wreaths, and festoons of flowers on every possible occasion; they
adorned with them the sacrificial victims, the statue of the god to
whom sacrifice was offered, and the priest who performed the rite. They
placed chaplets on the brows of the dead, and strewed their graves
with floral wreaths, whilst at their funeral feasts the parents of
the departed one encircled their heads with floral crowns. They threw
them to the successful actors on the stage. They hung with garlands
the gates of their cities on days of rejoicing. They employed floral
wreaths at their nuptials. Nearly all the plants composing these
wreaths had a symbolical meaning, and they were varied according to
the seasons and the circumstances of the wearer. The Hawthorn adorned
Grecian brides; but the bridal wreath of the Romans was usually
composed of Verbena, plucked by the bride herself. Holly wreaths were
sent as tokens of good wishes. Chaplets of Parsley and Rue were worn to
keep off evil spirits.
But the employment of garlands has by no means been confined to the
ancients. At the present day the inhabitants of India make constant use
of them. The Brahmin women, who burn themselves on the funeral pyres
of their husbands, deck their persons with chaplets and garlands, and
present wreaths to the young women who attend them at this terrible
sacrifice. The young Indian girls adorn themselves with garlands
during the festival of Kâmadeva, the god of love, which takes place
during the last days of spring. In the nuptial ceremonies of India,
the garland of flowers is still a feature which possesses a recognised
symbolic value. In Northern India garlands of the African Marigold are
placed on the trident emblem of Mahâdeva, and both male and female
worshippers wear chaplets composed of the same sacred flower on his
festivals. The _Moo-le-hua_, a fragrant Jasmine, is employed in China
and other Eastern countries in forming wreaths for the decoration of
ladies’ hair, and an Olive crown is still the reward of literary merit
in China. The Japanese of both sexes are fond of wearing wreaths of
fragrant blossoms.
The Italians have artificers called Festaroli, whose especial office
it is to manufacture garlands and festoons of flowers and other
decorations for feasts. The maidens of Greece, Germany, and Roumania
still bear wreaths of flowers in certain processions which have long
been customary in the spring of the year. The Swiss peasants are
fond of making garlands, for rural festivities, of the Globe-flower
(_Trollius Europæus_), which grows freely on all the chain of the Alps.
In Germany a wreath of Vervain is presented to the newly-married, and
in place of the wreath of Orange-blossoms which decorates the brow
of the bride in England, France, and America, a chaplet of Myrtle is
worn. The blossom of the _Bizarade_ or bitter Orange is most prized for
wreaths and favours when the fresh flowers can be procured.
[Headpiece]
CHAPTER V.
Plants of the Christian Church.
After Rome Pagan became Rome Christian, the priests of the Church of
Christ recognised the importance of utilising the connexion which
existed between plants and the old pagan worship, and bringing the
floral world into active co-operation with the Christian Church by the
institution of a floral symbolism which should be associated not only
with the names of saints, but also with the Festivals of the Church.
But it was more especially upon the Virgin Mary that the early Church
bestowed their floral symbolism. Mr. Hepworth Dixon, writing of those
quiet days of the Virgin’s life, passed purely and tenderly among the
flowers of Nazareth, says--“Hearing that the best years of her youth
and womanhood were spent, before she yet knew grief, on this sunny hill
and side slope, her feet being for ever among the Daisies, Poppies, and
Anemones, which grow everywhere about, we have made her the patroness
of all our flowers. The Virgin is our Rose of Sharon--our Lily of the
Valley. The poetry no less than the piety of Europe has inscribed to
her the whole bloom and colouring of the fields and hedges.”
The choicest flowers were wrested from the classic Juno, Venus, and
Diana, and from the Scandinavian Bertha and Freyja, and bestowed upon
the Madonna, whilst floral offerings of every sort were laid upon her
shrines.
Her husband, Joseph, has allotted to him a white _Campanula_, which in
Bologna is known as the little Staff of St. Joseph. In Tuscany the name
of St. Joseph’s staff is given to the Oleander: a legend recounts that
the good Joseph possessed originally only an ordinary staff, but that
when the angel announced to him that he was destined to be the husband
of the Virgin Mary, he became so radiant with joy, that his very staff
flowered in his hand.
Before our Saviour’s birth, the Virgin Mary, strongly desiring to
refresh herself with some luscious cherries that were hanging in
clusters upon the branch of a tree, asked Joseph to gather some for
her. He hesitated, and mockingly said--“Let the father of thy child
present them to you.” Instantly the branch of the Cherry-tree inclined
itself to the Virgin’s hand, and she plucked from it the refreshing
fruit. On this account the Cherry has always been dedicated to the
Virgin Mary. The Strawberry, also, is specially set apart to the
Virgin’s use; and in the Isle of Harris a species of Beans, called
Molluka Beans, are called, after her, the Virgin Mary’s Nuts.
At Bethlehem, the manger in which the Infant Jesus was laid after His
birth was filled with Our Lady’s Bedstraw (_Galium verum_). Some few
drops of the Virgin’s milk fell upon a Thistle, which from that time
has had its leaves spotted with white, and is known as Our Lady’s
Thistle (_Carduus Marianus_). In Germany the _Polypodium vulgare_,
which grows in clefts of rocks, is believed to have sprung from
the milk of the Virgin (in ancient times from Freyja’s milk). The
_Pulmonaria_ is also known as _Unser Frauen Milch_ (Our Lady’s Milk).
When, after the birth of Jesus, His parents fled into Egypt, traditions
record that in order that the Virgin might conceal herself and the
infant Saviour from the assassins sent out by Herod, various trees
opened, or stretched their branches and enlarged their leaves. As
the Juniper is dedicated to the Virgin, the Italians consider that
it was a tree of that species which thus saved the mother and child,
and the Juniper is supposed to possess the power of driving away evil
spirits and of destroying magical spells. The Palm, the Willow, and the
Rosemary have severally been named as having afforded their shelter to
the fugitives. On the other hand, the Lupine, according to a tradition
still current among the Bolognese, received the maledictions of the
Virgin Mary because, during the flight, certain plants of this species,
by the noise they made, drew the attention of the soldiers of Herod to
the spot where the harassed travellers had halted.
During the flight into Egypt a legend relates that certain precious
bushes sprang up by the fountain where the Virgin washed the swaddling
clothes of her Divine babe. These bushes were produced by the drops of
water which fell from the clothes, and from which germinated a number
of little plants, each yielding precious balm. Wherever the Holy Family
rested in their flight sprang up the _Rosa Hierosolymitana_--the _Rosa
Mariæ_, or Rose of the Virgin. Near the city of On there was shown for
many centuries the sacred Fig-tree under which the Holy Family rested.
They also, according to Bavarian tradition, rested under a Hazel.
Plants of the Virgin Mary.
In Tuscany there grows on walls a rootless little pellitory
(_Parietaria_), with tiny pale-pink flowers and small leaves. They
gather it on the morning of the Feast of the Ascension, and suspend it
on the walls of bed-rooms till the day of the Nativity of the Virgin
(8th September), from which it derives its name--the Herb of the
Madonna. It generally opens its flowers after it has been gathered,
retaining sufficient sap to make it do so. This opening of a cut
flower is regarded by the peasantry as a token of the special blessing
of the Virgin. Should the flower not open, it is taken as an omen of
the Divine displeasure. In the province of Bellune, in Italy, the
_Matricaria Parthenium_ is called the Herb of the Blessed Mary: this
flower was formerly consecrated to Minerva.
In Denmark, Norway, and Iceland, they give the name of _Mariengras_
(Herb of Mary) to different Ferns, and in those countries Mary often
replaces the goddess Freyja, the Venus of the North, in the names of
flowers. No doubt the monks of old delighted in bestowing upon the
Virgin Mary the floral attributes of Venus, Freyja, Isis, and other
goddesses of the heathen; but, nevertheless, it is not long since that
a Catholic writer complained that at the Reformation “the very names
of plants were changed in order to divert men’s minds from the least
recollection of ancient Christian piety;” and a Protestant writer of
the last century, bewailing the ruthless action of the Puritans in
giving to the “Queen of Beauty” flowers named after the “Queen of
Heaven,” says: “Botany, which in ancient times was full of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, ... is now as full of the heathen Venus.”
Amongst the titles of honour given to the Virgin in the ‘Ballad of
Commendation of Our Lady,’ in the old editions of Chaucer, we find:
“Benigne braunchlet of the Pine tree.”
In England “Lady” in the names of plants generally has allusion to
Our Lady, Notre Dame, the Virgin Mary. Our Lady’s Mantle (_Alchemilla
vulgaris_) is the Máríu Stakkr of Iceland, which insures repose when
placed beneath the pillow. _Scandix Pecten_ was Our Lady’s Comb, but in
Puritan times was changed into Venus’ Comb. The _Cardamine pratensis_
is Our Lady’s Smock; _Neottia spiralis_, Our Lady’s Tresses; _Armeria
vulgaris_, Our Lady’s Cushion; _Anthyllis vulneraria_, Our Lady’s
Fingers; _Campanula hybrida_, Our Lady’s Looking-glass; _Cypripedium
Calceolus_, Our Lady’s Slipper; the Cowslip, Our Lady’s Bunch of Keys;
Black Briony, Our Lady’s Seal (a name which has been transferred
from Solomon’s Seal, of which the ‘Grete Herbal’ states, “It is al
one herbe, Solomon’s Seale and Our Lady’s Seale”). Quaking Grass,
_Briza media_, is Our Lady’s Hair; Maidenhair Fern, the Virgin’s
Hair; Mary-golds (_Calendula officinalis_) and Mary-buds (_Caltha
palustris_) are both named after the Virgin Mary. The _Campanula_ and
the _Digitalis_ are in France the Gloves of Mary; the _Nardus Celtica_
is by the Germans called _Marienblumen_; the White-flowered Wormwood
is _Unser Frauen Rauch_ (Smoke of Our Lady); _Mentha spicata_ is in
French, _Menthe de Notre Dame_--in German, _Unser Frauen Müntz_;
the _Costus hortensis_, the _Eupatorium_, the _Matricaria_, the
_Gallitrichum sativum_, the _Tanacetum_, the _Persicaria_, and a
_Parietaria_ are all, according to Bauhin, dedicated to the Virgin
Mary. The name of Our Lady’s Tears, or _Larmes de Sainte Marie_, has
been given to the Lily of the Valley, as well as to the _Lithospermon_
of Dioscorides, the _Satyrium maculatum_, and the _Satyrium basilicum
majus_. The _Narcissus Italicus_ is the Lily of Mary. The Toad Flax is
in France _Lin de Notre Dame_, in Germany, _Unser Frauen Flachs_. The
Dead-Nettle is _Main de Sainte Marie_. Besides the _Alchemilla_, the
_Leontopodium_, the _Drosera_, and the _Sanicula major_ are called on
the Continent Our Lady’s Mantle. Woodroof, Thyme, Groundsel, and St.
John’s Wort form the bed of Mary.
In Piedmont they give the name of the Herb of the Blessed Mary to a
certain plant that the birds are reputed to carry to their young ones
which have been stolen and imprisoned in cages, in order that it shall
cause their death and thus deliver them from their slavery.
The Snowdrop is the Fair Maid of February, as being sacred to the
Purification of the Virgin (February 2nd), when her image was removed
from the altar and Snowdrops strewed in its place.
To the Madonna, in her capacity of Queen of Heaven, were dedicated
the Almond, the White Iris, the White Lily, and the Narcissus, all
appropriate to the Annunciation (March 25th). The Lily and White and
Red Roses were assigned to the Visitation of Our Lady (July 2nd): these
flowers are typical of the love and purity of the Virgin Mother. To the
Feast of the Assumption (August 15th) is assigned the Virgin’s Bower
(_Clematis Flammula_); to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin (September
8th) the Amellus (_Aster Amellus_); and to the Conception (December
8th) the Arbor Vitæ.
St. Dominick instituted the “Devotion of the Rosary” of the Virgin
Mary--a series of prayers, to mark the repetition of which a chaplet
of beads is employed, which consists of fifteen large and one hundred
and fifty small beads; the former representing the number of _Pater
Nosters_, the latter the number of _Ave Marias_. As these beads were
formerly made of Rose-leaves tightly pressed into round moulds, where
real Roses were not strung together, this chaplet was called a Rosary,
and was blessed by the Pope or some other holy person before being so
used.
_Valeriana sativa_ is in France called _Herbe de Marie Magdaleine_, in
Germany _Marien Magdalenen Kraut_; the Pomegranate is the _Pommier de
Marie Magdaleine_ and _Marien Magdalenen Apfel_.
The Plants of Our Saviour.
We have seen that at the birth of Christ, the infant Jesus was laid on
a manger containing _Galium verum_, at Bethlehem, a place commemorated
by the _Ornithogalum umbellatum_, or Star of Bethlehem, the flowers
of which resemble the pictures of the star that indicated the birth
of Jesus. Whilst lying in the manger, a spray of the rose-coloured
Sainfoin, says a French legend, was found among the dried grass
and herbs which served for His bed. Suddenly the Sainfoin began to
expand its delicate blossoms, and to the astonishment of Mary, formed
a wreath around the head of the holy babe. In commemoration of the
infant Saviour having laid on a manger, it is customary, in some parts
of Italy, to deck mangers at Christmas time with Moss, Sow-Thistle,
Cypress, and prickly Holly: boughs of Juniper are also used for
Christmas decorations, because tradition affirms that the Virgin
and Child found safety amongst its branches when pursued by Herod’s
mercenaries. The Juniper is also believed to have furnished the wood of
the Cross on which Jesus was crucified.
