antiquity, the carrying of boughs or branches of trees, a religious ceremony so called, because certain priests called from thence dendrophori, tree bearers, marched in procession, carrying the branches of trees in their hands in honour of some god, as Bacchus, Cebele, Sylvanus, &c. The college of the dendrophori is often mentioned in ancient marbles; and we frequently see in basso relievos the bacchanals represented as men carrying little shrubs or branches of trees.