Would you rather...

[Eden]

Wasn't it from the plague? So many dead and dying that you'd want a garland around your neck to ward off the smell? Surfs off to look this up.

I read garland had no holiday significance at all in it's origin - it was, at first, the stringing of the guts of one's slain enemies around a tree to celebrate your glorious victory and warn off anyone else who might wish to fight with you…. nasty stuff.