200 
SUPERSTITIONS RESPECTING FLOWERS. 
are found in perfection, ready to welcome the anniversary of 
our Saviour's birth. 
a. The custom of decorating churches vfich. evergreens is of very ancient date. 
On this subject an English writer observes : " The evergreens, with which the 
churches are usually ornamented at Christmas, are a proper emblem of that time 
when, as God says by the prophet Isaiah, / will plant in the vnlderness 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 unto thee ; the fir-tree and the pine-tree, and box together, to beauti fy the place 
of my sanctuary ; and I will make the place of my feet glorious." In the Romish 
Church it is customary to bear palm boughs in procession, on the anniversary of the 
day called Palm-Sunday, when Christ went 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. Siiperstitions loith regard to the 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 winter 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 crown-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 
miine, or Our Lady's flower, 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 called field hyacinth, tinge 
the meadows and pastures with their deep blue color ; they were thought to afford 
an emblem of the empire of tlie 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 Annunciation, 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- 
sionfl.owcr 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 326, by Helena, the mother of Constantine, 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 knoAvledge as 
most children in our day, they would have reflected that plants bloom earlier or 
later, according to climate ; and that a flower which in Italy blossoms as early as 
February, might not appear in England before Api-il ; 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 churclies with evergreens — Paiin-Sunday. — 305. Fnrerstitions witli regard to the blot 
foming of ceilain plants — Plants dedicated to Saints. — a. St. John's-wort, &c.— Holy Rood day. 
