Priscilla Wannamaker

The Fragrance of Love [Full Article]

Brides and fragrant flowers have a long, intertwined relationship: roses, orange blossoms, lilies, and in India, the sensual, heady fragrance of jasmine has been associated with weddings for generations.1 Smell, it seems, is the most ancient and magical sense, acting as a sort of sensual medium between heaven and earth. According to author Christopher Bamford, “A scent or perfume was thought to express the ‘inner essence’ or spiritual nature of a thing.”2 Therefore when we smell a rose, it’s the scent of something truly divine.

Bangladeshi bride Farhana Sultana in 2001.

Julie Mikos

No wonder that in preparation for their weddings, brides in cultures throughout antiquity would be given a ritual bath in water mixed with fragrant, essential oils. “Essential oils are the concentrated essences of plants, often referred to the soul of the plant,”3 experts explain. This bathing ritual, prepared by women of her community, would have had a nurturing and purifying effect for the bride. Perfumed herbs would be applied to the bride’s hair as well and their transformative scents would later be captured under her veil, supporting a meditative rite-of-passage.

In ancient Athens, both brides and grooms took elaborate, ceremonial baths. The water for the nuptial bath was as key to the ritual as were the essential oils. It was drawn from a specially designated source, a certain spring or river. Since water is thought to be life-giving and productive, bridegrooms would sprinkle themselves symbolically with water, praying for fertility; and brides would emerge from the bridal baths believing their fertility enhanced.4

Grecian urns found from these times—more than 3000 years ago—depict solemn, majestic processions taking the bride to fetch her bathwater. These processional scenes were clear signs to the community that a wedding was taking place. The bride’s honored attendants used special vases to carry water for the ritual cleansing and unguent bowls to hold the precious essential oils. To complete the ceremonial baths for both bride and groom, they would then be anointed with the rich perfumed oils.

In our modern, mechanized, rushing-about culture, the delicate yet powerful scents of the natural world—and our connection to them—have been diminished, if not lost. Weddings today can become an opportunity to surround ourselves and bask in the sweet fragrance of nature. The sense of smell carries memory most profoundly. Therefore, a bouquet filled with tuber roses and aromatic rosemary could be transportive; its scents carrying the bride deep inside her heart to anchor in the fragrance of love.

(from Cornelia's future book, Weddings of Grace: The Bride You Want to Be ~ The Woman You Become)

1. Tiziana and Gianni Baldizzone, Wedding Ceremonies: Ethnic Symbols, Costume and Rituals, (Italy: Flammarion, 2001), 12.
2. Christopher Bamford, “Smell,” Parabola, Spring 2006, 59-60.
3. Michael Scholes, “What Are Essential Oils?,” www.michaelscholes.com.
4. John H. Oakley and Rebecca H. Sinos, The Wedding in Ancient Athens, (London, England: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1993), 15.

Fragrant Musings