREES IN CEMETERIES.
From Periods of Remotest Antiquity Last
Resting Places Have Been Thus Marked.
Varieties of Foliage Most in Favor and
the Significance That Attaches to Them.

varieties OF EOliaSe hoSt III EdNoi anu
the Significance That Attaches to Them.
Men have always given much thought to
the subject of death, and mourners for the
dead have striven in many ways to show the
depth of their devotion to their departed
ones by fitting outward manifestations in
their homes, III the sight of the public, and
about the graves. The grave is SO naturally
a place of despair and gloom, and the thought
of corruption going on beneath the surface
of the earth has been so revolving to sorrow
ing hearts that they have been glad to bring
such ornaments around the place of burial as
would be signs of grief and yet be beautiful
and, where possible, suggestive Of the hopes
that look beyond the grave.
AN ANCIENT CUSTOM.
The association of particular plants and
trees with the person of the dead, and the
abode of death is 50 far back in the history
of man as to seem one of the first instructive
ideas of the human race. There are illusions
to it in the most ancient writings and rec
ordS One of the oldest trees thus mentioned
was tree of life which grew at the side of
the road that was passed over by the souls of
the departed, and the fruit of that tree was
the symbol of eternal life. 1t is probably
remnant of this old belief that sometimes APP
pears in folk lore tales, where the fruit is
called the apple of life"
Way back upon the oldest ASsyrian inscrip-
tiOns is probably the earliest representation
known Of this tree of life, and although it is
very common among the inscriptions, gener-
ally guarded by celestial genii, and some
times also wOrshped by royal figures, yet
no one has been able TO ascertain its exact
meaning, except that Babylon in its earliest
that is, anti-Semitic days-was its special
place Of honor, the old name of Babylon, Thu
tir-Ei, sgnifyiug the place Of the tree of
life"
In Greek legend not merely trees but plants
and flowers are connected with the departed.
In the Elysian ieldS-that is, in that part of
the domain of Pluto where the souls of the
good dwell-whOle plains were said to be COW
cred with aSphodels the very flowers which
the Greeks and Romans were accustomed to
place on the graves Of the departed as sym
bols of the future life
Sometimes in the early Christian days the
previous usages of the inhabitants appear in
local CUSTOMS as in France where those who
prepared the dead for burial were accustomed
to scatter in the bottom of coffins beneath the
corpse seeds of various plants, probably of
those which they were expected to live upon
in the new life beyond the grave
The ancient Egyptians were in the habit
of burying bulbs of flowers and wheat with
their dead, in the belief that the body was
coming to life again and could SOW these
for use in that new life. Some of these
kernels Of wheat, after being kept for thou
sands of years i'll the mummy case, have been
planted by the finders and have produced
wheat very much like that which is still
grown in Egypt.
The belief III future existence probably led
to the custom of planting trees on or near
tombS, especially the cypress, which was re-
gardel as n type Of both life and death. The
tree growing over the grave was also con-
sidered an emblem of the SOUL become i'm
mortal.
The bay, according to Sir Thomas Browne,
was originally adopted as a symbol of the
resurrection, because when to all outward
appearance it is dead and withered it will
Unexpectedly revive from the root and its
dry leaves assume their former vividity.
Evergreen trees whose growth is like a
pyramid or spire, whose top points heaven
ward, are emblematic of eternity; of these
the arbor vitR and cypress are the most ia
vorcd.
The weeping birch, the willow and Aus
tralian CaSuarina, with foliage bending to
the earth, find their natural places i'll church
yards as emblems of human sorrow.
THE YEW TREE.
The yew tree has been considered an EN-
blem of mourning from an early day. The
Greeks adopted it as such from the Egyp-
tians, the Romans from the Greeks, and the
Britons, after Caesars invasion, from the
Romans. Through such associations, for SO
long period, the yew acquired a meaning
Of sacred symbolism which everywhere
made it an ornament of conSecrated church
yards. Hence it is very seldom cultivated
elsewhere, although its wood is very valua-
bic. 1t is little singular that such "a strong
growing tree as the yew should have main
tanned its place i'll England after the SaxonS
came i'll, for one of their peculiar superstI-
tiOns was that the trees prey upon the bodies
of the dead who rest beneath their shade. At
one time it was the universal custom to carry
branches of the yew tree in the solemn pro
ceSsiOn to the grave, depOsiting them be-
meath the body.
In Wales we have the evidence of another
superstition in the custom of planting the
mountain ash, or rowan tree, in the grave
yards as Il protection against evil spirits but
not with the usual idea of the funeral tree
The walnut tree, whose shade is said to pro
duce death, is in some countriesa funeral tree,
and both the elm and the oak are connected
with the grave by their iudestructible quail
ties, on account of which they are used to
this day for cofiins, just as the ancients used
the cypress and the cedar.
The tree, as being long of life and az ever
pointing upward, has been connected with