At Christmas, according to an ancient pious tradition, all the plants
rejoice. In commemoration of the birth of our Saviour, in countries
nearer His birthplace than England, the Apple, Cherry, Carnation, Balm,
Rose of Jericho, and Rose of Mariastem (in Alsatia), burst forth into
blossom at Christmas, whilst in our own land the day is celebrated
by the blossoming of the Glastonbury Thorn, sprung from St. Joseph’s
staff, and the flowering of the Christmas Rose, or Christ’s Herb, known
in France as _la Rose de Noel_, and in Germany as _Christwurzel_.
On Good Friday, in remembrance of the Passion of our Lord, all the
trees, says the legend, shudder and tremble. The Swedes and Scotch have
a tradition that Christ was scourged with a rod of the dwarf Birch,
which was once a noble tree, but has ever since remained stunted and
lowly. It is called _Láng Fredags ris_, or Good Friday rod. There is
another legend extant, which states that the rod with which Christ was
scourged was cut from a Willow, and that the trees of its species have
drooped their branches to the earth in grief and shame from that time,
and have, consequently, borne the name of Weeping Willows.
The Crown of Thorns.
Sir J. Maundevile, who visited the Holy Land in the fourteenth century,
has recorded that he had many times seen the identical crown of Thorns
worn by Jesus Christ, one half of which was at Constantinople and the
other half at Paris, where it was religiously preserved in a vessel
of crystal in the King’s Chapel. This crown Maundevile says was of
“Jonkes of the see, that is to sey, Rushes of the see, that prykken als
scharpely as Thornes;” he further adds that he had been presented with
one of the precious thorns, which had fallen off into the vessel, and
that it resembled a White Thorn. The old traveller gives the following
circumstantial account of our Lord’s trial and condemnation, from which
it would appear that Jesus was first crowned with White Thorn, then
with Eglantine, and finally with Rushes of the sea. He writes:--“In
that nyghte that He was taken, He was ylad into a gardyn; and there
He was first examyned righte scharply; and there the Jewes scorned
Him, and maden Him a croune of the braunches of Albespyne, that is
White Thorn, that grew in the same gardyn, and setten it on His heved,
so faste and so sore, that the blood ran doun be many places of His
visage, and of His necke, and of His schuldres. And therefore hathe
the White Thorn many vertues; for he that berethe a braunche on him
thereoffe, no thondre, ne no maner of tempest may dere him; ne in the
hows that it is inne may non evylle gost entre ne come unto the place
that it is inne. And in that same gardyn Seynt Petre denyed oure Lord
thryes. Aftreward was oure Lord lad forthe before the bischoppes and
the maystres of the lawe, in to another gardyn of Anne; and there also
He was examyned, repreved, and scorned, and crouned eft with a White
Thorn, that men clepethe Barbarynes, that grew in that gardyn; and that
hathe also manye vertues. And afterward He was lad into a gardyn of
Cayphas, and there He was crouned with Eglentier. And aftre He was lad
in to the chambre of Pylate, and there He was examynd and crouned. And
the Jewes setten Hym in a chayere and cladde Hym in a mantelle; and
there made thei the croune of Jonkes of the see; and there thei kneled
to Hym, and skorned Hym, seyenge: ‘Heyl, King of the Jewes!’”
[Illustration: Relics of the Crucifixion. From _Maundevile’s Travels_.]
The illustration represents the Crown of Thorns, worn by our Saviour,
his coat without seams, called _tunica inconsutilis_; the sponge; the
reed by means of which the Jews gave our Lord vinegar and gall; and one
of the nails wherewith He was fastened to the Cross. All these relics
Maundevile tells us he saw at Constantinople.
Of what particular plant was composed the crown of Thorns which the
Roman soldiers plaited and placed on the Saviour’s head, has long been
a matter of dispute. Gerarde says it was the _Paliurus aculeatus_,
a sharp-spined shrub, which he calls Christ’s Thorn; and the old
herbalist quotes Bellonius, who had travelled in the Holy Land, and who
stated that this shrubby Thorn was common in Judea, and that it was
“The Thorne wherewith they crowned our Saviour Christ.” The melancholy
distinction has, however, been variously conferred on the Buckthorns,
_Rhamnus Spina Christi_ and _R. Paliurus_; the Boxthorn, the Barberry,
the Bramble, the Rose-briar, the Wild Hyssop, the Acanthus, or
Brank-ursine, the _Spartium villosum_, the Holly (called in Germany,
_Christdorn_), the Acacia, or _Nabkha_ of the Arabians, a thorny plant,
very suitable for the purpose, since its flexible twigs could be
twisted into a chaplet, and its small but pointed thorns would cause
terrible wounds; and, in France, the Hawthorn--the _épine noble_. The
West Indian negroes state that Christ’s crown was composed of a branch
of the Cashew-tree, and that in consequence one of the golden petals of
its blossom became black and blood-stained.
The Reed Mace (_Typha latifolia_) is generally represented as the reed
placed, in mockery, by the soldiers in the Saviour’s right hand.
The Wood of the Cross.
According to the legend connected with the Tree of Adam, the wood of
the Cross on which our Lord was crucified was Cedar--a beam hewn from
a tree which incorporated in itself the essence of the Cedar, the
Cypress, and the Olive (the vegetable emblems of the Holy Trinity).
Curzon, in his ‘Monasteries of the Levant,’ gives a tradition that the
Cedar was cut down by Solomon, and buried on the spot afterwards called
the Pool of Bethesda; that about the time of the Passion of our Blessed
Lord the wood floated, and was used by the Jews for the upright posts
of the Cross. Another legend makes the Cross of four kinds of wood
representing the four quarters of the globe, or all mankind: it is not,
however, agreed what those four kinds of wood were, or their respective
places in the Cross. Some say they were the Palm, the Cedar, the Olive,
and the Cypress; hence the line--
“_Ligna crucis Palma, Cedrus, Cupressus, Oliva._”
In place of the Palm or the Olive, some claim the mournful honour for
the Pine and the Box; whilst there are others who aver it was made
entirely of Oak. Another account states the wood to have been the
Aspen, and since that fatal day its leaves have never ceased trembling
with horror.
“Far off in Highland wilds ’tis said
That of this tree the Cross was made.”
In some parts of England it is believed that the Elder was the
unfortunate tree; and woodmen will look carefully into the faggots
before using them for fuel, in case any of this wood should be bound
up in them. The gipsies entertain the notion that the Cross was made
of Ash; the Welsh that the Mountain Ash furnished the wood. In the
West of England there is a curious tradition that the Cross was made
of Mistletoe, which, until the time of our Saviour’s death, had been
a goodly forest tree, but was condemned henceforth to become a mere
parasite.
Sir John Maundevile asserts that the Cross was made of Palm, Cedar,
Cypress, and Olive, and he gives the following curious account of
its manufacture:--“For that pece that wente upright fro the erthe to
the heved was of Cypresse; and the pece that wente overthwart to the
wiche his honds weren nayled was of Palme; and the stock that stode
within the erthe, in the whiche was made the morteys, was of Cedre; and
the table aboven his heved, that was a fote and an half long, on the
whiche the title was written, in Ebreu, Grece, and Latyn, that was of
Olyve. And the Jewes maden the Cros of theise 4 manere of trees: for
thei trowed that oure Lord Jesu Crist scholde han honged on the Cros
als longe as the Cros myghten laste. And therfore made thei the foot
of the Cros of Cedre: for Cedre may not in erthe ne in watre rote.
And therfore thei wolde that it scholde have lasted longe. For thei
trowed that the body of Crist scholde have stonken; therfore thei made
that pece that went from the erthe upward, of Cypres: for it is welle
smellynge, so that the smelle of His body scholde not greve men that
wenten forby. And the overthwart pece was of Palme: for in the Olde
Testament it was ordyned that whan on overcomen, He scholde be crowned
with Palme. And the table of the tytle thei maden of Olyve; for Olyve
betokenethe pes. And the storye of Noe wytnessethe whan that the culver
broughte the braunche of Olyve, that betokend pes made betwene God and
man. And so trowed the Jewes for to have pes whan Crist was ded: for
thei seyd that He made discord and strif amonges hem.”
Plants of the Crucifixion.
In Brittany the Vervain is known as the Herb of the Cross. John White,
writing in 1624, says of it--
“Hallow’d be thou Vervain, as thou growest in the ground,
For in the Mount of Calvary thou first was found.
Thou healedst our Saviour Jesus Christ
And staunchedst His bleeding wound.
In the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
I take thee from the ground.”
In the Flax-fields of Flanders, there grows a plant called the
_Roodselken_, the red spots on the leaves of which betoken the blood
which fell on it from the Cross, and which neither rain nor snow has
since been able to wash off. In Cheshire a similar legend is attached
to the _Orchis maculata_, which is there called Gethsemane.
“Those deep unwrought marks,
The villager will tell thee,
Are the flower’s portion from the atoning blood
On Calvary shed. Beneath the Cross it grew.”
In Palestine there exists a notion that the red Anemone grew at
the foot of the Cross, and hence the flower bears the name of the
“Blood-drops of Christ.” The Wood Sorrel is introduced in their
paintings of the Crucifixion by the early Italian painters, perhaps as
symbolizing the Trinity with its triple leaf.
Whilst wearily bearing His Cross on the way to Calvary, our Lord passed
by the door of St. Veronica, who, with womanly compassion, wiped with
her kerchief the drops of agony from His brow. The Redeemer’s features
remained miraculously impressed on the linen, and from that time the
flowers of the wayside Speedwell have ever borne a representation of
the precious relic. In Brittany it is said that whilst Christ was
bearing His Cross a little robin took from His mocking crown one of the
thorns, steeped in His blood, which dyed the robin’s breast; henceforth
the robin has always been the friend of man.
“Bearing His cross, while Christ passed forth forlorn,
His God-like forehead by the mock crown torn,
A little bird took from that crown one thorn,
To soothe the dear Redeemer’s throbbing head,
That bird did what she could; His blood, ’tis said,
Down dropping, dyed her bosom red.”--_J. H. Abrahall._
The early Spanish settlers of South America saw in the _Flor de las
cinco llagas_, the Flower of the Five Wounds, or Passion Flower, a
marvellous floral emblem of the mysteries of Christ’s Passion, and the
Jesuits eagerly adopted it as likely to prove useful in winning souls
to their faith.
An old legend, probably of monkish origin, recounts the emotions of
plants on the death of the Saviour of mankind.
The Pine of Damascus said:--As a sign of mourning, from this day my
foliage will remain sombre, and I will dwell in solitary places.
The Willow of Babylon.--My branches shall henceforth incline towards
the waters of the Euphrates, and there shed the tears of the East.
The Vine of Sorrento.--My grapes shall be black, and the wine that
shall flow from my side shall be called _Lacryma Christi_.
The Cypress of Carmel.--I will be the guest of the tombs, and the
testimony of grief.
The Yew.--I will be the guardian of graveyards. No bee shall pillage
with impunity my poisoned flowers. No bird shall rest on my branches;
for my exhalations shall give forth death.
The Iris of Susa.--Henceforth I will wear perpetual mourning, in
covering with a violet veil my golden chalice.
The Day Lily.--I will shut every evening my sweet-smelling corolla, and
will only re-open it in the morning with the tears of the night.
In the midst of these lamentations of the flowers the Poplar alone held
himself upright, cold, and arrogant as a free-thinker. As a punishment
for this pride, from that day forth, at the least breath of wind it
trembles in all its limbs. Revolutionists have, therefore, made it the
Tree of Liberty.
The Tree of Judas Iscariot.
In connection with the Crucifixion of our Lord many trees have had the
ill-luck of bearing the name of the traitor Judas--the disciple who,
after he had sold his Master, in sheer remorse and despair went and
hanged himself on a tree.
[Illustration: The Tree of Judas. From _Maundevile’s Travels_.]
The Fig, the Tamarisk, the Wild Carob, the Aspen, the Elder, and the
Dog Rose have each in their turn been mentioned as the tree on which
the suicide was committed. As regards the Fig, popular tradition
affirms that the tree, after Judas had hung himself on it, never
again bore fruit; that the Fig was the identical Fig-tree cursed by
our Lord; and that all the wild Fig-trees sprang from this accursed
tree. According to a Sicilian tradition, however, Judas did not hang
himself on a Fig but on a Tamarisk-tree called _Vruca_ (_Tamarix
Africana_): this _Vruca_ is now only a shrub, although formerly it
was a noble tree; at the time of Judas’ suicide it was cursed by God,
and thenceforth became a shrub, ill-looking, misshapen, and useless.
In England, according to Gerarde, the wild Carob is the Judas-tree
(_Cercis Siliquastrum_): this _Arbor Judæ_ was in olden times known as
the wild or foolish Cod. By many, however, the Elder has been supposed
to be the fatal tree: thus we read in Piers Plowman’s ‘Vision’:--
“Judas he japed
With Jewen silver,
And sithen on an Eller
Hanged hymselve.”
Sir John Maundevile, from whose work the foregoing illustration has
been copied, corroborates this view; for he tells us that in his day
there stood in the vicinity of Mount Sion “the tree of Eldre, that
Judas henge him self upon, for despeyr.”
A Russian proverb runs:--“There is an accursed tree which trembles
without even a breath of wind,” in allusion to the Aspen (_Populus
tremula_); and in the Ukraine they say that the leaves of this tree
have quivered and shaken since the day that Judas hung himself on it.
The Plants of St. John.
Popular tradition associates St. John the Baptist with numerous
marvels of the plant world. St. John was supposed to have been born
at midnight; and on the eve of his anniversary, precisely at twelve
o’clock, the Fern blooms and seeds, and this wondrous seed, gathered
at that moment, renders the possessor invisible: thus, in Shakspeare’s
Henry IV., Gadshill says: “We have the receipt of Fern-seed, we walk
invisible.”
