pPaat Tsor«, Tsege^/, oriel Taqrlc/. 583 



Nhx, or Walnut-tree of the Latins, the fruit of which was con- 

 sidered by tlie ancients, in consequence of these intrigues, to pro- 

 mote the powers of love. It is necessary, in considering the folk- 

 lore of the Walnut, to separate the tree from the nut. The tree is 

 feared as a tree of ill omen, and is regarded as a favourite haunt of 

 witches. The shade of the Walnut-tree was held by the Romans 

 to be particularly baneful. The Black Walnut will not let anything 

 grow under it, and if planted in an orchard will kill all the Apple- 

 trees in its neighbourhood. The Nut is, on the contrary, con- 

 sidered propitious, favourable to marriage, and the symbol of 

 fecundity and abundance. The ceremony of throwing Nuts at a 

 wedding, for which boys scrambled, is said to have been of 

 Athenian origin. A similar custom obtained among the Romans, 

 at whose marriage festivities Walnuts were commonly strewed. 

 Catullus exclaims ; — 



" Let the air with Hymen ring 

 H)Tnen, lo Hymen, sing. 

 Soon the Nuts will now be flung; 

 Soon the wanton verses sung ; 

 Soon the bridegroom will be told 

 Of the tricks he played of old. 

 License then his love had got, 

 But a husband has it not : 

 Let the air with Hymen ring, 

 Hymen, lo Hymen, sing." — Z^gh Hunt. 



Virgil alludes to the custom of scrambling for Nuts at weddings, in 

 his Eighth Pastoral : — 



" Prepare the lights 



O Mopsus ! and perform the bridal rites ; 



Scatter thy Nuts among the scrambling boys." 



Prof. De Gubernatis says, that the young bridegroom of modern 

 Rome throws Nuts on the pathway, evidently as a symbol of 

 fecundity. In Piedmont, there is a saying that "Bread and Nuts 

 are food for married people." In Sicily, at Modica, they strew Nuts 

 and Corn in the path of the newly-married couple. In Greece, the 

 bride and bridegroom distribute Nuts among those assisting at the 

 marriage rites. In Roumania, Nuts are distributed at weddings; 

 and among the Lettish peasantry. Nuts and Gingerbread-Nuts are 



presented to wedding-guests. A Lithuanian legend recounts that 



at the deluge, as men were being drowned, Perkun (the chief deity of 

 the race) was eating Nuts. He dropped the shells in the raging waters, 

 and in the shells certain virtuous people escaped, and afterward re- 

 peopled the earth. De Gubernatis, referring to this legend, says that 

 here the Walnut becomes undoubtedly an emblem of regeneration : 

 " This is the reason why, in Belgium, on Michaelmas Day (a 

 funereal day), young girls take marriage auguries from Nuts. Having 

 mingled some full Nuts with others which have been emptied, 

 and the shells carefully fastened together again, they shut their 

 eyes, and seleift one at hazard. If it happens to be a full Nut, it 

 betokens that they will soon be happily married, for it is St. 



