I have yet to provide all links for bibliography or rewrite this page in my own words. During the interim you may read my half assed notes , filled with typos, taken from 'The Two Babylons' by Alexander Hislop
Lets review the historical origins of ...
THE CLOTHING AND CROWNING OF IMAGES
The same clothing and adorning of the gods went on in Egypt, and there were
sacred persons who alone could be permitted to interfere with so
high a function. in the Eosetta Stone we find these sacred
functionaries distinctly referred to : " The chief priests and prophets,
and those who have access to the adytum to clothe the gods, ....
assembled in the temple at Memphis, established the following
decree."t
The "clothing of the gods" occupied an equally important
place in the sacred ceremonial of ancient Greece. Thus, we find
Pausanias referring to a present made to Minerva : "In after times,
Laodice, the daughter of Agapenor, sent a veil to Tegea, to Minerva
Alea." The epigram [inscription] on this offering indicates, at the
same time, the origin of Laodice :
" Laodice, from Cyprus, the divine,
To her paternal wide-extended land,
This veil—an offering to Minerva—sent." Pausanias, lib. viii., Arcadica, cap. 5, p. 607.
Thus, also, when Hecuba, the Trojan queen, in the instance already
referred to, was directed to lead the penitential procession through
the streets of Troy to Minerva's temple, she was commanded not to
go empty-handed, but to carry along with her, as her most acceptable
offering
" The largest mantle your full wardrobes hold,
Most prized for art, and laboured o'er with gold." The royal lady punctually obeyed :
" The Phrygian queen to her rich wardrobe went,
Where treasured odours breathed a costly scent
There lay the vestures of no vulgar art
Sidonian maids embroidered every part,
Whom from soft Sydon youthful Paris bore,
With Helen touching on the Tyrian shore.
Here, as the Queen revolved with careful eyes
The various textures and the various dyes,
She chose a veil that shone superior far,
And glowed refulgent as the morning star." Homer's Iliad, Book vi., Pope's Translation, pp. 466-468.
but let the statement of Herodotus be pondered in regard
to the annual ceremony, observed in Egypt, of slaying a ram, and
clothing the Father op the gods with its skin. Hekobotus, Eistoria, lib. ii. cap. 42, p. 119, A and B.
In the sacred rites of the Babylonian god, both
the exposure and the clothing that were represented as having taken
place, in his own history, were repeated on all his worshippers, in
accordance with the statement of Firmicus, that the initiated underwent
what their god had undergone. Firmicus, t>e Errore, p. 18.
Firmicus, that the initiated underwent
what their god had undergone.! First, after being duly
prepared by magic rites and ceremonies, they were ushered, in a
state of absolute nudity, into the innermost recesses of the temple.
This appears from the following statement of Proclus : " In the most
holy of the mysteries, they say that the mystics at first meet with
the many- shaped genera [i.e., with evil demons], which are hurled
forth before the gods : but on entering the interior parts of the
temple, unmoved and guarded by the mystic rites, they genuinely
receive in their bosom divine illumination, and, divested op theie
garments, participate, as they would say, of a divine nature." \J Tatlob's Jamblichus, Note, p. 148. See Appendix, Note M.
When the initiated, thus " illuminated " and made partakers of a
" divine nature," after being " divested of their garments," were
clothed anew, the garments with which they were invested were looked upon as " sacred garments," and possessing distinguished
virtues. " The coat of skin " with which the Father of mankind was
divinely invested after he was made so painfully sensible of his
nakedness, was, as all intelligent theologians admit, a typical emblem
of the glorious righteousness of Christ—" the garment of salvation,"
which is " unto all and upon all them that believe." The garments
put upon the initiated after their disrobing of their former
" The garments
of those initiated in the Eleusinian Mysteries," says Potter, " were
accounted sacred, and of no less efficacy to avert evils than charms
and incantations. They were never cast off till completely worn
out." * And of course, if possible, in these " sacred garments " they
were buried ; for Herodotus, speaking of Egypt, whence these
mysteries were derived, tells us that " religion " prescribed the
garments of the dead.t * Potter's Greek Antiquities, vol. i. p. 356.
t Herodotds, lib. ii. cap. 81, p. 134, B.
came from the
Chaldean Zoroaster, believe that " the sadra or sacred vest " tends
essentially to " preserve the departed soul from the calamities accru
ing from Ahriman," or the Devil ; and they represent those who
neglect the use of this " sacred vest " as suffering in their souls, and
" uttering the most dreadful and appalling cries," on account of the
torments inflicted on them " by all kinds of reptiles and noxious
animals, who assail them with their teeth and stings, and give them
not a moment's respite. "J t Wilson's Parsee Religion, pp. 164, 441, and 442.