The Fairies, commanded by their queen, and the demons, commanded by
Satan, engage in fierce combats at this mysterious time, for the
possession of the invisible seed.
In Russia, on St. John’s Eve, they seek the flower of the _Paporot_
(_Aspidium Filix mas_), which flowers only at the precise moment of
midnight, and will enable the lucky gatherer, who has watched it
flower, to realise all his desires, to discover hidden treasures, and
to recover cattle stolen or strayed. In the Ukraine it is thought that
the gatherer of the Fern-flower will be endowed with supreme wisdom.
The Russian peasants also gather, on the night of the Vigil of St.
John, the _Tirlic_, or _Gentiana Amarella_, a plant much sought after
by witches, and only to be gathered by those who have been fortunate
enough first to have found the _Plakun_ (_Lythrum Salicaria_), which
must be gathered on the morning of St. John, without using a knife or
other instrument in uprooting it. This herb the Russians hold to be
very potent against witches, bad spirits, and the evil eye. A cross
cut from the root of the _Plakun_, and worn on the person, causes
the wearer to be feared as much as fire. Another herb which should be
gathered on St. John’s Eve is the _Hieracium Pilosella_, called in
Germany _Johannisblut_ (blood of St. John): it brings good-luck, but
must be uprooted with a gold coin.
In many countries, before the break of day on St. John’s morning, the
dew which has fallen on vegetation is gathered with great care. This
dew is justly renowned, for it purifies all the noxious plants and
imparts to certain others a fabulous power. By some it is treasured
because it is believed to preserve the eyes from all harm during the
succeeding year. In Venetia the dew is reputed to renew the roots of
the hair on the baldest of heads. It is collected in a small phial,
and a herb called _Basilica_ is placed in it. In Normandy and the
Pyrenees it is used as a wash to purify the skin; in Brittany it is
thought that, thus used, it will drive away fever; and in Italy,
Roumania, Sweden, and Iceland it is believed to soften and beautify
the complexion. In Egypt the _nucta_ or miraculous drop falls before
sunrise on St. John’s Day, and is supposed to have the effect of
stopping the plague. In Sicily they gather the _Hypericum perforatum_,
or Herb of St. John, and put it in oil, which is by this means
transformed into a balm infallible for the cure of wounds.
In Spain garlands of flowers are plucked in the early morn of St.
John’s Day, before the dew has been dried by the sun, and a favourite
wether is decked with them, the village lasses singing--
“Come forth, come forth, my maidens,
we’ll gather Myrtle boughs,
And we shall learn from the dews of the Fern
if our lads will keep their vows:
If the wether be still, as we dance on the hill,
and the dew hangs sweet on the flowers,
Then we’ll kiss off the dew, for our lovers are true,
and the Baptist’s blessing is ours.”
The populace of Madrid were long accustomed, on St. John’s Eve, to
wander about the fields in search of Vervain, from a superstitious
notion that this plant possesses preternatural powers when gathered at
twelve o’clock on St. John’s Eve.
In some parts of Russia the country people heat their baths on the Eve
of St. John and place in them the herb _Kunalnitza_ (_Ranunculus_); in
other parts they place herbs, gathered on the same anniversary, upon
the roofs of houses and stables, as a safeguard against evil spirits.
The French peasantry rub the udders of their cows with similar herbs,
to ensure plenty of milk, and place them over the doorways of cattle
sheds and stables.
On the Eve of St. John, Lilies, Orpine, Fennel, and every variety of
_Hypericum_ are hung over doors and windows. Garlands of Vervain and
Flax are also suspended inside houses; but the true St. John’s garland
is composed of seven elements, namely white Lilies, green Birch,
Fennel, _Hypericum_, Wormwood, and the legs of game birds: these are
believed to have immense power against evil spirits. After daybreak on
St. John’s Day it is dangerous to pluck herbs; the gatherer running the
risk of being afflicted with cancer.
According to Bauhin, the following plants are consecrated to St.
John:--First and specially the _Hypericum_, or perforated St. John’s
Wort, the _fuga dæmonum_, or devil’s flight, so named from the virtue
ascribed to it of frightening away evil spirits, and acting as a charm
against witchcraft, enchantment, storms, and thunder. It is also called
_Tutsan_, or All-heal, from its virtues in curing all kinds of wounds;
and _Sanguis hominis_, because of the blood-red juice of its flowers.
The leaves of the common St. John’s Wort are marked with blood-like
spots, which alway appear on the 29th of August, the day on which the
Baptist was beheaded. The “Flower of St. John” is the _Chrysanthemum_
(Corn Marigold), or, according to others, the _Buphthalmus_ (Ox-Eye) or
the _Anacyclus_. Grapes of St. John are Currants. The Belt or Girdle
of St. John is Wormwood. The Herbs of St. John comprise also _Mentha
sarracenica_ or _Costus hortensis_; _Gallithricum sativum_ or _Centrum
galli_ or _Orminum sylvestre_; in Picardy _Abrotanum_ (a species of
Southernwood); and, according to others, the _Androsæmon_ (Tutsan),
the _Scrophularia_, and the _Crassula major_. The scarlet _Lychnis
Coronaria_ is said to be lighted up on his day, and was formerly called
_Candelabrum ingens_. A species of nut is named after the Saint. The
Carob is St. John’s Mead, so called because it is supposed to have
supplied him with food in the wilderness, and to be the “locusts”
mentioned in the Scriptures.
The festival of St. John would seem to be a favourite time with maidens
to practice divination in their love affairs. On the eve of St. John,
English girls set up two plants of Orpine on a trencher, one for
themselves and the other for their lover; and they estimate the lover’s
fidelity by his plant living and turning to theirs, or otherwise. They
also gather a Moss-rose so soon as the dew begins to fall, and, taking
it indoors, carefully keep it till New Year’s Eve, when, if the blossom
is faded, it is a sign of the lover’s insincerity, but if it still
retains its common colour, he is true. On this night, also, Hemp-seed
is sown with certain mystic ceremonies. In Brittany, on the Saint’s
Vigil, young men wearing bunches of green Wheat-ears, and lasses decked
with Flax-blossoms, assemble round one of the old pillar-stones and
dance round it, placing their wreath upon it. If it remains fresh for
some time after, the lover is to be trusted, but should it wither
within a day or two, so will the love prove but transient. In Sweden,
on St. John’s Eve, young maidens arrange a bouquet composed of nine
different flowers, among which the _Hypericum_, or St. John’s Wort, or
the Ox-eye Daisy, St. John’s Flower, must be conspicuous. The flowers
must be gathered from nine different places, and the posy be placed
beneath the maiden’s pillow. Then he who she sees in her dreams will
be sure soon to arrive.[7]
[7] For further details of the rites of St John’s Eve, see Part II.,
under the heads “FERN,” “HEMP,” and “MOSS-ROSE.”
“The village maids mysterious tales relate
Of bright Midsummer’s sleepless nights; the Fern
That time sheds secret seeds; and they prepare
Untold-of rites, predictive of their fate:
Virgins in silent expectation watch
Exact at twelve’s propitious hour, to view
The future lover o’er the threshold pass;
Th’ inviting door wide spread, and every charm
Performed, while fond hope flutters in the breast,
And credulous fancy, painting his known form,
Kindles concordant to their ardent wish.”--_Bidlake._
Flowers of the Saints.
In the dark ages the Catholic monks, who cultivated with assiduity all
sorts of herbs and flowers in their monastic gardens, came in time to
associate them with traditions of the Church, and to look upon them
as emblems of particular saints. Aware, also, of the innate love of
humanity for flowers, they selected the most popular as symbols of
the Church festivals, and in time every flower became connected with
some saint of the Calendar, either from blowing about the time of the
saint’s day, or from being connected with him in some old legend.
St. Benedict’s herbs are the Avens, the Hemlock, and the Valerian,
which were assigned to him as being antidotes; a legend of the saint
relating that upon his blessing a cup of poisoned wine, which a monk
had presented to him to destroy him, the glass was shivered to pieces.
To St. Gerard was dedicated the _Ægopodium Podagraria_, because it
was customary to invoke the saint against the gout, for which this
plant was esteemed a remedy. St. Christopher has given his name to the
Baneberry (_Actæa spicata_), the Osmund Fern (_Osmunda regalis_), the
Fleabane (_Pulicaria dysenterica_), and, according to old herbalists,
to several other plants, including _Betonica officinalis_, _Vicia
Cracca_ and _Sepium_, _Gnaphalium germanicum_, _Spiræa ulmaria_, two
species of Wolf’s Bane, &c. St. George has numerous plants named after
or dedicated to him. In England his flower is the Harebell, but abroad
the Peony is generally called after him. His name is also bestowed
on the _Lilium convallium_. The Herb of St. George is the _Valeriana
sativa_; his root, _Dentaria major_; his Violet, _Leucoium luteum_;
his fruit, _Cucumis agrestis_. In Asia Minor the tree of St. George is
the Carob. The _Eryngium_ was dedicated to St. Francis under the name
of St. Francis’s Thorn. _Bunium flexuosum_, is St. Anthony’s nut--a
pig-nut, because he is the patron of pigs; and _Senecio Jacobæa_ is
St. James’s Wort (the saint of horses and colts)--used in veterinary
practice. The Cowslip is dedicated to St. Peter, as Herb Peter of the
old herbals, from some resemblance which it has to his emblem--a bunch
of keys. As the patron of fishermen, _Crithmum maritimum_, which grows
on sea-cliffs, was dedicated to this saint, and called in Italian
San Pietro, in French Saint Pierre, and in English Samphire. Most of
these saintly names were, however, given to the plants because their
day of flowering is connected with the festival of the saint. Hence
_Hypericum guadrangulare_ is the St. Peter’s Wort of the modern floras,
from its flowering on the 29th of June. The Daisy, as Herb Margaret,
is popularly supposed to be dedicated to “Margaret that was so meek
and mild;” probably from its blossoming about her day, the 22nd of
February: in reality, however, the flower derived its name from St.
Margaret of Cortona. _Barbarea vulgaris_, growing in the winter, is St.
Barbara’s Cress, her day being the fourth of December, old style; and
_Centaurea solstitialis_ derives its Latin specific, and its popular
name, St. Barnaby’s Thistle, from its flourishing on the longest
day, the 11th of June, old style, which is now the 22nd. _Nigella
damascena_, whose persistent styles spread out like the spokes of a
wheel, is named Katharine’s flower, after St. Katharine, who suffered
martyrdom on a wheel. The Cranesbill is called Herb Robert, in honour
of St. Robert, Abbot of Molesme and founder of the Cistercian Order.
The Speedwell is St. Paul’s Betony. Archangel is a name given to one
umbelliferous and three labiate plants. An angel is said to have
revealed the virtues of the plants in a dream. The umbelliferous plant,
it has been supposed, has been named _Angelica Archangelica_, from
its being in blossom on the 8th of May, old style, the Archangel St.
Michael’s Day. Flowering on the _fête_ day of such a powerful angel,
the plant was supposed to be particularly useful as a preservative of
men and women from evil spirits and witches, and of cattle from elfshot.
Roses are the special flowers of martyrs, and, according to a
tradition, they sprang from the ashes of a saintly maiden of Bethlehem
who perished at the stake. Avens (_Geum urbanum_) the _Herba
benedicta_, or Blessed Herb, is a plant so blessed that no venomous
beast will approach within scent of it; and, according to the author
of the _Ortus sanitatis_, “where the root is in a house, the devil
can do nothing, and flies from it, wherefore it is blessed above all
other herbs.” The common Snowdrops are called Fair Maids of February.
This name also, like the Saints’ names, arises from an ecclesiastical
coincidence: their white flowers blossom about the second of February,
when maidens, dressed in white, walked in procession at the Feast of
the Purification.
The name of Canterbury Bells was given to the _Campanula_, in honour of
St. Thomas of England, and in allusion probably to the horse-bells of
the pilgrims to his shrine. _Saxifraga umbrosa_ is both St. Patrick’s
cabbage and St. Anne’s needlework; _Polygonum Persicaria_ is the
Virgin’s Pinch; _Polytrichum commune_, St. Winifred’s Hair; _Myrrhis
odorata_, Sweet Cicely; _Origanum vulgare_, Sweet Margery; _Oscinium
Basilicum_, Sweet Basil. _Angelica sylvestris_, the Root of the Holy
Ghost; Hedge Hyssop, Cranesbill, and St. John’s Wort are all surnamed
Grace of God; the Pansy, having three colours on one flower, is called
Herb Trinity; the four-leaved Clover is an emblem of the Cross, and all
cruciform flowers are deemed of good omen, having been marked with the
sign of the Cross. The Hemp Agrimony is the Holy Rope, after the rope
with which Christ was bound; and the Hollyhock is the Holy Hock (an old
word for Mallow).
The feeling which inspired this identification of flowers and herbs
with holy personages and festivals is gracefully expressed by a
Franciscan in the following passage:--“Mindful of the Festivals which
our Church prescribes, I have sought to make these objects of floral
nature the timepieces of my religious calendar, and the mementos of
the hastening period of my mortality. Thus I can light the taper to
our Virgin Mother on the blowing of the white Snowdrop, which opens
its flower at the time of Candlemas; the Lady’s Smock and the Daffodil
remind me of the Annunciation; the blue Harebell, of the Festival
of St. George; the Ranunculus, of the Invention of the Cross; the
Scarlet Lychnis, of St. John the Baptist’s day; the white Lily, of the
Visitation of our Lady; and the Virgin’s Bower, of the Assumption;
and Michaelmas, Martinmas, Holy Rood, and Christmas have all their
appropriate decorations.” In later times we find the Church’s Calendar
of English flowers embodied in the following lines:--
“The Snowdrop, in purest white arraie,
First rears her hedde on Candlemass daie:
While the Crocus hastens to the shrine
Of Primrose lone on S. Valentine.
