Part 24 (2/2)

This plant, it has been suggested, [7] being the cuckoo gra.s.s (_Luzula campestris_), which so often figures in children's games and rhymes.

Once more, there are numerous games played by children in which certain flowers are introduced, as in the following, known as ”the three flowers,” played in Scotland, and thus described in Chambers's ”Popular Rhymes,” p. 127:--”A group of lads and la.s.ses being a.s.sembled round the fire, two leave the party and consult together as to the names of three others, young men or girls, whom they designate as the red rose, the pink, and the gillyflower. The two young men then return, and having selected a member of the fairer group, they say to her:--

'My mistress sent me unto thine, Wi' three young flowers baith fair and fine:-- The pink, the rose, and the gillyflower, And as they here do stand, Whilk will ye sink, whilk will ye swim, And whilk bring hame to land?'

The maiden must choose one of the flowers named, on which she pa.s.ses some approving epithet, adding, at the same time, a disapproving rejection of the other two, as in the following terms: 'I will sink the pink, swim the rose, and bring hame the gillyflower to land.' The young men then disclose the names of the parties upon whom they had fixed those appellations respectively, when it may chance she has slighted the person to whom she is most attached, and contrariwise.” Games of this kind are very varied, and still afford many an evening's amus.e.m.e.nt among the young people of our country villages during the winter evenings.

Footnotes:

1. _Journal of Horticulture_, 1876, p. 355.

2. Johnston's ”Botany of Eastern Borders.”

3. ”Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words.”

4. Johnston's ”Botany of Eastern Borders,” p. 57.

5. ”Botany of Eastern Borders,” p. 85.

6. ”English Botany,” ed. I, iii. p. 3.

7. ”Dictionary of Plant Names” (Britten and Holland), p. 145.

CHAPTER XIX.

SACRED PLANTS.

Closely allied with plant-wors.h.i.+p is the sacred and superst.i.tious reverence which, from time immemorial, has been paid by various communities to certain trees and plants.

In many cases this sanct.i.ty originated in the olden heathen mythology, when ”every flower was the emblem of a G.o.d; every tree the abode of a nymph.” From their a.s.sociation, too, with certain events, plants frequently acquired a sacred character, and occasionally their specific virtues enhanced their veneration. In short, the large number of sacred plants found in different countries must be attributed to a variety of causes, ill.u.s.trations of which are given in the present chapter.

Thus going back to mythological times, it may be noticed that trees into which persons were metamorphosed became sacred. The laurel was sacred to Apollo in memory of Daphne, into which tree she was changed when escaping from his advances:--

”Because thou canst not be My mistress, I espouse thee for my tree; Be thou the prize of honour and renown, The deathless poet and the poet's crown; Thou shalt the Roman festivals adorn, And, after poets, be by victors won.”

But it is unnecessary to give further instances of such familiar stories, of which early history is full. At the same time it is noteworthy that many of these plants which acquired a sanct.i.ty from heathen mythology still retain their sacred character--a fact which has invested them with various superst.i.tions, in addition to having caused them to be selected for ceremonial usage and homage in modern times.

Thus the pine, with its mythical origin and heathen a.s.sociations, is an important tree on the Continent, being surrounded with a host of legends, most of which, in one shape or another, are relics of early forms of belief. The sacred character of the oak still survives in modern folk-lore, and a host of flowers which grace our fields and hedges have sacred a.s.sociations from their connection with the heathen G.o.ds of old. Thus the anemone, poppy, and violet were dedicated to Venus; and to Diana ”all flowers growing in untrodden dells and shady nooks, uncontaminated by the tread of man, more especially belonged.”

The narcissus and maidenhair were sacred to Proserpina, and the willow to Ceres. The pink is Jove's flower, and of the flowers a.s.signed to Juno may be mentioned the lily, crocus, and asphodel.

Pa.s.sing on to other countries, we find among the plants most conspicuous for their sacred character the well-known lotus of the East (_Nelunibium speciosum_), around which so many traditions and mythological legends have cl.u.s.tered. According to a Hindu legend, from its blossom Brahma came forth:--

”A form Cerulean fluttered o'er the deep; Brightest of beings, greatest of the great, Who, not as mortals steep Their eyes in dewy sleep, But heavenly pensive on the lotus lay, That blossom'd at his touch, and shed a golden ray.

Hail, primal blossom! hail, empyreal gem, Kemel, or Pedma, [1] or whate'er high name Delight thee, say. What four-formed G.o.dhead came, With graceful stole and beamy diadem, Forth from thy verdant stem.” [2]

Buddha, too, whose symbol is the lotus, is said to have first appeared floating on this mystic flower, and, indeed, it would seem that many of the Eastern deities were fond of resting on its leaves; while in China, the G.o.d Pazza is generally represented as occupying this position. Hence the lotus has long been an object of wors.h.i.+p, and as a sacred plant holds a most distinguished place, for it is the flower of the,

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