The resemblance of these ceremonies to the Indian and European
ceremonies which I have described elsewhere is obvious. In
particular, apart from the somewhat doubtful date of its
celebration, the Alexandrian ceremony is almost identical with the
Indian. In both of them the marriage of two divine beings, whose
affinity with vegetation seems indicated by the fresh plants with
which they are surrounded, is celebrated in effigy, and the effigies
are afterwards mourned over and thrown into the water. From the
similarity of these customs to each other and to the spring and
midsummer customs of modern Europe we should naturally expect that
they all admit of a common explanation. Hence, if the explanation
which I have adopted of the latter is correct, the ceremony of the
death and resurrection of Adonis must also have been a dramatic
representation of the decay and revival of plant life. The inference
thus based on the resemblance of the customs is confirmed by the
following features in the legend and ritual of Adonis. His affinity
with vegetation comes out at once in the common story of his birth.
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