Then comes the Daffodil beside
Our Ladye’s Smock at our Ladye tide,
Aboute S. George, when blue is worn,
The blue Harebells the fields adorn;
Against the daie of the Holie Cross,
The Crowfoot gilds the flowrie grasse.
When S. Barnabie bright smiles night and daie,
Poor Ragged Robbin blooms in the hay.
The scarlet Lychnis, the garden’s pride,
Flames at S. John the Baptist’s tide;
From Visitation to S. Swithen’s showers,
The Lillie white reigns queen of the floures
And Poppies a sanguine mantle spread,
For the blood of the dragon S. Margaret shed,
Then under the wanton Rose agen,
That blushes for penitent Magdalen,
Till Lammas Daie, called August’s Wheel,
When the long Corn smells of Cammomile.
When Marie left us here belowe,
The Virgin’s Bower is full in blowe;
And yet anon the full Sunflower blew,
And became a starre for S. Bartholomew.
The Passion-flower long has blowed,
To betoken us signs of the holie rood:
The Michaelmass Dasie among dede weeds,
Blooms for S. Michael’s valorous deeds,
And seems the last of the floures that stood,
Till the feste of S. Simon and S. Jude;
Save Mushrooms and the Fungus race,
That grow till All Hallowtide takes place.
Soon the evergreen Laurel alone is green,
When Catherine crownes all learned menne;
Then Ivy and Holly berries are seen,
And Yule clog and wassail come round agen.”
_Anthol. Bor. et Aus._
The Roman Catholics have compiled a complete list of flowers, one for
every day in the year, in which each flower has been dedicated to a
particular saint, usually for no better reason than because it bloomed
about the date of the saint’s feast day. This Saints’ Floral Directory
is to be found _in extenso_ in Hone’s ‘Every-day Book.’ In the Anglican
church the principal Festivals or Red Letter Days have each their
appropriate flowers assigned them, as will be seen from the following
table:--
DATE. SAINT. APPROPRIATE FLOWER.
Nov. 30. S. Andrew. S. Andrew’s Cross--_Ascyrum Crux Andreæ_.
Dec. 21. S. Thomas. Sparrow Wort--_Erica passerina_.
25. Christmas. Holly--_Ilex bacciflora_.
26. S. Stephen. Purple Heath--_Erica purpurea_.
27. S. John Evan. Flame Heath--_Erica flammea_.
28. Innocents. Bloody Heath--_Erica cruenta_.
Jan. 1. Circumcision. Laurustine--_Viburnum tinus_.
6. Epiphany. Screw Moss--_Tortula rigida_.
25. Conversion of } Winter Hellebore--_Helleborus hyemalis_.
S. Paul. }
Feb. 2. Purification of } Snowdrop--_Galanthus nivalis_.
B. V. M. }
24. S. Matthias. Great Fern--_Osmunda regalis_.
Mar. 25. Annunciation }
of B. V. M. } Marigold--_Calendula officinalis_.
Apr. 25. S. Mark. Clarimond Tulip--_Tulipa præcox_.
May 1. S. Philip and { Tulip--_Tulipa Gesneri_,
S. James. { dedicated to S. Philip.
{ Red Campion--_Lychnis dioica rubra_.
{ Red Bachelor’s Buttons--_Lychnis dioica
{ plena_, dedicated to S. James.
June 11. S. Barnabas. Midsummer Daisy--_Chrysanthemum
leucanthemum_.
24. S. John Baptist. S. John’s Wort--_Hypericum pulchrum_.
29. S. Peter Yellow Rattle--_Rhinanthus Galli_.
July 25. S. James Herb Christopher--_Actæa spicata_.
Aug. 24. S. Bartholomew Sunflower--_Helianthus annuus_.
Sept. 21. S. Matthew { Ciliated Passion-flower.--_Passiflora
{ ciliata_.
29. S. Michael. Michaelmas Daisy--_Aster Tradescanti_.
Oct. 18. S. Luke. Floccose Agaric--_Agaricus floccosus_.
28. S. Simon and { Late Chrysanthemum--_Chrysanthemum
S. Jude { serotinum_.
{ Scattered Starwort--_Aster passiflorus_,
{ dedicated to S. Jude.
Nov. 1. All Saints. Amaranth.
In old church calendars Christmas Eve is marked “_Templa
exornantur_”--Churches are decked.
Herrick, in the time of Charles I., thus combines a number of these old
customs connected with the decoration of churches--
“Down with Rosemary and Bays,
Down with the Mistletoe,
Instead of Holly now upraise
The greener Box for show.
The Holly hitherto did sway;
Let Box now domineer,
Until the dancing Easter Day
Or Easter’s Eve appear.
Then youthful Box, which now hath grace
Your houses to renew,
Grown old, surrender must his place
Unto the crisped Yew.
When Yew is out, then Birch comes in,
And many flowers beside,
Both of a fresh and fragrant kin,
To honour Whitsuntide.
Green Rushes then, and sweetest Bents,
With cooler Oaken boughs,
Come in for comely ornaments
To re-adorn the house.
Thus times do shift; each thing his turn does hold,
New things succeed as former things grow old.”
Flowers of the Church’s Festivals.
In the services of the Church every season has its appropriate
floral symbol. In olden times on Feast days places of worship were
significantly strewed with bitter herbs. On the Feast of Dedication
(the first Sunday in October) the Church was decked with boughs and
strewn with sweet Rushes; for this purpose _Juncus aromaticus_ (now
known as _Acorus Calamus_) was used.
“The Dedication of the Church is yerely had in minde,
With worship passing Catholicke, and in a wondrous kinde.
From out the steeple hie is hanged a crosse and banner fayre,
The pavement of the temple strowde with hearbes of pleasant ayre;
The pulpets and the aulters all that in the Church are seene,
And every pewe and pillar great are deckt with boughs of greene.”
_T. Naogeorgus, trans. by Barnabe Googe_, 1570.
It was customary to strew Rushes on the Church floor on all high
days. Newton, in his ‘Herbal to the Bible’ (1587), speaks of “Sedge
and Rushes, with which many in the country do use in Summer time
to strewe their parlors and Churches, as well for coolness and for
pleasant smell.” Cardinal Wolsey in the pride of his pomp had the
strewings of his great hall at Hampton Court renewed every day. Till
lately the floor of Norwich Cathedral was strewn with _Acorus Calamus_
on festal days, and when the _Acorus_ was scarce, the leaves of the
yellow Iris were used. At the church of St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol,
Rushes are strewn every Whitsuntide. The parish of Middleton-Cheney,
Northamptonshire, has a benefaction to provide hay for strewing the
Church in summer, the rector providing straw in the winter. In Prussia
_Holcus odoratus_ is considered Holy Grass, and is used for strewing
purposes. The Rush-bearings which are still held in Westmoreland, and
were until quite recently general in Cheshire, would appear to be a
relic of the custom of the Dedication Feast. At these Rush-bearings
young men and women carry garlands in procession through the village to
the Church, which they enter and decorate with their floral tributes.
Besides giving the Church a fresh strewing every feast day, it was
in olden times customary to deck it with boughs and flowers; and as
the flowers used at festivals were originally selected because they
happened to be in bloom then, so in time they came to be associated
therewith.
On PALM SUNDAY, it was customary for the congregation to carry Palm
branches in procession, and deposit them on the altar of the Church
to be blessed, after which they were again distributed to the people.
Various substitutes for the Eastern Palm were used in England, but
the most popular was the Sallow, because its lithe green wands, full
of sap, and covered with golden catkins, were at that season of the
year the things most full of life and blossom. Yew branches were also
employed for Palm, and some Churches were decked with boughs of Box.
White Broom and white flowers of all descriptions are applicable to the
great festival of EASTER, as well as purple Pasque flowers and golden
Daffodils. The peasants of Bavaria weave garlands of the fragrant
Coltsfoot (_Nardosmia fragrans_) on Easter Day, and cast them into
the fire. In ROGATION WEEK processions perambulated the parishes with
the Holy Cross and Litanies, to mark the boundaries and to invoke the
blessing of God on the crops: on this occasion maidens made themselves
garlands and nosegays of the Rogation-flower, _Polygala vulgaris_,
called also the Cross-, Gang-, and Procession-flower.
On ASCENSION DAY it is customary in Switzerland to suspend wreaths of
Edelweiss over porches and windows,--this flower of the Alps being,
like the Amaranth, considered an emblem of immortality, and peculiarly
appropriate to the festival.
MAY DAY, in olden times, was the anniversary of all others which was
associated with floral ceremonies. In the early morn all ranks of
people went out a-Maying, returning laden with Hawthorn blossoms and
May flowers, to decorate churches and houses. Shakspeare notices how,
in his day, every one was astir betimes:--
“’Tis as much improbable,
Unless we swept them from the door with cannons,
To scatter ’em, as ’tis to make ’em sleep
On May-day morning.”
It being also the festival of SS. PHILIP AND JAMES, the feast partook
somewhat of a religious character. The people not only turned the
streets into leafy avenues, and their door-ways into green arbours,
and set up a May-pole decked with ribands and garlands, and an arbour
besides for Maid Marian to sit in, to witness the sports, but the
floral decorations extended likewise into the Church. We learn from
Aubrey that the young maids of every parish carried about garlands of
flowers, which they afterwards hung up in their Churches; and Spenser
sings how, at sunrise--
“Youth’s folke now flocken in everywhere
To gather May-buskets and smelling Brere;
And home they hasten the postes to dight
And all the Kirke pillours ere day light
With Hawthorn buds and sweete Eglantine,
And girlonds of Roses, and Soppes-in-wine.”
The beautiful milk-white Hawthorn blossom is essentially the flower
of the season, but in some parts of England the Lily of the Valley is
considered as “The Lily of the May.” In Cornwall and Devon Lilac is
esteemed the May-flower, and special virtues are attached to sprays of
Ivy plucked at day-break with the dew on them. In Germany the Kingcup,
Lily of the Valley, and Hepatica are severally called _Mai-blume_.
WHITSUNTIDE flowers in England are Lilies of the Valley and Guelder
Roses, but according to Chaucer (‘Romaunt of the Rose’) Love bids his
pupil--
“Have hatte of floures fresh as May,
Chapelett of Roses of Whit-Sunday,
For sich array ne costeth but lite.”
The Germans call Broom Pentecost-bloom, and the Peony the Pentecost
Rose. The Italians call Whitsunday _Pasqua Rosata_, Roses being then in
flower.
To TRINITY SUNDAY belong the Herb-Trinity or Pansy and the Trefoil. On
ST. BARNABAS DAY, as on ST. PAUL’S DAY, the churches were decked with
Box, Woodruff, Lavender, and Roses, and the officiating Priests wore
garlands of Roses on their heads.
On ROYAL OAK DAY (May 29th), in celebration of the restoration of
King Charles II., and to commemorate his concealment in an aged Oak
at Boscobel, gilded Oak-leaves and Apples are worn, and Oak-branches
are hung over doorways and windows. From this incident in the life of
Charles II., the Oak derives its title of Royal.
“Blest Charles then to an Oak his safety owes;
The Royal Oak, which now in song shall live,
Until it reach to Heaven with its boughs;
Boughs that for loyalty shall garlands give.”
On CORPUS CHRISTI DAY it was formerly the custom in unreformed England
to strew the streets through which the procession passed with flowers,
and to decorate the church with Rose and other garlands. In North Wales
a relic of these ceremonies lingered till lately in the practice of
strewing herbs and flowers at the doors of houses on the Corpus Christi
Eve. In Roman Catholic countries flowers are strewed along the streets
in this festival, and the route of the procession at Rome is covered
with Bay and other fragrant leaves.
On the Vigil of ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, Stowe tells us that in his time
every man’s door was shadowed with green Birch, long Fennel, St. John’s
Wort, Orpine, white Lilies, and such like, garnished upon with garlands
of beautiful flowers, and also lamps of glass, with oil burning in them
all night. Birch is the special tree, as the yellow St. John’s Wort
(_Hypericum_) is the special flower, of St. John. In the life of Bishop
Horne we read that in the Court of Magdalen, Oxford, a sermon used to
be preached on this day from the stone pulpit in the corner, and “the
quadrangle was furnished round with a large fence of green boughs, that
the meeting might more nearly resemble that of John Baptist in the
wilderness.”
On ALL SAINTS’ or ALL HALLOWS’ DAY, Roman Catholics are wont to visit
the graves of departed relatives or friends, and place on them wreaths
of Ivy, Moss, and red Berries. On the Eve of this day, Hallowe’en
(October 31st), many superstitious customs are still practised. In
the North young people dive for Apples, and for divining purposes
fling Nuts into the fire; hence the vulgar name of Nut-crack Night.
In Scotland young women determine the figure and size of their future
husbands by paying a visit to the Kail or Cabbage garden, and “pu’ing
the Kailstock” blindfold. They also on this night throw Hazel Nuts in
the fire, named for two lovers, judging according as they burn quickly
together, or start apart, the course of their love.
