The National tribune., 1903-05-28
FLOWERS AND THE DEAD.
Memorial Customs Of All Ages and Countries-Symbols Of
Flowers.
Ey ISABEL woRRELL BALL, National Aid, w.R.c.


niversary marking laurel-twined epoch
in the Nations history, when pansies for
thoughts, rosemary for remembrance, myr-
tie for love and maranths, bright emblems
of Immortality, are mingled with sad yew
and mourning cypress above the hearts OF
the heroes who sleep, each in windowiesS
palace of rest.
Mere than three decades have passed since
the first order for this flower memorial
for the dead went forth. Year by year the
sad, sweet custom has grown in favor. and
year by year the flagmarked mounds nave
increased until "a soldier of the Union
mustered out" slumbers ON every hillside
and sleeps in every valley. In all this
broad land there is no City of Silence
that has not at least one war-wOrn vet
eran who has turned in at his last tattoo
For them and for the thousands OF UNI
known heroes
"Who rest where they wearied
And lie where they fell,
Natures dear children, sun-nurtured and
rain-kissed. fragrant with sweet perfumes
and dew-gemnled, are laid upon the altar
of remembrance, a consccrated memorial
tribute of earth's brightest and purest
gifts TO the Nations bravcst and best.
This Memorial custom grown to the
grandeur of a National holiday in this
country, is almost as old as the human
race. 1t is pagan custom ChrisuaniZed.
Among the AncientS of the earth flowers
were pagan gods and goddesses personi-
fed. The souls of these deities came to
earth reincarnated as roses and lilies, as
grass and forest trees, bees and birds ana
blossoms. and ministered to the senses
and passions much as when in the carnal
- lot to a
the incarnation Of la, the daughter of Mi
das, who was changed to the little blue
flower to hide her from Apollo. The daisy,
which symbolized innocence, was once a
coGuetting little goddess, and to escape
from an importunate lover was turned to
the lovers fortune teller" The cypress
Ozark tree! still sad when others grief is
fed,
The only constant Jnourner Ger the dead'
was, according to Ovid, the youth Cypa-
rissos. the bosom friend Of Apollo. lie ac-
cidentally killed favorite stag one day
while hunting, and in a passion of grief
prayed the gods that his mourning might
be made perpetual. In answer to his
prayer he was changed into n cypress
tree. and in remembrance of him the An
clients made much of the cypress at their
funerals One of its characteristics is
that when once cut to earth it will never
flourish nor grow again as most other trees
do. This was also symbolical to them, for
they believed that we
'Soon as the hand Of death has closed our
eyes,
In tombs forgotten lie; no suns restore.
We sleep, forever s.ecp, to wake no more. "
In accordance with this idea the Ancients
planted the cypress near their tombs. The
Turks placed it at the head and foot OF
their graves. and there were other nations
who planted it upon the grave itself, be-
iieving that the body nourished it.
The yew tree has always been in all
nations an emblem of sorrow. The bare
trunk and dark foliage, with its fruit, like
drops of blood impresses the beholder with
its melancholy aspect at once. 1t is a
strange tree. Its juice is poisonous and
the tree exhausts the sell which supports it
and destroys all other plants which spring
up beneath it. The Greeks found in 1t
the personification of the unhappy Smi-
lax. who loved young Crocus. When she
found her love rejected, she desired to
withdraw from the society of the gods, and
was transformed into n yew, which since
that time has symbolized sorrow. The
yew, like the cypress, was much esteemed
by the Ancients as a typical tree to shade
the tombs of the dead, and used it profuse-
ly in their cemeteries, where branches
could be easily procured ON the days set
apart by custom for the decoration of the
graves. Some Roman dying, said -
"Yet strew
Upon my dismal grave
Such offerings as you have,
For kinder flowers can take no birth
Or growth from such unhappy earth"
The early Christians denounced unquali-
fiedIy the use of flowers at either festi-
walls or funerals, on account of the pagan
symbolism of the blossoms used. Tertul-
lian wrote 4 book denOuncing crowns and
garlands of flowers. Clement of Alex
andria thought it improper that Christians
should crown themselves with roses, but
afterward they adopted the custom, and
the Christian poet Prudence invited his
brethren ''to cover with violets and with
verdure and to surround with perfumes
those bones which the voice of the All
Powerful would one day restore to life
These early Christians carried in their
hands ivy, sprigs of laurel, rosemary or
other eyergreens, as emblems of the i'm
mortality of the soul. They threw these
into the grave before the coffin was low
red, to signify that ''they who die in Christ
do not cease to live, for though as to the
body they die to the world, yet as to their
souls they live and revive to God" They
cast upon the grave bay leaves, which
symboized Immortality. Thus in accept
ing the symbolic meaning of the plants
mentioned they Christianized pagan GUS
tom. for in rejecting the cypress and yew,
which typifcd to most pagan minds the
souls eternal sleep, and adopting those
plants which in pagan mythology breathed
of higher life, they adopted the histor-
ical and NEUROLOGICAL origin Of the SYM
boil. The ivy. sacred to Osiris, symbolizes
cOnstancy, but to the Egyptian it typified
the resurrection. or at least a higher life.
The Greeks and Romans consecrated the
laurel to glory, yet it typitied the light
of-love, Apollo, who, when he could not
win the virtuous Daphne, changed her to
n laurel tree. Rosemary had no heathen
ancestry. but it was much esteemed by
the ancients of all nations. 1t was used
at feasts and funerals, the christening cup
was stirred with it and It was worn at
marriage ceremonies. 1t was believed that
rosemary had preventive virtue against
pestilential distempers, and that is prob
ably why it was always in demand at fu-
nerals. The Romans and Greeks burned
it in the chamber of the dead along with
frankincense. 1t was also planted on the
grave and used in the memorial services
held at stated periods. In flower langua ge,
which had its origin in the twilight of his
tory. rosemary stands for remembrance, :"
and Shakspere accepts this when he makes
his sweet maniac Ophelia, say: