A SECOND DISSERTATION UPON THE MYSTICAL SIGNIFICATION OF THE BOUGH AND AMONGST THE ANTIENT NORTHERN NATIONS, IN THE FEAST OF ADONIS, AND IN THE HINDU MYTHOLOGY; WITH AN APPLICATION OF THE SAME TO THE RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND OPINIONS OF THE GREEKS. Ελπομαι, ἢ ΑΙΓΥΠΤΟΝ ἀφίξεται, ἢ ὅγε ΚΥΠΡΟΝ, Hymn. in Bacchum. Apollonii Rhodii suppositious, ver. 28. CONTENTS. § I. Veneration paid to the Mistletoe by the Scandinavians, and Celts.Influence of the Yule upon the Religious Ceremonies of the Greeks. § II. Probability of the Rites of the Bough having been brought from Persia.-Solemn ploughing of the Chinese and Greeks.—Use of the Bough in the Feast of Adonis. § III. Allegorical meaning of the Palm-branch in the Hindu Mythology. -Umbrella, wherefore substituted for it.—The Umbrella as a mystic Emblem communicated from India to Greece. § IV. Use of these Remarks in the Study of Antiquities. POSTSCRIPT. Upon the Religion of the Pelasgi. Veneration paid to the Mistletoe by the Scandinavians, and Celts.-Influence of the Yule upon the Religious Ceremonies of the Greeks. N In the former Dissertation I collected whatever I thought could be advanced with certainty upon the subject of the Skirophoria. I there contented myself also with making slight allusion to the northern nations, and the respect they entertained for the Mistletoe; meaning to make them my guide in tracing the original institution |