At CHRISTMAS tide Holly (the “holy tree”), Rosemary, Laurel, Bay, Arbor
Vitæ, and Ivy are hung up in churches, and are suitable also for the
decoration of houses, with the important addition of Mistletoe (which,
on account of its Druidic connection, is interdicted in places of
worship). Ivy should only be placed in outer passages or doorways. At
Christmas, which St. Gregory termed the “festival of all festivals,”
the evergreens with which the churches are ornamented are a fitting
emblem of that time when, as God says by the prophet Isaiah, “I will
plant in the wilderness the Cedar, the Shittah tree and the Myrtle, and
the Oil tree; I will set in the desert the Fir tree and the Pine, and
the Box tree together (xli., 19). The glory of Lebanon shall come unto
thee, the Fir tree, the Pine tree, and the Box together, to beautify
the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet
glorious” (lx., 13).
Gospel Oaks and Memorial Trees.
There exist in different parts of England several ancient trees,
notably Oaks, which are traditionally said to have been called Gospel
trees in consequence of its having been the practice in times long
past to read under a tree which grew upon a boundary-line a portion of
the Gospel on the annual perambulation of the bounds of the parish on
Ascension Day. In Herrick’s poem of the ‘Hesperides’ occur these lines
in allusion to this practice:--
“Dearest, bury me
Under that holy Oak or Gospel tree,
Where, though thou see’st not, thou mayest think upon
Me when thou yearly go’st in procession.”
Many of these old trees were doubtless Druidical, and under their
“leafy tabernacles” the pioneers of Christianity had probably preached
and expounded the Scriptures to a pagan race. The heathen practice of
worshipping the gods in woods and trees continued for many centuries,
till the introduction of Christianity; and the first missionaries
sought to adopt every means to elevate the Christian worship to higher
authority than that of paganism by acting on the senses of the heathen.
St. Augustine, Evelyn tells us, held a kind of council under an Oak in
the West of England, concerning the right celebration of Easter and
the state of the Anglican church; “where also it is reported he did
a great miracle.” On Lord Bolton’s estate in the New Forest stands
a noble group of twelve Oaks known as the Twelve Apostles: there is
another group of Oaks extant known as the Four Evangelists. Beneath the
venerable Yews at Fountain Abbey, Yorkshire, the founders of the Abbey
held their council in 1132.
“Cross Oaks” were so called from their having been planted at the
junction of cross roads, and these trees were formerly resorted to by
aguish patients, for the purpose of transferring to them their malady.
Venerable and noble trees have in all ages and in all countries been
ever regarded with special reverence. From the very earliest times
such trees have been consecrated to holy uses. Thus, the Gomerites, or
descendants of Noah, were, if tradition be true, accustomed to offer
prayers and oblations beneath trees; and, following the example of
his ancestors, the Patriarch Abraham pitched his tents beneath the
Terebinth Oaks of Mamre, erected an altar to the Lord, and performed
there sacred and priestly rites. Beneath an Oak, too, the Patriarch
entertained the Deity Himself. This tree of Abraham remained till the
reign of Constantine the Great, who founded a venerable chapel under
it, and there Christians, Jews, and Arabs held solemn anniversary
meetings, believing that from the days of Noah the spot shaded by the
tree had been a consecrated place.
Dean Stanley tells us that “on the heights of Ephraim, on the central
thoroughfare of Palestine, near the Sanctuary of Bethel, stood two
famous trees, both in after times called by the same name. One was the
Oak-tree or Terebinth of Deborah, under which was buried, with many
tears, the nurse of Jacob (Gen. xxxv. 8). The other was a solitary
Palm, known in after times as the Palm-tree of Deborah. Under this
Palm, as Saul afterwards under the Pomegranate-tree of Migron, as St.
Louis under the Oak-tree of Vincennes, dwelt that mother in Israel,
Deborah, the wife of Lapidoth, to whom the sons of Israel came to
receive her wise answers.”
Since the time when Solomon cut the Cedars of Lebanon for the purpose
of employing them in the erection of the Temple of the Lord, this
renowned forest has been greatly shorn of its glories; but a grove of
nearly four hundred trees still exists. Twelve of the most valuable of
these trees bear the titles of “The Friends of Solomon,” or “The Twelve
Apostles.” Every year the Maronites, Greeks, and Armenians go up to the
Cedars, at the Feast of the Transfiguration, and celebrate mass on a
homely stone altar erected at their feet.
In Evelyn’s time there existed, near the tomb of Cyrus, an
extraordinary Cypress, which was said to exude drops of blood every
Friday. This tree, according to Pietro della Valla, was adorned with
many lamps, and fitted for an oratory, and was for ages resorted to by
pious pilgrims.
Thevenot and other Eastern travellers mention a tree which for
centuries had been regarded with peculiar reverence. “At Matharee,”
says Thevenot, “is a large garden surrounded by walls, in which are
various trees, and among others, a large Sycamore, or Pharaoh’s Fig,
very old, which bears fruit every year. They say that the Virgin
passing that way with her son Jesus, and being pursued by a number of
people, the Fig-tree opened to receive her; she entered, and it closed
her in, until the people had passed by, when it re-opened, and that it
remained open ever after to the year 1656, when the part of the trunk
that had separated itself was broken away.”
Near Kennety Church, in the King’s County, Ireland, is an Ash, the
trunk of which is nearly 22 feet round, and 17 feet high, before the
branches break out, which are of enormous bulk. When a funeral of the
lower class passes by, they lay the body down a few minutes, say a
prayer, and then throw a stone to increase the heap which has been
accumulating round the roots.
The Breton nobles were long accustomed to offer up a prayer beneath the
branches of a venerable Yew which grew in the cloister of Vreton, in
Brittany. The tree was regarded with much veneration, as it was said to
have originally sprung from the staff of St. Martin.
In England, the Glastonbury Thorn was long the object of pious
reverence. This tree was supposed to have sprung from the staff of
Joseph of Arimathea, to whom the original conversion of this country
is attributed in monkish legends. The story runs that when Joseph of
Arimathea came to convert the heathen nations he selected Glastonbury
as the site for the first Christian Church, and whilst preaching
there on Christmas-day, he struck his staff into the ground, which
immediately burst into bud and bloom; eventually it grew into a
Thorn-bush, which regularly blossomed every Christmas-day, and became
known throughout Christendom as the Glastonbury Thorn.
“The winter Thorn, which
Blossoms at Christmas, mindful of our Lord.”
Like the Thorn of Glastonbury, an Oak, in the New Forest, called the
Cadenham Oak, produced its buds always on Christmas Day; and was,
consequently, regarded by the country people as a tree of peculiar
sanctity. Another miraculous tree is referred to in Collinson’s
‘History of Somerset.’ The author, speaking of the Glastonbury Thorn,
says that there grew also in the Abbey churchyard, on the north side of
St. Joseph’s Chapel, a miraculous Walnut-tree, which never budded forth
before the Feast of St. Barnabas (that is, the 11th of June), and on
that very day shot forth leaves, and flourished like its usual species.
It is strange to say how much this tree was sought after by the
credulous; and though not an uncommon Walnut, Queen Anne, King James,
and many of the nobility of the realm, even when the times of monkish
superstition had ceased, gave large sums of money for small cuttings
from the original.
[Tailpiece]
[Headpiece]
CHAPTER VI.
Plants of the Fairies and Naiades.
Centuries before Milton wrote that “Millions of spiritual creatures
walk the earth unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep,” our Saxon
ancestors, whilst yet they inhabited the forests of Germany, believed
in the existence of a diminutive race of beings--the “missing link”
between men and spirits--to whom they attributed extraordinary actions,
far exceeding the capabilities of human art. Moreover, we have it on
the authority of the father of English poetry that long, long ago, in
those wondrous times when giants and dwarfs still deigned to live in
the same countries as ordinary human beings,
“In the olde dayes of King Artour,
Of which the Bretons speken gret honour,
All was this land fulfilled of faerie;
The Elf-quene and hire joly compaynie
Danced full oft in many a grene mede.
This was the old opinion as I rede.”
The old Welsh bards were accustomed to sing their belief that King
Arthur was not dead, but conveyed away by the fairies into some charmed
spot where he should remain awhile, and then return again to reign
with undiminished power. These wondrous inhabitants of Elf-land--these
Fays, Fairies, Elves, Little Folk, Pixies, Hobgoblins, Kobolds, Dwarfs,
Pigmies, Gnomes, and Trolls are all more or less associated with the
plant kingdom. They make their habitations in the leafy branches of
trees, or dwell in the greater seclusion of their hollow trunks;
they dally and gambol among opening buds and nodding blossoms; they
hide among blushing Roses and fragrant shrubs; they dance amid the
Buttercups, Daisies, and Meadow-Sweet of the grassy meads; and, as
Shakspeare says, they “use flowers for their charactery.”
Grimm tells us that in Germany the Elves are fond of inhabiting Oak
trees, the holes in the trunks of which are deemed by the people to be
utilised by the Fairies as means of entry and exit. A similar belief
is entertained by the Hindus, who consider holes in trees as doors by
which the inhabiting spirit passes in and out. German elves are also
fond of frequenting Elder-trees.
The Esthonians believe that during a thunder-storm, and in order to
escape from the lightning, the timorous Elves burrow several feet
beneath the roots of the trees they inhabit. As a rule these forest
Elves are good-natured: if they are not offended, not only will they
abstain from harming men, but they will even do them a good turn, and
teach them some of the mysteries of nature, of which they possess the
secret.
The Elves were in former days thought to practise works of mercy in
the woods, and a certain sympathetic affinity with trees became thus
propagated in the popular faith. The country-folk were careful not to
offend the trees that were inhabited by Fairies, and they never sought
to surprise the Elfin people in their mysterious retreats, for they
dreaded the power of these invisible creatures to cause ill-luck or
some unfortunate malady to fall on those against whom they had a spite.
Even deaths were sometimes laid at their door.
A German legend relates that as a peasant woman one day tried to uproot
the stump of an old tree in a Fir forest, she became so feeble that at
last she could scarcely manage to walk. Suddenly, while endeavouring to
crawl to her home, a mysterious-looking man appeared in the path before
the poor woman, and upon hearing what was the matter with her, he at
once remarked that she had wounded an Elf. If the Elf got well, so
would she; but if the Elf should unfortunately perish, she would also
assuredly die. The stump of the old Fir-tree was the abode of an Elf,
and in endeavouring to uproot it, the woman had unintentionally injured
the little creature. The words of the mysterious personage proved
too true. The peasant languished for some time, but drooped and died
on the same day as the wounded Elf. To this day, in the vast forests
of Germany and Russia, instead of uprooting old Firs, the foresters,
remembering the Elfish superstition, always chop them down above the
roots.
In the Indian legend of Sâvitri, the youthful Satyavant, while felling
a tree, perspires inordinately, is overcome with weakness, sinks
exhausted, and dies. He had mortally wounded the Elf of the tree. Since
the days of Æsop it has become a saying that Death has a weakness for
woodmen.
In our own land, Oaks have always been deemed the favourite abodes of
Elves, and wayfarers, upon approaching groves reputed to be haunted by
them, used to think it judicious to turn their coats for good luck.
Thus Bishop Corbet, in his _Iter Boreale_, writes:--
“William found
A means for our deliverance: ‘Turn your cloakes,’
Quoth he, ‘for Pucke is busy in these Oakes;
If ever we at Bosworth will be found,
Then turn your cloakes, for this is Fairy ground.’”
It was believed that the Fairy folk made their homes in the recesses of
forests or secluded groves, whence they issued after sunset to gambol
in the fields; often startling with their sudden appearance the tired
herdsman trudging homeward to his cot, or the goodwife returning from
her expedition to market. Thus we read of “Fairy Elves whose midnight
revels by a forest side or fountain some belated peasant sees.”
“Would you the Fairy regions see,
Hence to the greenwoods run with me;
From mortals safe the livelong night,
There countless feats the Fays delight.”--_Leftly._
In the Isle of Man the Fairies or Elves used to be seen hopping from
trees and skipping from bough to bough, whilst wending their way to the
Fairy midnight haunts.
In such esteem were they held by the country folk of Devon and
Cornwall, that to ensure their friendship and good offices, the
Fairies, or Pixies, used formerly to have a certain share of the fruit
crop set apart for their special consumption.
Hans Christian Andersen tells of a certain Rose Elf who was
instrumental in punishing the murderer of a beautiful young maiden to
whom he was attached. The Rose, in olden times, was reputed to be under
the especial protection of Elves, Fairies, and Dwarfs, whose sovereign,
Laurin, carefully guarded the Rose-garden.
“Four portals to the garden lead, and when the gates are closed,
No living wight dare touch a Rose, ’gainst his strict command opposed.
Whoe’er would break the golden gates, or cut the silken thread,
Or who would dare to waste the flowers down beneath his tread,
Soon for his pride would leave to pledge a foot and hand;
Thus Laurin, King of Dwarfs, rules within his land.”
A curious family of the Elfin tribe were the Moss- or Wood-Folk, who
dwelt in the forests of Southern Germany. Their stature was small, and
their form weird and uncouth, bearing a strange resemblance to certain
trees, with which they flourished and decayed. Describing a Moss-woman,
the author of ‘The Fairy Family’ says:--
“‘A Moss-woman!’ the hay-makers cry,
And over the fields in terror they fly.
She is loosely clad from neck to foot
In a mantle of Moss from the Maple’s root,
And like Lichen grey on its stem that grows
Is the hair that over her mantle flows.
Her skin, like the Maple-rind, is hard,
Brown and ridgy, and furrowed and scarred;
And each feature flat, like the bark we see,
Where a bough has been lopped from the bole of a tree,
When the newer bark has crept healingly round,
And laps o’er the edge of the open wound;
Her knotty, root-like feet are bare,
And her height is an ell from heel to hair.”
The Moss- or Wood-Folk also lived in some parts of Scandinavia. Thus,
we are told that, in the churchyard of Store Hedding, in Zealand, there
are the remains of an Oak wood which were trees by day and warriors by
night.