What could have ever led mankind to
attribute such virtue to a " sacred vest " 1 If it be admitted that it
is just a perversion of the "sacred garment " put on our first parents,
all is clear. This,This, too, accounts for the superstitious feeling in the
Papacy, otherwise so unaccountable, that led so many in the dark
ages to fortify themselves against the fears of the judgment to come,
by seeking to be buried in a monk's dress. "" To be buried in a
friar's cast-off habit, accompanied by letters enrolling the deceased in
a monastic order, was accounted a sure deliverance from eternal
condemnation ! In ' Piers the Ploughman's Creed,' a friar is
described as wheedling a poor man out of his money by assuring him
that, if he will only contribute to his monastery,
' St. Francis himself shall fold thee in his cope,
And present thee to the Trinity, and pray for thy sins.' "
§§ British Reformers, " Bilney," p. 258, Note. In virtue of the same superstitious belief, King John of England
was buried in a monk's cowl || and|| Ibid.
Intimately connected with the " clothing of the images of the
saints " is also the " crowning " of them. For the last two centuries,
in the Popish communion, the festivals for crowning the " sacred
images " have been more and more celebrated. In Florence, a few
years ago, the image of the Madonna with the
child in her arms was " crowned " with unusual
pomp and solemnity.* Now, this too arose out
of the facts commemorated in the history of
Bacchus or Osiris. As Nimrod was the first
king after the Flood, so Bacchus was celebrated
as the first who wore a crown, f When,
* Bulwark 1852-53, pp. 154-157.
+ Pliny, Hist. Nat, lib. xvi. p. 377. Under the name of Saturn, also, the
Bame thing was attributed to Nimrod. See ante, p. 35, Note.
When, however,
he fell into the hands of his enemies, as he
was stripped of all his glory and power, he was
stripped also of his crown. The " falling of the
crowti from the head of Osiris " was specially
commemorated in Egypt. Melilot
is a species of trefoil ; and trefoil in the Pagan
system was one of the emblems of the Trinity.
Among the Tractarians at this day, trefoil is
used in the same symbolical sense as it has
long been in the Papacy, from which Puseyism has borrowed it.
Thus, in a blasphemous Popish representation of what is called God
the Father (of the fourteenth century), we find Him represented
as wearing a crown with three points, each of which is surmounted
with a leaf of white clover (Fig. 39).§ § From Didbon's Iconography, vol. i. p. 296.
That crown at different
times was represented in different ways,
but in the most famous myth of Osiris it was
represented as a " Melilot garland." J J Plutabch, Be Iside, vol. ii. p. 356, E.
trefoil was a sacred symbol.
The clover leaf was evidently a symbol of high import among the
ancient Persians ; for thus we find Herodotus referring to it, in
describing the rites of the Persian Magi—" If any (Persian) intends
to offer to a god, he leads the animal to a consecrated spot. Then,
dividing the victim into parts, he boils the flesh, and lays it upon
the most tender herbs, especially tkefoil. This done, a magus without a magus no sacrifice can be performed—sings a sacred
hymn."* * Historia, lib. i. cap. 132, pp. 62, 63.
In Greece, the clover, or trefoil, in some form or other,
had also occupied an important place ; for the rod of Mercury, the
conductor of souls, to which such potency was ascribed, was called
" Rabdos Tripetelos," or " the three-leaved rod."\ t Homer, Hymn to Mercury, 11. 626, 527.
Among the British
Druids the white clover leaf was held in high esteem as an emblem
of their Triune God,J J Davies's Druids, p. 448.
J Davies's Druids, p. 448. § Ovid, Fasti, lib. iii. 1. 513, vol. iii. p. 184.
this crowning of the wife of the Babylonian god is
perpetuated to this hour by the well-known figure in the sphere
called Ariadncea corona,\\
1 Wilkinson, vol. iv. p. 345.
or "Ariadne's crown." || Manilius, lib. v. v. 21, p. 164.
|| Manilius, lib. v. v. 21, p. 164.
crowned "U with flowers, arose the custom,
so prevalent in heathenism, of adorning the altars of the gods with
" chaplets " of all sorts, and with a gay profusion of flowers.** 1 Wilkinson, vol. iv. p. 345.
** Ibid. vol. v. p. 368.
sacred " chaplet " of the discrowned god was placed in triumph
anew on his head and on his altars, the recovered flowers which
Proserpine had lost were also laid on these altars along with it, in
token of gratitude to that mother of grace and goodness, for the
beauty and the temporal blessings that the earth owed to her interposition
and love.f In Pagan Rome especially this was the case.
The altars were profusely adorned with flowers. From that source
directly the Papacy has borrowed the custom of adorning the altar
with flowers ;
t Lucretius, addressing Venus, says, "Tibi suaveis daadala tellus summittit
flores."—Lib. i. v. 6, 7, p. 2.
By learning to decipher the symbolic language of ritual you understand who or what it is you are adoring. The god's don't care what you call them as long as you call them. Names change but rituals stay the same. Discover who is really being worshiped.
