Garland (g hard)

“A chaplet should be composed of four roses … and a garland should be formed of laurel or oak leaves, interspersed with acorns.”—J. E. Cussans: Handbook of Heraldry, chap. vii. p. 105.

Garland. A collection of ballads in True Loversʹ Garland, etc.

Nuptial garlands are as old as the hills. The ancient Jews used them, according to Selden (Uxor Heb., iii. 655); the Greek and Roman brides did the same (Vaughan, Golden Grove); so did the Anglo-Saxons and Gauls.

“Thre ornamentys pryncipaly to a wyfe: A rynge on hir fynger, a broch on hir brest, and a garlond on hir hede. The rynge betokenethe true love; the broch clennesse in herte and chastitye; the garlond … gladness and the dignity of the sacrement of wedlock.”—Leland: Dives and Pauper (1493).

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.