On the left are the laurels we won on May 10, 2016. I know award-winning films receive them and then post them on their movie posters and websites.
Here are the four questions. (Highly appropriate for this time of year)
Where did this symbol come from? In the movies, I have seen them on the heads of Roman emperors and Napoleon.
Wasn’t it given as an Olympic Prize? It was given as a prize in the Greek Pythian Games.
Why is Italy different than all other countries? In Italy, graduating students were crowns of laurels instead of the mortar board hat. May not be true, I read it on Wikipedia.
What tree grew these leaves? The laurus nobilis— AKA the Bay laurel which is a aromatic evergreen. Yup the bay leaves we use in seasoning. Time to take a deep breath and remember the smell of bay leaves.
So I browse the net to learn more about this fashionable twig and leaves. In ancient Greece, laurel wreaths were symbols of status or victory. It is a symbol of the highest status. A ‘laureate’ was originally a person crowned with a laurel wreath. i.e. Nobel and poet laureates. You guessed it. It is also the source of the word baccalaureate. Today they are most commonly associated with the phrase,”resting on ones laurels.”
Well, we won the Top Indie Film Awards for Best Short, I now have to do the following:
Not to rest on my laurels;
To pray to the Greek G-d know as TIFA (It worked “Best Documentary Short);
To smell some bay leaves at Publix;
To add some ground bay leaves to my pasta sauces and to my next Bloody Mary.
Finally, a toast to my film buddies:
May your head be crowned with a wreath of laurels and my the wreath’s aroma lead to the sweet smell of success.
