THE LEGENDS OF CHRISTMAS FLOWERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2181, 19 December 1895, Page 28

THE LEGENDS OF CHRISTMAS FLOWERS.

(Specially toritten for the Witness Christmas Number of 1895.) By JOHN PENNELL, It is scarcely surprising that, in times so sternly practical as. our own, we should turn to the fanciful beauty of legendary lore with a sense of absolute refreshment. Here, at least, we may venture to listen to the voice of the charmer Imagination, secure from the relentless grip of fact, the interrogation note of investigation, the chill of reason. It seems natural and appropriate that fiowerß should be cloaely interwoven with much of the world's great store of legends, and this is especially the case with Christmas, and the flowers most associated with the season. Even the four-leaved clover, emblem of good luck the whole year through, gains an added significance at Christmas time; for who is fortunate enough- to find a leaf on Christmas Eve has the power of seeing the "little people," and the beautiful common elder — which just now proclaims itself so insolently over the hillside of the botanical gardens, exulting in wanton bravery of snowy blossoms over the native bush it has supplanted — takes mysterious powers and weird significance at Christmas time. In Germany they tell you that the pith of the branches, if cuts into discs, dipped in oil, lighted and floated in a vessel of water on Christmas Eve, will reveal the presence of any witches or malign spirits that venture within the magic light. Climatic conditions render us at the antipodes amenable to such topsy-turvy conditions to those which mark the Christmas season of the Old World that in following the legends of Christmas flowers we Bhall find some of them inapplicable to our own antipodean experience, however much they may recall " old timss " and the " old country." Twenty or thirty years ago, when it was customary to decorate our bouses on Christmas Eve, we looked upon holly, ivy, and mistletoe as our pieces de resistance — the rich background, endeared by custom and association, npon which to arrange our individual fancies. A score of delicate myths and venerable legends clustered about the trio and rendered them beautiful. There was a strange old superstition once that the holly tree cast no shadow, and was, moreover, potent in averting evil influences. Thus it was frequently planted close to the dwelling. In the North of England a curious distinction is made between the prickly and the smooth hollies, which are known respectively as "he " and " she " holly. The leaves of the latter are said to possess the supernatural power of. revealing the future through dreams. This is the formula : 11 Take nine holly leaves and tie them in a handkerchief with nine knots ; place under the pillow on going to rest." In Derbyshire I have been told there was a funny saying tagged on to the distinction made between the two kinds of holly. According as the house was decorated for "Christmas

with tte prickly or the smooth holly, so vronld the will of the master or mistress be supreme throughout the year. Holly, it is said, is bat a corruption ot holy, and the plant was thus named from its frequent use in ohurch decorations. On the Continent its name is more beautiful, " Christ's thorn." Tennyson in his graceful fashion alludes to the holly: — Again at Christmas did we weave The holly round the Ohrhtmaa hearth ] The silent snow possessed the earth, And calmly fell our Christmas Eve. If the holly, as " Christ's thorn," is $ie most sacred id association of the trio—holly, ivy, and mistletoe —the ivy is the most classic, and the mistletoe the most romantic. How neoeasary to the artistio decorator are those long ivy trails wherewith to soften the stiff outlines of holly and mistletoe. Sacred in Egypt to Osiris, in Greece to Dionysus (Bacchus).'and used by the Romans to mingle with their poets' laurels, the ivy is a very aristocrat among legendary plants, though the following rhyme scarce compliments its significance in English decoration: — At Christmas time men do ivy get, And in each corner of the house it set. But why do they than use this Baoohus weed ? Because they mean thus Bacchus-like to feed. Last, bat not least, comes the mistletoe, which, in Holsfcein, they call the branch of epsctres, alluding to the belief that to hold a branch of it in the hand will cot enly enable a man to behold spirits, but to hold converse with them. In the Tyrol the peasantry believe that the plant is guarded by a sort of blind worm, and that the mistletoe-gatherer who can catch the reptile off his guard will be endowed with the power of becoming invisible at will, and will also obtain—by some means —vast treasures. In Germany mistletoe is said to drive away nightmare —presumably after dining not wisely but too well on Christmas fare. And in some parts of Austria they lay a sprig of it beside tha door. Fern seed has a curious stcry attaching to it in some parts of the Continent., where it is said to be under the keeping of the devil, and can only be obtained just before midnight on Christmas Eve. In fcJuabia they go further, and declare that the fern seed brought by the devil on Christmas Eve enables a man to work with superhuman strength and endurance. In the East there is a beautiful legend which claims that the rose of Jericho burst into blossom when our Lord was born, and has done so ever after on Christmas Day. On the Continent it is known as tbe " Roße ot the Madonna," and its blossoms bring a happy and fortunate influence when a child is born. Another legend says that this same rose sprang from every resting place on the flight into Kgypt, and marked the spot. The cherry tree is dedicated to the Virgin ; and an old legend bids U3 remember that when, wearied with travel, thirsty and distressed, she losged just before our Saviour's birth to taste some cherries which hung on a tree far above her reach, the branches bent to her hand of their own acsord. A Spanish legend was perhaps responsible for the prominence given to the fragrant rosemary among Christmas decorative plant?, and may account for its decking, the wassail bowl and the Christmas festal board. According to the Spaniards the Virgin found safety and shelter for herself and the infant Saviour in a thicket of rosemary, when in peril on the flight into Egypt. The juniper, too, has its place among the birth traditions of that " lowly cattle sbed," and thus it is that in some parts of Italy branches of Juniper are still hung up in cittle stalls and sheds "on Christmas Day to preserve the kine from the "evil eye " and all other malign influences. In a delightful work on " Plant Lore, Legend?, and Lyri33," which I once came across, a singular superstition of the B-'logneae in reference to the lupine was mentioned. According to this tradition, the lupine received the malediction of the sorely-tried Virgin, because " certain plants of this species drew the attention of Herod's followers to the spot where the tired andexliausted travellers bad made a biiaf halt." " Christ's herb," as the Christmas rose is sometimes called in England, is specially associated there with Christmas time — The Christmas rose, the last flower of the year, Come 3 when the holly bmies glow and cheer, When the pale snowdrop rises from the cirth, So white and spirit like, 'mid Christmas mirth. " Christ's berb " is said to commemorate by the opening of its pure blossoms in that tender upward curve an of rejoicing, when all the rest of its companions lie dead or dormant, tbe birthday of oar Lord. Most important, and most closely connected with sacred history, is the legend of the Glastonbury thorn, which is said to blosßom every year on Christmas Day. This wonderful thorn, says the legend, was the actual staff of Joseph oE Aremathea, with which he supported his often weary limbs on his journey from the Holy Land, when he came thence to bring the wonderful tidings of Christianity to Britain. When at the close of his journey ho reached the summit of " V/oary-all Hill" he sat down to rest, thrusting his staff into the ground that he might the better lean on it. Instantly the hard dry wood, browned and polished with Eastern sun and toilsome use, burst into blossom :—: — The winter thorn, which Blossoms at Christmas, mindful of our Lord. Here the wonderful staff grew into 'a luxuriant tree, bursting into blossom always on Christmas Day, and here was Glastonbury Abbey founded about 60 AD. The thorn tree was destroyed duriDg tbe civil wars, bub before that time numerous cuttings from it were taken, and its descendants flourish in neighbouring gardens to this day.