| Note that in Hebrew,
the word for frankincense, lebonâh, literally means
milk-white, while the Egyptian term s-ntr may be translated
as that which makes god known.
A tree found growing in tropical regions, a member of the
Burseraceae family, its height ranges from three to six meters.
Its gum resin, frankincense, the amle incense of the ancient
world, is a milky liquid which, following incision, exudes
from the bark. It hardens into yellowish droplets, known as
frankincense tears. Ti was long imported from Southern Arabia,
from the kingdom of Sheba and from Hadramawt, on the backs
of camels following desert trails.
Many scenes on the walls of Egyptian temples depict the collection,
transport and use of Boswellia and its resin. Present in numerous
pharmacopoeia, frankincense has long been prescribed, especially
for its haemostatic properties.
The purest grade of frankincense is used without processing
as incense for burning. Note that the term incense once referred
exclusively to frankincense. It has only quite recently come
to refer to any pleasant smelling fumigation.
The Egyptian associated it with unrivalled symbolic properties
: a substance which revealed god, it sanctified rituals and
offerings.
More generally, it symbolized the divine, the father and the
diurnal, in contrast with myrrh, with which it was often associated.
These two substances, along with royal gold, were the gifts
of the three Magi to baby Jesus (Matthew 2,11).
In ritual ceremonies, the smoke of frankincense is both an
instrument of meditation with the divinity and a protective
screen which maintains a safe distance from God, whom no mortal
man shall see and live (Leviticus 16, 12-13 and Exodus 33,20).
Frankincense gives off a warm, slightly citrine perfume, balsamic
par excellence, still used in modern perfumery for its oriental
notes. |
