Fragrance
Products: A Brief History
- by KissMeGoodnight.com
Fragrance
products have been around almost since the beginning of
civilization itself. Certain scents
are the key to unlocking many of the world's memories. Perhaps
that accounts for their popularity. The fragrance industry
did more than ten billion dollars in sales last year alone.
We are not the only culture to be fragrance obsessed, though.
The word “perfume” comes from the Latin “per fume” which translates
to “through smoke.” This makes perfect sense in light of the
fact that the earliest fragrance products known to man were
the burning of incense or aromatic herbs during religious gatherings
or for religious purposes.
It is commonly agreed that the Egyptians were the first, as
a culture, to wholly integrate fragrance into their cultural
world. Under the reign of Queen Sheba, religious ceremonies,
including things like burning incense to honor the dead, became
the cultural standard in the country. All scents were essential
to this culture. They were a high priced commodity. They were
even more important than gold. However, the most important
scent in the country was kyphi, a natural scent found throughout
the country at the time. It is said that when archaeologists
opened the tomb of Tutankhamen, it was this scent that overpowered
them. The Egyptians did not stop their use of fragrance with
religious ceremonies and their cultural customs surrounding
the dead, though. Egyptians also routinely used fragrance products
on their bodies. They regularly anointed themselves with scents
like cinnamon and honey. They also developed a great talent
for scent extraction. Many temples show drawings of citizens
distilling fragrance from the white Madonna lily. Scents of
this type, though, were not for all Egyptian citizens. These
fragrances were only used for powerful, wealthy citizens who
could afford to use them on a regular basis. Both genders,
men and women, in Egyptian society, though, were welcome to
wear these precious commodities. Fragrance was seen as a symbol
of power and wealth, and the rich liked to flaunt their wealth
through their scents and those of their family members. Interestingly
enough, though, most of the Egyptian scents were not native
to the country. Most of them were brought to the Egyptians
by Palestine, Persia, India, and Arabia.
In
Persia, as in Egypt, fragrance was also a sign of social
class. Kings sitting in their palaces wore crowns decorated
with scents like myrrh and labyzuz. The aromas could be smelled
throughout the palace. Wealthy citizens had extensive gardens.
Most grew scents like jasmine, lilac, violet, and red rose
for a number of purposes, including distillation so they could
wear the scents out of the house. Most wealthy citizens used
perfumes after bathing. Many men put civet on their beards
and musk on other places on their body to emit the aroma of
wealth and power wherever they tread. Persians were one of
the first cultures to master the art of preservation. They
placed rose buds in sealed jars, often earthenware, and opened
them on special occasions.
After Alexander the Great defeated Darius III of Persia, he
too adopted the use of fragrance in Greece. He had scented
water sprinkled on the floors of his homes. All of his clothes
were heavily fragranced with resins and myrrh. The Greeks extensively
used fragrances associated with their religion. They believed
the gods invented perfume. They also believed that after a
god or goddess had visited an earthly location, it was forever
marked with a sweet smell as a gift from the deity. They anointed
all of their dead bodies with scented oil. In wedding ceremonies,
not only were the bride and groom scented, the bride's maidens
bore crowns of hyacinth. Even their games were marked with
scents. After an athlete was deemed the winner, he was given
a necklace of golden violets to wear. The Greeks also made
an extensive study of perfumes. They left extensive writings
about which plants, and which parts of those plants, offered
them the scents they used with different ceremonies.
Many different cultures started the various use of perfumes
throughout the course of history, and we still use fragrances
for so many different purposes today. They are still used frequently
in various religious ceremonies, and we use them to adorn our
bodies. The use of perfumes will most likely last until the
end of civilization as we know it.
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KissMeGoodnight.com
: 2006
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