Native varieties of basil are found throughout Asia, Africa, and Central and South America.
It was possibly first cultivated in India, where it has been considered a sacred herb associated with love and faithfulness. Basil plants are sometimes grown in the homes of Hindus to bring the family happiness. A basil leaf buried with a person was considered his passport to heaven.
In India, where the basil is native, it is a holy herb, dedicated to Vishnu, whose wife, Lakshmi, it is in disguise. To break a sprig of the plant fills him with pain, and he commonly denies the prayers of such as trespass against it ; yet it is permitted to wear the seeds as a rosary and to remove a leaf, for every good Hindu goes to his rest with a basil leaf on his breast, which he has only to show at the gate of heaven to be admitted.
In Persia and Malaysia basil is planted on graves while in Egypt women scatter the flowers on the resting places of their dead. These faiths and observances are out of keeping with the Greek idea that it represented hate and misfortune, and they painted poverty, in apotheosis, as a ragged woman with a basil at her side.
The word "basil" is derived from the Greek word for "king," a reference to its royal fragrance. Alexander the Great may have brought basil to Greece, where it was once thought scorpions would breed under pots of the growing herb.
Ancient Romans called the herb "basiliscus", a reference to the basilisk, a very fierce and dangerous dragon that could kill a person by looking at him. Eating basil was thought to be a protection from this dragon, as well as a cure for poison. The Romans also connected basil to love and fertility.
The French call it "herbe royale." Medieval Europeans thought it to be a sorcerer's herb.
Basil has an association with the Holy Cross. A Christian legend has it that the True Cross was found under growing basil. According to Father Mark on the blog Vultus Christi (see Resources below), "Basil plants were reputed to have sprung up at the foot of the Cross where fell the Precious Blood of Christ and the tears of the Mother of Sorrows. A sprig of basil was said to have been found growing from the wood of the True Cross."
But to show that basil doesn't play favorites, it is also associated with Erzulie, a voodoo love goddess worshipped in Haiti.
Italians think of basil as a symbol of love. In Romania, if a man accepts a sprig of basil from a woman, they are engaged.
It was possibly first cultivated in India, where it has been considered a sacred herb associated with love and faithfulness. Basil plants are sometimes grown in the homes of Hindus to bring the family happiness. A basil leaf buried with a person was considered his passport to heaven.
In India, where the basil is native, it is a holy herb, dedicated to Vishnu, whose wife, Lakshmi, it is in disguise. To break a sprig of the plant fills him with pain, and he commonly denies the prayers of such as trespass against it ; yet it is permitted to wear the seeds as a rosary and to remove a leaf, for every good Hindu goes to his rest with a basil leaf on his breast, which he has only to show at the gate of heaven to be admitted.
In Persia and Malaysia basil is planted on graves while in Egypt women scatter the flowers on the resting places of their dead. These faiths and observances are out of keeping with the Greek idea that it represented hate and misfortune, and they painted poverty, in apotheosis, as a ragged woman with a basil at her side.
The word "basil" is derived from the Greek word for "king," a reference to its royal fragrance. Alexander the Great may have brought basil to Greece, where it was once thought scorpions would breed under pots of the growing herb.
Ancient Romans called the herb "basiliscus", a reference to the basilisk, a very fierce and dangerous dragon that could kill a person by looking at him. Eating basil was thought to be a protection from this dragon, as well as a cure for poison. The Romans also connected basil to love and fertility.
The French call it "herbe royale." Medieval Europeans thought it to be a sorcerer's herb.
Basil has an association with the Holy Cross. A Christian legend has it that the True Cross was found under growing basil. According to Father Mark on the blog Vultus Christi (see Resources below), "Basil plants were reputed to have sprung up at the foot of the Cross where fell the Precious Blood of Christ and the tears of the Mother of Sorrows. A sprig of basil was said to have been found growing from the wood of the True Cross."
But to show that basil doesn't play favorites, it is also associated with Erzulie, a voodoo love goddess worshipped in Haiti.
Italians think of basil as a symbol of love. In Romania, if a man accepts a sprig of basil from a woman, they are engaged.