[Herbalist] roses

[Gaylin Walli]

On Sunday, January 26, 2003, at 01:03 PM, dwilson wrote:

> Below is a snip from sca arts, It is the first time I have heard of
> the idea
> that rose petal paste beads are not period. Do we have any proof this
> is a
> period practice?

Specifically in response to:

> Rose-petal *beads* in any form seem to date from the Victorian era;
> I've been asking, and would be very interested to see any
> documentation of them earlier than that. (So far no one has found any
> that I've heard of.)

I have secondary information that may lead to primary information, but
I've  never really had time to follow up on it. The June/July 1996
issue of The Herb Companion magazine had an article on how to make rose
beads. It mentions the history briefly:

"Beads made of rose petals that have been cooked, mashed, and molded by
hand trace their origins to India, where the devout used them as a
counting device while reciting their prayers. Eastern Christian monks
adopted the use of rose beads in the third century, and the beads were
given official approval in 1520 by Pope Leo X."

It would be easy enough to write the magazine on it. My connex to the
OED seems abyssmally slow today or I'd look up the words to see what
that source has to say.

Iasmin