Part 22 (2/2)

”Have hatte of floures fresh as May, Chapelett of roses of Whitsunday, For sich array be costeth but lite.”

In Italy the festival is designated ”Pasqua Rosata,” from falling at a time when roses are in bloom, while in Germany the peony is the Pentecost rose.

Herrick tells us it was formerly the practice to use birch and spring-flowers for decorative purposes at Whitsuntide:--

”When yew is out then birch comes in, And May-flowers beside, Both of a fresh and fragrant kinne, To honour Whitsontide.”

At this season, too, box-boughs were gathered to deck the large open fire-places then in fas.h.i.+on, and the guelder rose was dedicated to the festival. Certain flower-sermons have been preached in the city at Whitsuntide, as, for instance, that at St. James's Church, Mitre Court, Aldgate, and another at St. Leonard's Church, Sh.o.r.editch, known as the Fairchild Lecture. Turning to the Continent, it is customary in Hanover on Whit-Monday to gather the lily of the valley, and at the close of the day there is scarcely a house without a large bouquet, while in Germany the broom is a favourite plant for decorations. In Russia, at the completion of Whitsuntide, young girls repair to the banks of the Neva and cast in wreaths of flowers in token of their absent friends.

Certain flowers, such as the rose, lavender, woodruff, and box were formerly in request for decking churches on St. Barnabas' Day, the officiating clergy having worn wreaths of roses. Among the allusions to the usage may be mentioned the following entries in the churchwarden's accounts of St. Mary-at-Hill, London, in the reigns of Edward IV. and Henry VII.:--”For rose garlondis and woodrolf garlondis on St. Barnabe Daye, xj'd.” ”Item, for two doss (dozen?) di bocse (box) garlands for prestes and clerkes on St. Barnabe Day, j's. v'd.”

St. Barnabas' thistle (_Centaurea solst.i.tialis_) derived its name from flowering at the time of the saint's festival, and we are told how:--

”When St. Barnaby bright smiles night and day, Poor ragged robin blooms in the hay.”

To Trinity Sunday belong the pansy, or herb-trinity and trefoil, hence the latter has been used for decorations on this anniversary.

In commemoration of the Restoration of Charles II., oak leaves and gilded oak apples have been worn; oak branches having been in past years placed over doors and windows.

Stowe, in his ”Survey of London,” speaks of the old custom of hanging up St. John's wort over the doors of houses, along with green birch or pine, white lilies, and other plants. The same practice has existed very largely on the Continent, St. John's wort being still regarded as an effective charm against witchcraft. Indeed, few plants have been in greater request on any anniversary, or been invested with such mystic virtues. Fennel, another of the many plants dedicated to St. John, was hung over doors and windows on his night in England, numerous allusions to which occur in the literature of the past. And in connection with this saint we are told how:--

”The scarlet lychnis, the garden's pride, Flames at St. John the Baptist's tyde.”

Hemp was also in demand, many forms of divination having been practised by means of its seed.

According to a belief in Iceland, the trijadent (_Spiraea ulmaria_) will, if put under water on this day, reveal a thief; floating if the thief be a woman, and sinking if a man.

In the Harz, on Midsummer night, branches of the fir-tree are decorated with flowers and coloured eggs, around which the young people dance, singing rhymes. The Bolognese, who regard garlic as the symbol of abundance, buy it at the festival as a charm against poverty during the coming year. The Bohemian, says Mr. Conway, ”thinks he can make himself shot-proof for twenty-four hours by finding on St. John's Day pine-cones on the top of a tree, taking them home, and eating a single kernel on each day that he wishes to be invulnerable.” In Sicily it is customary, on Midsummer Eve, to fell the highest poplar, and with shouts to drag it through the village, while some beat a drum. Around this poplar, says Mr. Folkard,[4] ”symbolising the greatest solar ascension and the decline which follows it, the crowd dance, and sing an appropriate refrain;” and he further mentions that, at the commencement of the Franco-German War, he saw sprigs of pine stuck on the railway carriages bearing the German soldiers into France.

In East Prussia, the sap of dog-wood, absorbed in a handkerchief, will fulfil every wish; and a Brandenburg remedy for fever is to lie naked under a cherry-tree on St. John's Day, and to shake the dew on one's back. Elsewhere we have alluded to the flowering of the fern on this anniversary, and there is the Bohemian idea that its seed s.h.i.+nes like glittering gold.

Corpus Christi Day was, in olden times, observed with much ceremony, the churches being decorated with roses and other choice garlands, while the streets through which the procession pa.s.sed were strewn with flowers. In North Wales, flowers were scattered before the door; and a particular fern, termed Rhedyn Mair, or Mary's fern--probably the maiden-hair--was specially used for the purpose.

We may mention here that the daisy (_Bellis perennis_) was formerly known as herb-Margaret or Marguerite, and was erroneously supposed to have been named after the virtuous St. Margaret of Antioch:--

”Maid Margarete, that was so meek and mild;”

Whereas it, in all probability, derives its name from St. Margaret of Cortona. According to an old legend it is stated:--

”There is a double flouret, white and red, That our la.s.ses call herb-Margaret, In honour of Cortona's penitent, Whose contrite soul with red remorse was rent; While on her penitence kind heaven did throw The white of purity, surpa.s.sing snow; So white and red in this fair flower entwine, Which maids are wont to scatter at her shrine.”

Again, of the rainy saint, St. Swithin, we are reminded that:--

”Against St. Swithin's hastie showers, The lily white reigns queen of the flowers”--

A festival around which so much curious lore has cl.u.s.tered.

In former years St. Margaret's Day (July 20) was celebrated with many curious ceremonies, and, according to a well-known couplet in allusion to the emblem of the vanquished dragon, which appears in most pictures of St. Margaret:--

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