AUTUMN AND GARLANDS ARE OFFICIALLY HERE!

As the month of October fills the air with the first winds' chill and the smell of cinnamon, roasted chestnuts and apple pies, we know that autumn is officially here!

Gorgeous tones of yellow, orange, brown and red cover shop windows and community halls all over town and the urge to decorate, accordingly, grows. Garlands, festoons, swags, wreaths - whatever names they are given - come to mind!

But garlands are more than simple decoration elements. The word itself comes from the French 14th century “guirlandes” but they have been with us since times immemorial, mostly for religious purposes. Egyptians used them to celebrate entering in the afterlife, Greeks and Romans decorated their homes, tables and civic buildings, while Hindus initially offered their “malas” for courtship purposes and later for rituals of devotion.

Garlands were initially – and still are - a band (or chain) of flowers, foliage, and leaves; they may be joined at the ends forming a circle (a wreath), worn on the head (a chaplet), or draped in loops (a festoon or swag).

Home garlands today are in alignment with our time. In most western cultures, natural flower gave room to less perishable materials such as clay, resin, ropes, macramé cords, wood figurines and beads, shells, sea washed glass, vintage sculpted pieces, silk tassels and many more creative supports.

Garlands are more than ever imperative decorating items, but modern world oblige, they have become more versatile and informal, more “countryside”, adding a dash of bohemian glamour, a “country chic” touch to your decor! They are no longer a Christmas-only “must”, but an all –year-round statement like the vases, rugs and painting one chooses to display.

Garlands are loosely scattered around the house: on a coffee table, around a bottle of wine, on a mantel piece, fireplace, book shelf, around a staircase rail or over a book. They have become, with time, the quintessential personal touch – the signature! - of any host.