Laurel wreath

In Greek mythology, the god Apollo, who is patron of lyrical poetry, musical performance[a] and skill-based athletics, is conventionally depicted wearing a laurel wreath on his head in all three roles.

[3] Apollo vowed to honor Daphne forever and used his powers of eternal youth and immortality to render the laurel tree evergreen.

For example, the greatly admired medieval Florentine poet and philosopher Dante Alighieri is often represented in paintings and sculpture wearing a laurel wreath.

Right after the graduation ceremony, or laurea in Italian, the student receives a laurel wreath to wear for the rest of the day.

[citation needed] At Connecticut College in the United States, members of the junior class carry a laurel chain, which the seniors pass through during commencement.

Immediately following commencement, the junior girls write out with the laurels their class year, symbolizing they have officially become seniors and the period will repeat itself the following spring.

[citation needed] In Sweden, those receiving a doctorate or an honorary doctorate in subjects traditionally falling within the Faculty of Philosophy (meaning philosophy, languages, arts, history and social sciences, as well as the natural sciences), receive a laurel wreath during the ceremony of conferral of the degree.

[citation needed] In Finland, in University of Helsinki a laurel wreath is given during the ceremony of conferral for master's degree.

[8] The laurel wreath is seen carved in the stone and decorative plaster works of Robert Adam, and in Federal, Regency, Directoire, and Beaux-Arts periods of architecture.

In decorative arts, especially during the Empire period, the laurel wreath is seen woven in textiles, inlaid in marquetry, and applied to furniture in the form of gilded brass mounts.

Alfa Romeo added a laurel wreath to their logo after they won the inaugural Automobile World Championship in 1925 with the P2 racing car.