The Black Dwarfs were a race of Scandinavian Elves, inhabiting
coast-hills and caves; the favourite place of their feasts and
carousings, however, was under the spreading branches of the
Elder-tree, the strong perfume of its large moon-like clusters of
flowers being very grateful to them. As has been before pointed out,
an unexplained connection of a mysterious character has always existed
between this tree and the denizens of Fairy-land.
The Still-Folk of Central Germany were another tribe of the Fairy
Kingdom: they inhabited the interior of hills, in which they had their
spacious halls and strong rooms filled with gold, silver, and precious
stones--the entrance to which was only obtained by mortals by means
of the Luck-flower, or the Key-flower (_Schlüsselblume_). They held
communication with the outer world, like the Trolls of Scandinavia,
through certain springs or wells, which possessed great virtues: not
only did they give extraordinary growth and fruitfulness to all trees
and shrubs that grew near them, whose roots could drink of their
waters, or whose leaves be sprinkled with the dews condensed from their
vapours, but for certain human diseases they formed a sovereign remedy.
In Monmouthshire, in years gone by, there existed a good Fairy, or
Procca, who was wont to appear to Welshmen in the guise of a handful of
loose dried grass, rolling and gambolling before the wind.
Fairy Revels.
The English Fays and Fairies, the Pixies of Devon--
“Fantastic Elves, that leap
The slender Hare-cup, climb the Cowslip bells,
And seize the wild bee as she lies asleep,”
according to the old pastoral poets, were wont to bestir themselves
soon after sunset--a time of indistinctness and gloomy grandeur, when
the moonbeams gleam fitfully through the wind-stirred branches of their
sylvan retreats, and when sighs and murmurings are indistinctly heard
around, which whisper to the listener of unseen beings. But it is at
midnight that the whole Fairy kingdom is alive: then it is that the
faint music of the blue Harebell is heard ringing out the call to the
Elfin meet:
“’Tis the hour of Fairy ban and spell,
The wood-tick has kept the minutes well,
He has counted them all with click and stroke,
Deep on the heart of the forest Oak;
And he has awakened the sentry Elve,
That sleeps with him in the haunted tree,
To bid him ring the hour of twelve,
And call the Fays to their revelry.
“They come from the beds of the Lichen green,
They creep from the Mullein’s velvet screen,
Some on the backs of beetles fly
From the silver tops of moon-touched trees,
Where they swing in their cobweb hammocks high,
And rocked about in the evening breeze;
Some from the hum-bird’s downy nest,
Had driven him out by Elfin power,
And pillowed on plumes of his rainbow crest,
Had slumbered there till the charmed hour;
Some had lain in a scarp of the rock,
By glittering ising-stars inlaid,
And some had opened the ‘Four-o’-Clock,’
And stolen within its purple shade;
And now they throng the moonlight glade,
Above, below,--on every side,
Their little minim forms arrayed,
In the tricksy pomp of Fairy pride.”--_Dr. Drake’s ‘Culprit Fay.’_
Like the Witches, Fairies dearly love to ride to the trysting-place
on an aerial steed. A straw, a blade of Grass, a Fern, a Rush, or a
Cabbage-stalk, alike serve the purpose of the little people. Mounted on
such simple steeds, each joyous Elf sings--
“Now I go, now I fly,
Malkin, my sweet spirit, and I.
O what a dainty pleasure ’tis
To ride in the air,
When the morn shines fair,
And sing and dance, and toy and kiss!”
Arrived at the spot selected for the Fairy revels--mayhap, “a bank
whereon the wild Thyme blows, where Oxlips and the nodding Violet
grows”--the gay throng wend their way to a grassy link or neighbouring
pasture, and there the merry Elves trip and pace the dewy green sward
with their printless feet, causing those dark green circles that are
known to mortals as “Fairy Rings.”
The Fays that haunt the moonlight dell,
The Elves that sleep in the Cowslip’s bell,
The tricksy Sprites that come and go,
Swifter than a gleam of light;
Where the murmuring waters flow,
And the zephyrs of the night,
Bending to the flowers that grow,
Basking in the silver sheen,
With their voices soft and low,
Sing about the rings of green
Which the Fairies’ twinkling feet,
In their nightly revels, beat.
Old William Browne depicts a Fairy trysting-place as being in proximity
to one of their sylvan haunts, and moreover gives us an insight into
the proceedings of the Fays and their queen at one of their meetings.
He says:--
“Near to this wood there lay a pleasant meade
Where Fairies often did their measures treade,
Which in the meadows made such circles greene,
As if with garlands it had crowned beene,
Or like the circle where the signes we tracke,
And learned shepheards call’t the zodiacke;
Within one of these rounds was to be seene
A hillock rise, where oft the Fairie queene
At twilight sat, and did command her Elves
To pinch those maids that had not swept their shelves;
And further, if by maiden’s oversight,
Within doors water were not brought at night,
Or if they spread no table, set no bread,
They should have nips from toe unto the head,
And for the maid that had performed each thing,
She in the water-pail bade leave a ring.”
St. John’s Eve was undoubtedly chosen for important communication
between the distant Elfin groves and the settlements of men, on account
of its mildness, brightness, and unequalled beauty. Has not Shakspeare
told us, in his ‘Midsummer’s Night’s Dream,’ of the doings, on this
night, of Oberon, Ariel, Puck, Titania, and her Fairy followers?--
“The darling puppets of romance’s view;
Fairies, and Sprites, and Goblin Elves we call them,
Famous for patronage of lovers true;
No harm they act, neither shall harm befall them,
So do not thou with crabbed frowns appal them.”
Yet timorous and ill-informed folk, mistrusting the kindly disposition
of Elves and Fairies, took precautions for excluding Elfin visitors
from their dwellings by hanging over their doors boughs of St. John’s
Wort, gathered at midnight on St. John’s Eve. A more kindly feeling,
however, seems to have prevailed at Christmas time, when boughs of
evergreen were everywhere hung in houses in order that the poor
frost-bitten Elves of the trees might hide themselves therein, and thus
pass the bleak winter in hospitable shelter.
Fairy Plants.
In Devonshire the flowers of Stitchwort are known as Pixies.
Of plants which are specially affected by the Fairies, first mention
should be made of the Elf Grass (_Vesleria cærulea_), known in Germany
as _Elfenkraut_ or _Elfgras_. This is the Grass forming the Fairy
Rings, round which, with aerial footsteps, have danced
“Ye demi-puppets, that
By moonlight do the green sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites.”--_Shakspeare’s Tempest._
The Cowslip, or Fairy Cup, Shakspeare tells us forms the couch of
Ariel--the “dainty Ariel” who has so sweetly sung of his Fairy life--
“Where the bee sucks, there lurk I;
In a Cowslip’s bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry;
On a bat’s back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, merrily, shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.”
The fine small crimson drops in the Cowslip’s chalice are said to
possess the rare virtue of preserving, and even of restoring, youthful
bloom and beauty; for these ruddy spots are fairy favours, and
therefore have enchanted value. Shakspeare says of this flower of the
Fays:--
“And I serve the Fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green:
The Cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours:
In those freckles live their savours.”
Another of the flowers made potent use of by the Fairies of Shakspeare
is the Pansy--that “little Western flower” which Oberon bade Puck
procure:--
“Fetch me that flower,--the herb I showed thee once:
The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid,
Will make a man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.”
The Anemone, or Wind-flower, is a recognised Fairy blossom. The crimson
marks on its petals have been painted there by fairy hands; and, in wet
weather, it affords shelter to benighted Elves, who are glad to seek
shelter beneath its down-turned petals. Tulips are greatly esteemed by
the Fairy folk, who utilise them as cradles in which to rock the infant
Elves to sleep.
The Fairy Flax (_Linum catharticum_) is, from its extreme delicacy,
selected by the Fays as the substance to be woven for their raiment.
The _Pyrus Japonica_ is the Fairies’ Fire. Fairy-Butter (_Tremella
arborea_ and _albida_) is a yellowish gelatinous substance, found upon
rotten wood or fallen timber, and which is popularly supposed to be
made in the night, and scattered about by the Fairies. The _Pezita_, an
exquisite scarlet Fungus cup, which grows on pieces of broken stick,
and is to be found in dry ditches and hedge-sides, is the Fairies’ Bath.
To yellow flowers growing in hedgerows, the Fairies have a special
dislike, and will never frequent a place where they abound; but it is
notorious that they are passionately fond of most flowers. It is part
of their mission to give to each maturing blossom its proper hue, to
guide creepers and climbing plants, and to teach young plants to move
with befitting grace.
But the Foxglove is the especial delight of the Fairy tribe: it is
_the_ Fairy plant _par excellence_. When it bends its tall stalks the
Foxglove is making its obeisance to its tiny masters, or preparing to
receive some little Elf who wishes to hide himself in the safe retreat
afforded by its accommodating bells. In Ireland this flower is called
Lusmore, or the Great Herb. It is there the Fairy Cap, whilst in Wales
it becomes the Goblin’s Gloves.
As the Foxglove is the special flower of the Fairies, so is a
four-leaved Clover their peculiar herb. It is believed only to grow
in places frequented by the Elfin tribe, and to be gifted by them with
magic power.
“I’ll seek a four-leaved Clover
In all the Fairy dells,
And if I find the charmed leaf,
Oh, how I’ll weave my spells!”--_S. Lover._
The maiden whose search has been successful for this diminutive plant
becomes at once joyous and light-hearted, for she knows that she will
assuredly see her true love ere the day is over. The four-leaved Clover
is the only plant that will enable its wearer to see the Fairies--it is
a magic talisman whereby to gain admittance to the Fairy kingdom,[8]
and unless armed with this potent herb, the only other means available
to mortals who wish to make the acquaintance of the Fairies is to
procure a supply of a certain precious unguent prepared according to
the receipt of a celebrated alchymist, which, applied to the visual
orbs, is said to enable anyone with a clear conscience to behold
without difficulty or danger the most potent Fairy or Spirit he may
anywhere encounter. The following is the form of the preparation:--
“R. A pint of Sallet-oyle, and put it into a vial-glasse; but first
wash it with Rose-water and Marygolde water; the flowers to be gathered
towards the east. Wash it till the oyle come white; then put it into
the glasse, _ut supra_: and then put thereto the budds of Holyhocke,
the flowers of Marygolde, the flowers or toppers of Wild Thyme, the
budds of young Hazle: and the Thyme must be gathered neare the side
of a hill where Fayries used to be: and take the grasse of a Fayrie
throne. Then all these put into the oyle into the glasse: and sette it
to dissolve three dayes in the sunne, and then keep it for thy use; _ut
supra_.”--[_Ashmolean MSS._].
[8] See legend in Part II., under the head of “CLOVER.”
Plants of the Water Nymphs and Fays.
Certain of the Fairy community frequented the vicinity of pools, and
the banks of streams and rivers. Ben Jonson tells of “Span-long Elves
that dance about a pool;” and Stagnelius asks--
“Say, know’st the Elfin people gay?
They dwell on the river’s strand;
They spin from the moonbeams their festive garb,
With their small and lily hand.”
Of this family are the Russalkis, river nymphs of Southern Russia, who
inhabit the alluvial islands studding the winding river, or dwell in
detached coppices fringing the banks, or construct for themselves homes
woven of flowering Reeds and green Willow-boughs.
The Swedes delight to tell of the Strömkarl, or boy of the stream, a
mystic being who haunts brooks and rivulets, and sits on the silvery
waves at moonlight, playing his harp to the Elves and Fays who dance on
the flowery margin, in obedience to his summons--
“Come queen of the revels--come, form into bands
The Elves and the Fairies that follow your train;
Tossing your tresses, and wreathing your hands,
Let your dainty feet dance to my wave-wafted strain.”
The Græco-Latin Naiades, or Water-nymphs, were also of this family:
they generally inhabited the country, and resorted to the woods or
meadows near the stream over which they presided. It was in some such
locality on the Asiatic coast that the ill-fated Hylas was carried off
by Isis and the River-nymphs, whilst obtaining water from a fountain.
“The chiefs composed their wearied limbs to rest,
But Hylas sought the springs, by thirst opprest;
At last a fount he found with flow’rets graced:
On the green bank above his urn he placed.
’Twas at a time when old Ascanius made
An entertainment in his watery bed,
For all the Nymphs and all the Naiades
Inhabitants of neighb’ring plains and seas.”
These inferior deities were held in great veneration, and received from
their votaries offerings of fruit and flowers; animal sacrifices were
also made to them, with libations of wine, honey, oil, and milk; and
they were crowned with Sedges and flowers. A remnant of these customs
was to be seen in the practice which formerly prevailed in this country
of sprinkling rivers with flowers on Holy Thursday. Milton, in his
‘Comus,’ tells us that, in honour of Sabrina, the Nymph of the Severn--
“The shepherds at their festivals
Carol her good deeds loud in rustic lays,
And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream,
Of Pansies, Pinks, and gaudy Daffodils.”
A belief in the existence of good spirits who watched and guarded
wells, springs and streams, was common to the whole Aryan race. On
the 13th of October the Romans celebrated at the Porta Fontinalis a
festival in honour of the Nymphs who presided over fountains and wells:
this was termed the Fontinalia, and during the ceremonies wells and
fountains were ornamented with garlands. To this day the old heathen
custom of dressing and adorning wells is extant, although saints and
martyrs have long since taken the place of the Naiades and Water-nymphs
as patrons. In England, well-dressing at Ascension-tide is still
practised, and some particulars of the ancient custom will be found in
the chapter on Floral Ceremonies.
