58 pPant "bore, "bcge'r^/, onsl "byric/, 



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 bene- 

 faction 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 asso- 

 ciated 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 (Naydosfnia 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 Haw- 

 thorn 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." 



