ANCIENT SUPERSTITIONS. 
259 
The custom of decorating churches Avith evergreens, is of 
very ancient date. On this subject an English writer observes, 
t! The evergreens, with which the churches are usually orna- 
mented at Christmas, are a proper emblem of that time when 
as God says by the prophet Isaiah, c I will plant in the wilder- 
ness the cedar , and the myrtle , and the olive tree ; I will set in 
the desert the fir tree and pine tree, and the bow 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 n\y 
feet glorious.' 1 ” 
In the Romish church, which abounds in external observan- 
ces of religion, it is customary to bear palm boughs in proces- 
sion on the anniversary of the day when Christ wpnt into Je- 
rusalem, and the children strewed branches of palm trees be- 
fore him. In more northern latitudes, box, pine, olive, and 
willows are used as a substitute for real palms, which do not 
grow there, as in Judea, by the way sides. The day on which 
this ceremony is performed is called palm Sunday. 
Superstitions with regard to the blossoming of plants. 
In the Romish church, many superstitions exist with regard 
to some plants which happen to blossom about the time of cer- 
tain Saint’s days. In Italy and other countries in the south of 
Europe, where these superstitions first originated, the dead net- 
tle is in blossom about the time of St. Vincent’s day, a martyr 
who suffered for Christianity under the Emperor Dioclesian, in 
the year 304. 
The winter hellebore is usually in blossom about the time of 
the conversion of St. Paul, supposed to be in commemoration 
of that event. 
The Crocus was dedicated to St. Valentine, as it appears 
about the period of that Saint’s day, which is regarded as pecu- 
liarly sacred to affection ; St. Valentine is recorded to have 
been eminent for love and charity. One species of daisy ap- 
pears about the time of St. Margaret’s day ; this is called in 
France, La Belle Marguerite, and in England, Herb Margaret. 
The Crown Imperial blossoms about the 18th of March,* the 
day of St. Edward, who was King of the West Saxons, nature 
thus, as was imagined, honoring the day with a royal flower. 
The Cardamine, or our Lady’s flower, distinguished for its 
pure white, is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. 
* In England. 
Decorating churches with evergreens — Palm Sunday — Superstitions in 
the Romish church with regard to the blossoming of certain plants — 
