For centuries, right up until the present day, the idea of paradisical locales has existed across all cultures. These places, described in Regina Dahnen-Ingenhoven’s Animation: Form Follows Fun as sites of tranquillity, peace and happiness are ‘gardens with an abundance of the gifts of nature’.
The origins of the word paradise itself can be traced before its current Middle English spelling from ultimately an Iranian word modified by the Greeks into paradeisos meaning ‘enclosed park’. In Hellenistic Greek, ‘paradeisos’ was also used in an early Greek translation of Jewish scriptures in reference to the Garden of Eden. Early Christian writers also used ‘paradeisos’ for Heaven and for the place where righteous souls await resurrection. Though in English, ‘paradise’ has also come to refer to more earthly states and places of delight as well.
To consider the community garden as a place of paradise - abundant with the gifts of nature - the garden must be productive. To accomplish this, the garden will provide a harvest which can be used within the bath house, namely within the immersion pools which will incorporate the blossoms of plants within them for their homeopathic qualities:
Rose: Hydrate the skin
Lavender: Works to calm the mind and relieve stress
Sweet Jasmine: Enhances and uplifts mood
Chamomile: Soothes skin
Rosemary Petals: Boost circulation
Peony: Tones skin
Lotus Flower: Softens skin and reduces anxiety
Orchid: Reduces fine lines and wrinkles and contains antioxidant properties
In addition to describing these sites of bliss, paradise also defines the boundaries of the site: rampart, fences and town walls. The sense of an enclosed park relates both to the idea of a walled garden fulfilling the needs of the bath house as well as the boundaries themselves, which could be further examples and uses of baffled entrances - especially those which employed on larger scales to protect enclosures, villages/towns, and sites of settlements.
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