Memorial Legends

The history of the herb rosemary for funerals and other religious practices is ancient and colorful. Shakespeare immortalized its significance using the age old language of flowers in Hamlet when Ophelia says "there's rosemary, that's for remembrance..."

Shakespeare also referred to rosemary in the play Romeo and Juliet. "Dry up your tears," says Friar Lawrence to the mourners at Juliet's bier "and stick your rosemary on this fair corse; and, as the custom is, in all her best array bear her to church."

Several Christian legends attach to rosemary. When Joseph and Mary fled into Egypt with the baby Jesus, Mary washed out the infants clothes and spread them over a rosemary bush to dry and the plant immediately burst into bloom. On the same trip, she laid her own robe over a rosemary bush while she sat down to rest, and the flowers turned from white to blue. For years people believed that a rosemary bush would not grow taller than 6 feet (Christ's height when he was on earth) or live longer than his thirty-three years.

At burials, rosemary branches were thrown into the grave, a symbol that the departed friend would not be forgotten.

Rosemary was believed to have very strong powers against evil, and so people put a piece of it under their pillow at night to protect against nightmares and evil spirits. So great was this power that in churches rosemary was hung on the walls and strewn on the floors, and it was burned at the altar like incense. In fact, rosemary was so important in religious life that it was said that it would not grow in the garden of 'one who is not just and righteous.'"

The Complete Herb Book
Maggie Stuckey
the Berkley Publishing Group

Memorial Gifts
The herb rosemary has, for centuries, held great meaning as the symbol of remembrance. Our collection of memorial gifts follows the tradition of Rosemary for Remembrance. More Info

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