Origin The pairing is at least as old as the nativity narrative associating both gifts, continuing in ancient Near Eastern and Christian liturgical use afterward; the individual resins' own much older trade history is recorded separately under Frankincense and Myrrh
The Frankincense and Myrrh blend pairs two aromatic resins of the ancient South Arabian and Horn of African incense trade, burned together rather than separately across a range of ancient Near Eastern and later Christian liturgical settings, where the two resins together came to carry the combined association of both gifts named in the nativity account. This entry is for the mixed compound specifically, kept distinct from the plain Frankincense resin already recorded here, which this blend uses as one of its two components.
Facts
Open Questions
Earliest AttestationNot established as a combined incense. The resins are attested together only as a symbolic pair.
Frankincense and myrrh are named together as gifts in the nativity account, Matthew 2:11, but no source has been confirmed establishing when the two resins were first combined into a single burned incense compound, as opposed to being traded, gifted or invoked as a symbolic pair. Origins
Origin PeriodThe pairing is at least as old as the nativity narrative associating both gifts, continuing in ancient Near Eastern and Christian liturgical use afterward; the individual resins' own much older trade history is recorded separately under Frankincense and Myrrh 1 Identity
Form of the IncenseResin blend: frankincense and myrrh resins burned together rather than separately 1 Use
Ritual UseBurned together across a range of ancient Near Eastern rites and later Christian liturgical settings, where the pairing came to carry the combined association of both gifts named in the nativity account. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Belongs to Tradition
Related To
Sources
Open Questions (1 open question)
When were frankincense and myrrh first compounded into a single burned incense, rather than named or given together as a symbolic pair?
The nativity account names the two resins together but does not describe them blended or burned as one compound, and a genuine combined incense recipe naming both resins together has not been located.
What would resolve this A study of ancient or early Christian liturgical incense recipes identifying the earliest instance in which frankincense and myrrh are compounded into a single burned mixture, rather than named or given as a symbolic pair.
Liturgical history, history of pharmacyMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Encyclopedia of Religion
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