Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-01-13
SACRED FLOWERS.
BLOSSOMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE
BEGINNING OF CHRIsTIANrTY
Plants That the Lcgend-hnker"
Say First BIoomcd at Chris's
Birth or Death-Pagan Floral Em-
bIeuN
bIeuis.


Globe-Democrat, in the ceremonial re-
ligious worship of the pagan world Deiore
our era was so general that nothing was
more natural than for the early CHRISTIANS
TO associate flowers with devotion. Every
pagan deity had floral emblem; the niyr-
tie was sacred to Venus, the narcissus 10
Ceres. the laurel to Apollo, the lily 10
Juno, and so through the list, every goa
and goddess having some plant or mower
which was grown in the vicinity OF the
temple or with which the affairs were
decorated at the annual festival. There
is no doubt that many Of the ceremonies
used In early Christian worship were
borrowed or modified from the rituals OF
the temples. and so liberal a use was
made of flowers in the worship OF the
gods that the Christians, accustomed 10
the sight, naturally and easily fell INTO
the same practice. nor was it discouraged
by the priesthood. but rather made use OF
AS n means of commencing the new re-
| ligion to the public mind. 1t is true thal
here and here a grim ascetic frowned on
the practice as savoring of idolatry, Dut
| the more moderate of the clergy permitted
| III IN the iD1SllitdS ana OIl lllt AiN"i'f -
garding this employment as elevating the
gems of the plant world to higher use
than that of enlivening the rites OF a
pagan temple. Nor was it remarkable
| that floral and plant legends should grow.
! The mythology Of the Greek world was
| full of such tales. told by mother TO
| daughter, by father to son, as now are
| the stories of Jack the Giant Killer, ana
| Jack and the Bean Stalk; not belleVeu'
but repeated from age TO age, just as the
| time-honored story OF Santa Claus ana
| his sleigh is told among us. The Meta
morphoses" of Ovid is a collection OF
such folklore, gathered by him from
Greek sources and retold, in pleasant
form, for the amusement of his contempt
/ raries The early Christians, no DOUBT,
read these tales and told these stories,
and as Jupiter and Apollo, and Ceres ana
| Juno and Venus gradually faded into an
| stractions the stories remained; for gods
/ and goddesses, as heroes and heroines'
! being substituted the saints and martyrs
who play so important a part In the
/ literature of the early Christian centuries
When the temples of the gods were recon-
| secrated to Christian uses, when pagan
affairs were rededicated to the apostles
and saints, it was an easy matter to
decorate both with the flowers that Apollo
and Juno and Venus loved.
THE CHRYsANTHEMUM.
A small flower of the chrysanthemum
/ family is the first to make its appear
ance i'm the floral legends of the Christ
mas season, the early writers mention
! ing the fact that tales are told of the
blooming of this flower I'm Bethlehem on
the night Of the nativity" score or
stories were told in the early centuries
about this flower All the legends agree
that before the nativity the chrysanthe-
mum was a scrubby plant, with ragged
! foliage, possessing neither beauty, IRA
GRANGE, nor utility, and all are equally
positive that its first flowers doomed
i'm connection with the great event at
| Bethlehem. One story declares that its
blooming was during the journey ana
visit of the Magi. When they start
| cd from Persia or India or China, Tor
in different versions they were natives
OF all three countries, they followed the
course indicated by the star. on the
last night of the journey, however, IN
the bad lands of Judea, they wan
dered from the way. when suddenly In
the darkness a double row of starry
white blossoms appeared. and, walking
between the two, they regained the path
| From that moment the chrysanthemums
never left them, but sprang into bloom
on each side of the path, pointing out
| the true direction. and continued 10
| adorn the sides of the highway until
they led TO the door of the khan, or lnn'
I'm the stable of which the child's
parents had found lodging. The idea OF
supernatural guidance by means OF
line of these flowers appears also in
legend Of the fight into Egypt. This
story is told in France, and, according
IN II. Joseph and Mary were in flight
! from Bethlehem when they were pur-
sued by a company of Herod's horse
Hard pressed and in despair, they were
| guided to a cave, in which they took
refuge by n line of chrysanthemums
blossoming before them. There they
found safety until the cavalry OF the
despot had given up the chase and re-
| turned TO Jerusalem. This was the ver-
sion of the story as told in the eighth
century. but the story-tellers, perceiv-
ing its weak point, that the cavalry
| could follow the line of flowers just as
we'll as Joseph could, soon improved 1t
| bv making the blossoms miraculously
| disappear as the family advanced, and
! thus leaving Herod's hirelngs without a
| clew as TO the direction taken by the
| fugitives. In the floral lore OF Armenia
! the chrysanthemum Is associated with
the last march down the Via Dolorosa,
while a Greek legend makes 1t bloom
| over the grave which Joseph designed
| for himself, but in which his friend was
! laid.
THE PASSION FLOWER.
In every Christian country where the
passion flower. the Passihora Of the bo-
tanists. is found popular fancy has as
ISOLATED il with the last scenes Of the
life of the Babe of Bethlehem. Although
commonly supposed TO be n native OF
tropical America. several varities OF this
plant are found in Asia, one In the
| Valley Of the Jordan. In the eye OF mag
| NATIVE reverence, the nails used IN
the crucifixion-one for the feet and two
| for the hands-are represented by the
stignas; the five anthers Of the flower
are. with equal liveliness of imagination.
supposed to indicate the five wounds;
the crown of thorns, or. some say, the
halo about the head. Is clearly shown
| by the rays of the corona OF this singular
flower; the ten different parts OF the peri
anth are supposed TO typfy the Apostles,
the number being reconciled in this case
being leaving out Judas, who betrayed
| his Master and Peter, who denied Him.
The digitated leaves of the vine are, In
the imaginations of the legend-makers.
the hands of the executioners, and OF the
mob. which clamored for His death; and
i'm the tendrils are found the thongs of
the scourges with which every prisoner
condemned to death by the Romans was
tortured as a preliminary to execution.
| The singular construction Of the flower,
differing, as II does, from every other
known blossom. is undoubtedly response
BILE for the legend associatng ii with
Christ, for in its native countries legends
perhaps dating back 10 a point earlier
| than the Christian era connect it with
more than one popular hero. In the Val
ley Of the Amazon there was an Indian