Laurel wreath Laurel wreath A laurel wreath is a symbol of victory and honor. It is a round wreath made of connected branches and leaves of the bay laurel ("Laurus nobilis"), an aromatic broadleaf evergreen, or later from spineless butcher's broom ("Ruscus hypoglossum") or cherry laurel ("Prunus laurocerasus"). It is worn as a chaplet around the head, or as a garland around the neck. In Greek mythology, Apollo is represented wearing a laurel wreath on his head. In ancient Greece wreaths were awarded to victors, both in athletic competitions, including the ancient Olympics—for which they were made of wild olive-tree known as
The Wood Nymph The Wood Nymph The Wood Nymph (Swedish title: ; subtitled '), Op. 15, is a programmatic tone poem for orchestra composed in 1894 and 1895 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The ballade, which premiered on 17 April 1895 in Helsinki, Finland, with Sibelius conducting, follows the Swedish writer Viktor Rydberg's 1882 poem of the same name, in which a young man, Björn, wanders into the forest and is seduced and driven to despair by a ', or wood nymph. Organizationally, the tone poem consists of four informal sections, each of which corresponds to one of the poem's four stanzas