Garland
Garland (στέμμα, Ac 14:13). SEE WREATH. It was customary in heathen sacrifices to adorn victims with fillets and garlands; but commentators are not agreed as to the purpose to which the "garlands" mentioned in the above passage are to be applied. As the idolaters used to put garlands on the head of their idol before they offered sacrifice, it has been thought by others that they were intended to be set on the heads of the apostles. They were generally composed of such trees or plants as were esteemed most agreeable to the god who was the immediate object of worship (see Kuinöl and others, in Ioc.). See Rose, De στεφανοφορίᾷ (Jgia, 1669); Schmid, De Coronis (Lips. 1701); Gerhard, id. (Jen. 1646); Schmeizel, id. (ib. 1713); Paschalis, id. (L.B., 1671); Grefe, De corones epularibus (Lips. 1670). SEE CROWN; SEE WEDDING.
Garlands in the marriage service. It was usual in the early Church to crown persons contracted in marriage with garlands (Chrysostom, Hom. 9 in 1
Timothy). This practice was derived from the heathen ceremonies; but, as it was deemed innocent, the Christians made no scruple to adopt it. It is still practised in the Greek Church. At funerals, however, the custom of crowning the corpse and the coffin was rejected as savoring of idolatry (Tertullian, De Corona Militis, c. 10). It was usual to strew flowers on the grave. — Riddle, Christian Antiquities, book 7, chapter 3.
