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cattle sheds, just as in England, France, and Switzerland, Holly is 



employed as a decoration. In Thibet, they burn Juniper-wood 



as incense in a gigantic altar, with an aperture at the top, which is 



called Song-boom, and bears some resemblance to a limekiln. 



The old notion of the ancients that the burning of Juniper-wood 

 expelled evil spirits from houses evidently led to some superstitious 

 pracftices in this country in later times. Thus we find Bishop Hall 

 writing : — 



" And with glasse stills, and sticks of Juniper, 

 Raise the black spright that burns not with the fire." 



In some parts of Scotland, during the prevalence of an epidemic, 

 certain mysterious ceremonies are enacted, in which the burning of 



Juniper-wood plays an important part. In Germany and Italy, 



the Juniper is the objecft of a superstitious reverence on account of 

 its supposed property of dispersing evil spirits. According to Herr 

 Weber, in some parts of Italy, holes or fissures in houses are 

 brushed over with Juniper-boughs to prevent evil spirits introducing 

 sickness ; in other parts, boughs of Juniper are suspended before 

 doorways, under the extraordinary belief that witches w^ho see the 

 Juniper are seized with an irresistible mania to count all its small 

 leaves, which, however, are so numerous that they are sure to 

 make a mistake in counting, and, becoming impatient, go away for 



fear of being surprised and recognised. In Waldeck, Germany, 



when infants fall ill, their parents place in a bunch of Juniper some 

 bread and wool, in order to induce bad spirits to eat, to spin, and 

 so forget the poor little suffering babe. In Germany, a certain 

 Frati Wachholdbv is held to be the personification and the presiding 

 spirit of the Juniper, who is invoked in order that thieves may be 

 compelled to give up their ill-gotten spoils : this invocation takes 

 place with certain superstitious ceremonies beneath the shadow of 

 a Juniper, a branch of which is bent to the earth. In Germany, 

 also, the Juniper, like the Holly, is believed to drive away from 

 houses and stables, spells and witchcraft of all description, and 

 specially to cast out from cows and horses the monsters which are 

 sometimes believed mysteriously to haunt them. For a similar 

 reason, in Germany, in order to strengthen horses, and to render 

 them tractable and quiet, they administer to them on three succes- 

 sive Sundays before sunrise, three handfuls of salt, and seventy- 

 two Juniper-berries. Prof. De Gubernatis tells us that from a rare 

 Italian book which he possesses, he finds that in Bologna it is 

 customary on Christmas Eve to distribute in most houses branches 

 of Juniper; and moreover, that the best authorities have proved the 

 omnipotence of Juniper against serpents and venomous beasts, who 

 by their bites represent sins; and that the Juniper furnished the 

 wood for the Cross of the Saviour and protecSted the Prophet Elijah. 



In Tuscany, the Juniper receives a benedidtion in church on 



Palm Sunday. In Venetia, Juniper is burnt to purify the air, 