“The fountain marge is fairly spread
With every incense flower that blows,
With flowry Sedge and Moss that grows,
For fervid limbs a dewy bed.”--_Fane._
Pilgrimages are made to many holy wells and springs in the United
Kingdom, for the purpose of curing certain diseases by the virtues
contained in their waters, or to dress these health-restoring fountains
with garlands and posies of flowers. It is not surprising to find Ben
Jonson saying that round such “virtuous” wells the Fairies are fond of
assembling, and dancing their rounds, lighted by the pale moonshine--
“By wells and rills, in meadows greene,
We nightly dance our hey-day guise;
And to our Fairye king and queene
We chant our moonlight minstrelsies.”--_Percy Reliques_.
In Cornwall pilgrimages are made in May to certain wells situated close
to old blasted Oaks, where the frequenters suspend rags to the branches
as a preservative against sorcery and a propitiation to the Fairies,
who are thought to be fond of repairing at night to the vicinity of the
wells. From St. Mungo’s Well at Huntly, in Scotland, the people carry
away bottles of water, as a talisman against the enmity of the Fairies,
who are supposed to hold their revels at the Elfin Croft close by, and
are prone to resent the intrusion of mortals.
[Tailpiece]
[Headpiece]
CHAPTER VII.
Sylvans, Wood Nymphs, and Tree Spirits.
Closely allied to the Fairy family, the Well Fays, and the Naiades,
are the Sylvans of the Græco-Roman mythology, which everywhere depicts
groves and forests as the dwelling-places and resorts of merry bands
of Dryads, Nymphs, Fauns, Satyrs, and other light-hearted frequenters
of the woods. Mindful of this, Horace, when extolling the joys and
peacefulness of sylvan retirement, sings:--
“Me the cool woods above the rest advance,
Where the rough Satyrs with the light Nymphs dance.”
The Dryads were young and beautiful nymphs who were regarded as
semi-goddesses. Deriving their name from the Greek word _drus_, a
tree, they were conceived to dwell in trees, groves, and forests, and,
according to tradition, were wont to inflict injuries upon people who
dared to injure the trees they inhabited and specially protected.
Notwithstanding this, however, they frequently quitted their leafy
habitations, to wander at will and mingle with the wood nymphs in their
rural sports and dances. They are represented veiled and crowned with
flowers. Such a sylvan deity Rinaldo saw in the Enchanted Forest, when
“An aged Oak beside him cleft and rent,
And from his fertile hollow womb forth went
(Clad in rare weeds and strange habiliment)
A full-grown Nymph.”
The Hamadryads were only females to the waist, their lower parts
merging into the trunks and roots of trees. Their life and power
terminated with the existence of the tree over which they presided.
These sylvan deities had long flowing hair, and bore in their hands
axes wherewith to protect the tree with which they were associated
and on the existence of which their own life depended. The trees of
the Hamadryads usually grew in some secluded spot, remote from human
habitations and unknown to men, where
“Much sweet grass grew higher than grew the Reed,
And good for slumber, and every holier herb,
Narcissus and the low-lying Melilote,
And all of goodliest blade and bloom that springs
Where, hid by heavier Hyacinth, Violet buds
Blossom and burn, and fire of yellower flowers,
And light of crescent Lilies and such leaves
As fear the Faun’s, and know the Dryad’s foot.”--_Theocritus._
The rustic deities, called by the Greeks Satyrs, and by the Romans,
Fauns, had the legs, feet, and ears of goats, and the rest of the
body human. These Fauns, according to the traditions of the Romans,
presided over vegetation, and to them the country folk gave anything
they had a mind to ask--bunches of Grapes, ears of Wheat, and all sorts
of fruit. The food of the Satyrs was believed, by the early Romans,
to be the root of the Orchis or Satyrion; its aphrodisiacal qualities
exciting them to those excesses to which they are stated to have been
so strongly addicted.
A Roumanian legend[9] tells of a beauteous sylvan nymph called the
Daughter of the Laurel, who is evidently akin to the Dryads and wood
nymphs; and Mr. Ralston, in an article on ‘Forest and Field Myths,’[10]
gives the following variation of the story:--“There was once a
childless wife who used to lament, saying, ‘If only I had a child, were
it but a Laurel berry!’ And heaven sent her a golden Laurel berry; but
its value was not recognised, and it was thrown away. From it sprang
a Laurel-tree, which gleamed with golden twigs. At it a prince, while
following the chase, wondered greatly; and determining to return to
it, he ordered his cook to prepare a dinner for him beneath its shade.
He was obeyed. But during the temporary absence of the cook, the tree
opened, and forth came a fair maiden who strewed a handful of salt over
the viands, and returned into the tree, which immediately closed upon
her. The prince returned and scolded the cook for over-salting the
dinner. The cook declared his innocence; but in vain. The next day just
the same occurred. So on the third day the prince kept watch. The tree
opened, and the maiden came forth. But before she could return into the
tree, the prince caught hold of her and carried her off. After a time
she escaped from him, ran back to the tree, and called upon it to open.
But it remained shut. So she had to return to the prince, and after a
while he deserted her. It was not till after long wandering that she
found him again, and became his loyal consort.” Mr. Ralston says that
in Hahn’s opinion the above story is founded on the Hellenic belief in
Dryads; but he himself thinks it belongs to an earlier mythological
family than the Hellenic, though the Dryad and the Laurel-maiden are
undoubtedly kinswomen. “Long before the Dryads and Oreads had received
from the sculpturesque Greek mind their perfection of human form and
face, trees were credited with woman-like inhabitants, capable of doing
good and ill, and with power of their own, apart from those possessed
by their supernatural tenants, of banning and blessing. Therefore was
it that they were worshipped, and that recourse was had to them for
the strengthening of certain rites. Similar ideas and practices still
prevail in Asia: survivals of them may yet be found in Europe.”
[9] The legend is given in Part II., under the heading “LAUREL.”
[10] _Contemporary Review_, Vol. xxxi., p. 520.
In Moldavia there lingers the cherished tradition of Mariora Floriora,
the Zina (nymph) of the mountains, the Sister of the Flowers, at whose
approach the birds awoke and sung merrily, desirous of anticipating her
every wish, and the wild flowers exhaled their choicest perfume, and,
bowing gently in the wind, proffered every virtue contained in their
blossoms. Yielding one day to the fascinations of a mortal, Mariora
Floriora gave herself to him, and forgot her flowers, so that the
leaves fell yellow and withered, and the flowers drooped their heads
and faded. Then they complained to the Sun that the flower nymph no
longer tended them, but rambled over the mountains and meadows absorbed
with her mortal lover. So a Zméu (evil spirit) was sent, who seized her
in his arms, and carried her away over the mountain. Now she is never
seen; but when the moon is shining on a serene night, her plaintive
murmurs are sometimes heard in the caverns of the mountain.
Sacred Groves and their Denizens.
The Roman goddess Pomona, we are told by Ovid, came of the family of
Dryads, or sylvan deities; and although “the Nymph frequented not the
fluttering stream, nor meads, the subject of a virgin’s dream,” yet--
“In garden culture none could her excel,
Or form the pliant souls of plants so well,
Or to the fruit more gen’rous flavours lend,
Or teach the trees with nobler loads to bend.”
As a deity, Pomona presided over gardens and all sorts of fruit-trees,
and was honoured with a temple in Rome, and a regular priest, called
_Flamen Pomonalis_, who offered sacrifices to her divinity for the
preservation of fruit. In this respect Pomona differed from the other
Sylvans, who were only regarded as semi-gods and goddesses. The worship
of these sylvan deities, however, by the Greeks and Romans caused
them to regard with reverence and respect their nemorous habitations.
Hence we find that, like the Egyptians, they were fond of surrounding
their temples and fanes with groves and woods, which in time came to
be regarded as sacred as the temples themselves. Pliny, speaking of
groves, says: “These were of old the temples of the gods; and after
that simple but ancient custom, men at this day consecrate the fairest
and goodliest trees to some deity or other; nor do we more adore our
glittering shrines of gold and ivory than the groves in which, with
profound and awful silence, we worship them.” Ancient writers often
refer to “vocal forests,”--in their sombre and gloomy recesses, the
frighted wayfarer imagined, as the wind soughed and rustled through the
dense foliage, that the tree spirits were humming some sportive lay,
or--perchance more frequently--chanting weirdly some solemn dirge. The
grove which surrounded Jupiter’s Temple at Dodona was supposed to be
endowed with the gift of prophecy, and oracles were frequently there
delivered by the sacred Oaks.
“Due honours once Dodona’s forest had,
When oracles were through the Oaks conveyed.
When woods instructed prophets to foretel,
And the decrees of fate in trees did dwell.”
In course of time each tree of these sacred groves was held to be
tenanted, or presided over, either by a god or goddess, or by one of
the sylvan semi-deities. Impious was deemed he who dared to profane
the sanctity of one of these nemorous retreats, either by damaging or
by felling the consecrated trees. Rapin, in his Latin poem on Gardens,
says:
“But let no impious axe profane the woods,
Or violate the sacred shades; the Gods
Themselves inhabit there. Some have beheld
Where drops of blood from wounded Oaks distill’d;
Have seen the trembling boughs with horror shake!
So great a conscience did the ancients make
To cut down Oaks, that it was held a crime
In that obscure and superstitious time.
When Driopeius Heaven did provoke,
By daring to destroy th’ Æmonian Oak,
And with it its included Dryad too,
Avenging Ceres then her faith did show
To the wrong’d nymph.”
When threatened with the woodman’s axe, the tutelary genius of the
doomed tree would intercede for its life, the very leaves would sigh
and groan, the stalwart trunk tremble with horror. Ovid relates how
Erisichthon, a Thessalian, who derided Ceres, and cut down the trees
in her sacred groves, was, for his impiety, afflicted with perpetual
hunger. Of one huge old Oak the poet says--
“In the cool dusk its unpierc’d verdure spread
The Dryads oft their hallow’d dances led.”
But the vindictive Erisichthon bade his hesitating servants fell the
venerable tree, and, dissatisfied with their speed, seized an axe, and
approached it, declaring that nothing should save the Oak:--
“He spoke, and as he pois’d a slanting stroke,
Sighs heav’d and tremblings shook the frighted Oak;
Its leaves look’d sickly, pale its Acorns grew,
And its long branches sweat a chilly dew,
But when his impious hand a wound bestow’d,
Blood from the mangled bark in currents flow’d.
* * * * *
The wonder all amaz’d: yet one more bold,
The fact dissuading, strove his axe to hold;
But the Thessalian, obstinately bent,
Too proud to change, too harden’d to repent,
On his kind monitor his eyes, which burn’d
With rage, and with his eyes his weapon, turn’d;
Take the reward (says he) of pious dread;--
Then with a blow lopp’d off his parted head.
No longer check’d, the wretch his crime pursued,
Doubled his strokes, and sacrilege renew’d;
When from the groaning trunk a voice was heard,--
‘A Dryad I,’ by Ceres’ love preferred,
Within the circle of this clasping rind
Coeval grew, and now in ruin join’d;
But instant vengeance shall thy sin pursue,
And death is cheered with this prophetic view.”
_Garth’s Ovid._
Tree Spirits.
Ovid, in his ‘Metamorphoses,’ has told us how, after Daphne had been
changed into a Laurel, the nymph-tree still panted and heaved her
heart; how, when Phaethon’s grief-stricken sisters were transformed
into Poplars, they continued to shed tears, which were changed into
amber; how Myrrha, metamorphosed into a tree, still wept, in her bitter
grief, the precious drops which retain her name; how Dryope, similarly
transformed, imparted her life to the branches, which glowed with
a human heat; and how the tree into which the nymph Lotis had been
changed, shook with sudden horror when its blossoms were plucked and
blood welled from the broken stalks. In these poetic conceptions it is
easy to see the embodiment of a belief very rife among the Greeks and
Romans that trees and shrubs were tenanted in some mysterious manner
by spirits. Thus Virgil tells us that when Æneas had travelled far in
search of the abodes of the blest--
“He came to groves, of happy souls the rest;
To evergreens, the dwellings of the blest.”
Nor was this notion confined simply to the Greeks and Romans, for among
the ancients generally there existed a wide-spread belief that trees
were either the haunts of disembodied spirits, or contained within
their material growth the actual spirits themselves. Evelyn tells us
that “the Ethnics do still repute all great trees to be divine, and
the habitations of souls departed: these the Persians call _Pir_ and
_Imàm_.” The Persians, however, entertaining a profound regard for
trees of unusual magnitude, were of opinion that only the spirits of
the pure and holy inhabited them.
In this respect they differed from the Indians, who believed that both
good and evil spirits dwelt in trees. Thus we read in the story of a
_Brahmadaitya_ (a Bengal folk-tale), of a certain Banyan-tree haunted
by a number of ghosts who wrung the necks of all who were rash enough
to approach the tree during the night. And, in the same tale, we are
told of a Vakula-tree (_Mimusops Elengi_) which was the haunt of a
_Brahmadaitya_ (the ghost of a Brahman who dies unmarried), who was a
kindly and well-disposed spirit. In another folk-tale we are introduced
to the wife of a Brahman who was attacked by a _Sankchinni_, or female
ghost, inhabiting a tree near the Brahman’s house, and thrust by the
vindictive ghost into a hole in the trunk. The Rev. Lal Behari Day
explains that _Sankchinnis_ or _Sankhachurnis_ are female ghosts of
white complexion, who usually stand in the dead of night at the foot
of trees. Sometimes these tree-spirits appear to leave their usual
sylvan abode and enter into human beings, in which case an exorcist is
employed, who detects the presence of the spirit by lighting a piece of
Turmeric root, which is an infallible test, as no ghost can put up with
the smell of burnt Turmeric.
