200 SUPERSTITIONS KESPECTING FLOWERS. 



are found in perfection, ready to welcome the anniversary of 

 our Saviour's birtli. 



a. The custojn of decorating cluirclies wiih evergreens is of very ancient date. 

 On this subject an English Aviiter observes : " The evergreens, with wliich the 

 churches are usually ornamented at Christmas, are a proper emblem of that time 

 when, as God says by the prophet Isaiah, I will plant in the loilderness the cedar, 

 and the myrtle, and the olive-tree ; I will set in the desert the fir-tree, and pine-tree, 

 and the box-tree together." And in another place, " The glory of Lebanon shall 

 come zmto thee; the fir-tree and the pine-tree, and box together, to beautify the place 

 of my sanctuary ; and I will make the place of tny feet glorious." In the Romish 

 Church it is customary to bear palm boughs in procession, on the anniversary of the 

 day called Fahn-Sunday, when Christ »vent into Jerusalem and the children 

 strewed branches of palm-trees before him. In more northern latitudes, box, pine, 

 olive, and willows are used as a substitute for palms, which do not grow, as in 

 Judea, by the way-sides. The day on which this ceremony is performed is called 

 Palm-Sunday. 



805. Superstitions with regard to tlie blossoming of Plants. — In Italy, the 

 dead-nettle being in blossom about the day of St. Vincent, a martyr who suifered 

 for Christianity under the Emperor Dioclesian in the year 304, the flower is con- 

 secrated to him. The lointer hellebore, in blossom about the time of the con- 

 version of St. Paul, was supposed to commemorate that event. The crocus 

 was dedicated to St. Valentine, as it appears about the period of that saint's day, 

 which is regarded as peculiarly sacred to affection. One species of daisy appears 

 about the time of St. Margaret's day ; this is called in France, La Belle Margue- 

 rite, and in England, Herb-Margaret. The croivn-imperial blossoms in England 

 about the eighteenth of March, the day of St. Edward, King of the West Saxons ; 

 nature thus, as was imagined, honoring the day with a royal flower. The carda 

 mine, or Our Ladys fiov;cr, distinguished for its pure white, is dedicated to the 

 Virgin Mary. The marygold, so called from a fancied resemblance of the florets 

 of its disk to rays of glory, is also consecrated to the Virgin. On the day of St. 

 George, the patron saint of England, the blue-bells, there coWed field hyacinth, tinge 

 the meadows and pastures with their deep blue color ; they were thought to afford 

 an emblem of the empire of the ocean over which England assumes the rule. 



a. The St. John's-wort blossoms near that saint's day. The scarlet lychnis, called 

 the great candlestick (Candelabrum ingens), was supposed to be lighted up for St. 

 John the Baptist who " was a burning and a shining light." The white lily expands 

 about the time of the Annitnciation, affording another coincidence of the blossoming 

 of white flowers at the festivals consecrated to the mother of Christ. The roses of 

 summer are said to fade about the period of St. Mary Magdalen's day. The pas- 

 sion-floiver is said to blossom about Holy-rood or Holy-cross day ; according to 

 superstitious legends, the cross on which our Saviour was crucified was discovered 

 in the year 826, by Helena, the mother of Constantme, who is said to have built a 

 church on the spot where it lay. The word Rood signifies the Cross ; thus this 

 day is the day of the Holy Cross. It was during the middle ages, when the minds 

 of men were influenced by the blindest superstition, that they thus imagined every 

 operation of nature to "be emblematical of something connected with their religious 

 faith. Although these superstitions are trifling and absurd, they are interesting as 

 connected with the annals of the human mind, and as showing us the origin of 

 many names of plants. Had the authors of these conceits, who were at that time 

 the most learned part of the community, been possessed of as much knowledge as 

 most children in our day, they would have reflected that plants bloom earher or 

 later, according to climate ; and that a flower which in Italy blossoms as early as 

 February, might not appear in England before April ; while the day of the saint 

 which the flower was supposed to commemorate, would occur at the same time in 

 both places. 



306. Phenomena of Plants, arising from changes in the atmosphere. — Plants ex- 



a. Decorating churches with evergreens — Palm-Sunday. — 305. Superstitions with regard to the bios 

 somini,' of certain plants — Plants dedicated to Saints. — a. St. Jolin's-wort, &c. — Holy Rood day. 