The Shánárs, aborigines of India, believe that disembodied spirits
haunt the earth, dwelling in trees, and taking special delight in
forests and solitary places. Against the malignant influence of these
wandering spirits, protection is sought in charms of various kinds; the
leaves of certain trees being esteemed especially efficacious. Among
the Hindus, if an infant refuse its food, and appear to decline in
health, the inference is drawn that an evil spirit has taken possession
of it. As this demon is supposed to dwell in some particular tree, the
mothers of the northern districts of Bengal frequently destroy the
unfortunate infant’s life by depositing it in a basket, and hanging the
same on the demon’s tree, where it perishes miserably.[11]
[11] ‘The Land of the Veda,’ by Rev. P. Percival.
In Burmah the worship of Nats, or spirits of nature, is very general.
Indeed among the Karens, and numerous other tribes, this spirit-worship
is their only form of belief. The shrines of these Nats are often, in
the form of cages, suspended in Peepul or other trees--by preference
the Le’pan tree, from the wood of which coffins are made. When a Burman
starts on a journey, he hangs a bunch of Plantains, or a spray of the
sacred _Eugenia_, on the pole of his buffalo cart, to conciliate any
spirit he may intrude upon. The lonely hunter in the forest deposits
some Rice, and ties together a few leaves, whenever he comes across
some imposing-looking tree, lest there should be a Nat dwelling there.
Should there be none, the tied-back leaves will, at any rate, stand in
evidence to the Nat or demon who presides over the forest. Some of the
Nats or spirits are known far and wide by special or generic names.
There is the Hmin Nat who lives in woods, and shakes those he meets
so that they go mad. There is the Akakasoh, who lives in the tops of
trees; Shekkasoh, who lives in the trunk; and Boomasoh, who dwells
contentedly in the roots. The presence of spirits or demons in trees
the Burman believes may always be ascertained by the quivering and
trembling of the leaves when all around is still.
Schweinfurth, the African explorer, tells us that, at the present day,
among the Bongos and the Niam-Niams, woods and forests are regarded
with awe as weird and mysterious places, the abodes of supernatural
beings. The malignant spirits who are believed to inhabit the dark and
gloomy forests, and who inspire the Bongos with extraordinary terror,
have, like the Devil, wizards, and witches, a distinctive name: they
are called _bitâbohs_; whilst the sylvan spirits inhabiting groves and
woods are known as _rangas_. Under this last designation are comprised
owls of different species, bats, and the _ndorr_, a small ape, with
large red eyes and erect ears, which shuns the light of day, and hides
itself in the trunks of trees, from whence it comes forth at night.
As a protection against the influence of these malignant spirits of
the woods, the Bongos have recourse to certain magical roots which are
sold to them by their medicine-men. According to those worthies no one
can enter into communication with the wood spirits except by means of
certain roots, which enable the possessor to exorcise evil spirits, or
give him the power of casting spells. All old people, but especially
women, are suspected of having relations, more or less intimate, with
the sylvan spirits, and of consulting the malign demons of the woods
when they wish to injure any of their neighbours. This belief in evil
spirits, which is general among the Bongos and other tribes of Africa,
exists also among the Niam-Niams. For the latter, the forest is the
abode of invisible beings who are constantly conspiring to injure
man; and in the rustling of the foliage they imagine they hear the
mysterious dialogues of the ghostly inhabitants of the woods.
The ancient German race, in whom there existed a deep reverence
for trees, peopled their groves and forests with a whole troup of
_Waldgeister_, both beneficent and malevolent. A striking example is
to be seen in the case of the Elder, in which dwells the _Hylde-moer_
(Elder-mother), or _Hylde-vinde_ (Elder-queen), who avenges all
injuries done to the Elder-tree. On this account Elder branches may not
be cut until permission has been asked of the _Hylde-moer_. In Lower
Saxony the woodman will, on his bended knee, ask permission of the
Elder-tree before cutting it, in these words: “Lady Elder, give me some
of thy wood; then will I give thee, also, some of mine when it grows
in the forest.” This formula is repeated three times.
Nearly allied to the tree-spirits were the Corn-spirits,[12] which
haunted and protected the green or yellow fields. Mr. Ralston tells us
that by the popular fancy they were often symbolised under the form
of wolves, or of “buckmen,” goat-legged creatures, similar to the
classic Satyrs. “When the wind blows the long Grass or waving Corn,
German peasants still say, ‘The Grass-wolf’ or ‘The Corn-wolf,’ is
abroad! In some places the last sheaf of Rye is left as a shelter to
the _Roggenwolf_, or Rye-wolf, during the winter’s cold; and in many a
summer or autumn festive rite, that being is represented by a rustic,
who assumes a wolf-like appearance. The Corn-spirit, however, was often
symbolised under a human form.”
[12] Further details will be found in the succeeding chapter.
The belief in the existence of a spirit whose life is bound up in
that of the tree it inhabits remains to the present day. There is a
wide-spread German belief that if a sick man is passed through a cleft
made in a tree, which is immediately afterwards bound up, the man
and the tree become mysteriously connected--if the tree flourishes
so will the man; but if it withers he will die. Should, however, the
tree survive the man, the soul of the latter will inhabit the tree;
and (according to Pagan tradition) if the tree be felled and used for
ship-building, the dead man’s ghost becomes the haunting genius of
the ship. This strange notion may have had its origin in the classic
story of the Argonauts and their famous ship. A beam on the prow of the
_Argo_ had been cut by Minerva out of the forest of Dodona, where the
trees were thought to be inhabited by oracular spirits: hence the beam
retained the power of giving oracles to the voyagers, and warned them
that they would never reach their country till Jason had been purified
of the murder of Absyrtus. There is a story that tells how, when a
musician cut a piece of wood from a tree into which a girl had been
metamorphosed by her angry mother, he was startled to see blood oozing
from the wound. And when he had shaped it into a bow, and played with
it upon his violin before her mother, such a heart-rending wail made
itself heard, that the mother was struck with remorse, and bitterly
repented of her hasty deed. Mr. Ralston quotes a Czekh story of a Nymph
who appeared day by day among men, but always went back to her willow
by night. She married a mortal, bare him children, and lived happily
with him, till at length he cut down her Willow-tree: that moment his
wife died. Out of this Willow was made a cradle, which had the power of
instantly lulling to sleep the babe she had left behind her; and when
the babe became a child, it was able to hold converse with its dead
mother by means of a pipe, cut from the twigs growing on the stump,
which once had been that mother’s abiding-place.
[Headpiece]
CHAPTER VIII.
Plants of the Devil.
We have seen, in a former chapter, how intimate has been the
association between flowers and the Fairies, Pixies, or Elves, and,
therefore, it is not surprising to find that the King of Fairies, Puck,
has a plant specially dedicated to him. This is the _Lycoperdon_, or
Puckfist. Dr. Prior points out that in some old works Puck, who has the
credit of being partial to coarse practical jokes, is alluded to as
no other than the Devil. His very name would seem to be derived from
_Pogge_, a toad, which in popular opinion was the impersonation of the
Devil: hence Toadstools, Pixie-stools, or Paddock-stools, were thought
to be but Devil’s droppings--the work of those Elves
“Whose pastime
Is to make moonlight Mushrooms.”
In Sussex, the Puff-ball is called Puck’s Stool, and the needle of the
_Scandix Pecten_ is called Pook-needle.
Loki, the Scandinavian malignant spirit, possesses many of the
characteristics of Puck, and is in point of fact the Devil of the old
Norse mythology. In Jutland, _Polytrichum commune_ is called Loki’s
Oats, and the Yellow Rattle is known there as Loki’s Purse. The Trolls,
a race of gigantic demons, or evil spirits, spoken of in Northern
mythology, have given their name to the Globe-flower (_Trollius_),
which is also known as the Troll-flower, probably on account of its
acrid and poisonous qualities having suggested its use by these
followers of the Devil.
Speaking generally, trees, plants, and herbs of evil omen may be
placed in the category of plants of the Devil, and amongst them must
be included such as have the reputation of being accursed, enchanted,
unlucky, and sorrowful. The plants dedicated to Hecate, the Grecian
goddess of Hell, who presided over magic and enchantments, as well
as those made use of by her daughters Medea and Circe, in their
sorceries, were all satanic. Circe was specially distinguished for
her knowledge of venomous herbs, and in later times the plants used
by her were universally employed by witches and sorcerers in their
incantations. The spells of wizards, magicians, witches, and others
who were acquainted with the secrets appertaining to the black art,
were always made in the name of the Devil: hence all herbs and plants
employed by them became veritable plants of the Devil. These plants are
particularised in the chapter on Plants of the Witches.
The belief that certain trees are haunted by the Devil, or by malignant
demons who act as his satellites, is of world-wide extent, and, in
connection with tree spirits, the subject has been incidentally touched
upon in the previous chapter. A Russian proverb says that “From all
old trees proceeds either an owl or a Devil;” and in many countries
where a tree becomes old and past bearing, its sterility is attributed
to a demon. The Albanians believe that trees are haunted by Devils
which they call _aërico_. Certain trees are especially affected by
these aerial demons: these are the Fig, the Walnut, the wild Plum, the
Mulberry, the Sycamore, the Pimpernel, the Willow, and in general all
fruit trees (but especially the Cherry) when they are old and cease to
bear. As regards sterile fruit trees, the belief that they are haunted
by Devils is common to many countries. In some parts of England,
Blackberries are never picked after Michaelmas-day, when the Devil is
supposed to stamp them with his hoof. Mrs. Latham has told us that the
watchfulness of the Devil makes it dangerous to go out nutting on a
Sunday, and worthy mothers may be heard warning their children against
it by assuring them that if they do so, “the Devil will hold down the
branches for them.” Mr. Sawyer has pointed out that the Sussex saying,
“as black as the Devil’s nutting bag,” is associated with this belief.
St. Ouen, writing in the 17th century, cautioned shepherds and others
never to let their flocks pass a hollow tree, because by some means or
other the Devil was sure to have taken possession of it.
Moore, in ‘The Light of the Haram,’ speaks of the _Siltim_, a demon
which is thought to haunt the forests of Persia, and to lurk among
the trees in human form. The Indian demons _bhûtûs_ and _piçacâs_ are
represented as dwelling in trees.
In the vicinity of Mount Etna the country people have a very strong
aversion to sleep beneath trees on St. John’s Eve, lest they should
become possessed of an evil spirit; for according to popular tradition,
on that night--the shortest of the year--the demons inhabiting trees
and plants quit their leafy habitations, and seek refuge in the first
object they come across.
In Germany, numerous demons are recognised as dwelling in trees; and,
according to Prof. Mannhardt, whole troops of emissaries of the Devil
are thought to haunt the fields, and lurk among the crops of Wheat
and vegetables. Among the most noticeable of this satanic legion are
the _Aprilochse_, a demon infesting the fields in April; _Auesau_, or
Sow of the Wheatsheaf, a spirit which lies concealed among the Corn;
_Baumesel_, a goblin of the trees; _Erntebock_, a demon which steals
part of the Corn during harvest; _Farre_, or the Little Bull, one
of a number of spirits infesting the Corn-fields; _Gerstenwolf_, or
Barley-wolf, a demon which devours the Barley; _Graswolf_, a spirit
haunting pastures; _Habergeiss_, or _Haferbock_, Goat of the Oats;
_Halmbock_, a goblin whose hiding-place is among straw or the stems of
plants; _Heukatze_ and _Heupudel_, Hay Cat and Pup, demons infesting
Hay; _Kartoffelwolf_, or Potato-goblin; _Katzenmann_, or Man-Cat,
a monster dwelling amidst Wheat; _Kleesau_, or Sow of the Clover;
_Krautesel_, or Ass of the Grass, a spirit especially inimical to
Lettuces; _Kornwolf_, _Kornsau_, _Kornstier_, _Kornkuh_, _Kornmutter_,
_Kornkind_, and _Kornmaid_, all demons, spirits, and monsters infesting
Corn.
In some parts of Russia the Devil is invoked through the medium of a
herb. On the occasion of a marriage, the peasants put into a bottle
of brandy a certain plant called the Herb of the Devil; the bottle is
then ornamented with ribbons and coloured tapers, and armed with this
present the father of the intended bride pays a visit to the father of
the bridegroom, who offers to ransom this bottled Devil by the payment
of five kopecks. “No,” says the girl’s father, “Our princess wishes
more than that.” So after further bargaining, a price of fifty kopecks
is finally agreed upon. In certain parts of Russia the Tobacco-plant
is deemed a diabolic plant. In India the Witches’ Herb (_Sinapis
racemosa_) is called _Asurî_ (the she-devil).
A few plants named after dragons, serpents, or snakes, and many of
those which are of a poisonous or noxious nature, must be classed
with the plants of the Devil; such as, for example, the Upas, the
Manchineel, the Magnolia, the Oleander, that deadly Persian flower, the
_Kerzereh_, the fœtid _Stapelia_, the _Phallus impudicus_, the Thief’s
Plant of the Franche-Comté Mountains, which opens all doors; that
satanic plant, the sap of which gives to Witches the power of riding
in the air on a broomstick; and the accursed plant which misleads the
traveller, dragging him from one path to another, but always leading
him farther and farther away from his goal, until at last he sinks
exhausted with fatigue.
Certain plants and trees have become ill-omened from having received
the maledictions of some divine personage. Several were cursed by the
Virgin Mary during her flight into Egypt. The tree which yielded the
timber of the Cross became for all time “the accursed tree”; the tree
on which Judas hung himself became also a satanic tree. Under this ban
have been included the Fig, the Tamarisk, the Aspen, the Dog Rose, the
Elder, and the Cercis or Judas Tree.