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I f tradition that evil spirits often hide themselves in old Cherry-trees,
and delight in doing harm to anyone who approaches them. The
Albanians burn branches of the Cherry-tree on the nights of the
23rd and 24th of December, and the nights of the ist and 6th of
January—that is to say on the three nights consecrated to the new
sun ; and they preserve the ashes of these branches to fertilise their
Vines. They say that in so doing they burn the evil spirits hidden in
the trees, who are destrudtive to vegetation. At Hamburg, there
is an annual festival called the Feast of the Cherries, when children
parade the streets, carrying boughs laden with the fruit. This
observance dates from the year 1432, when the Hussites threatened
the immediate destrudtion of Hamburg, The inhabitants, in
despair, dressed all the children in black, and despatched them to
the Hussite leader, P. Rasus, to plead with him. The warrior,
touched at the sight of so many little helpless ones, promised that
he would spare .the city, and after feasting the children with
Cherries, sent them back rejoicing and waving in their hands the
Cherry-boughs. There is an old proverb current in Germany,
France, and Italy, that you should never eat Cherries with the rich,
because they always choose the ripest, or, even worse, eat the
luscious fruit, and throw the stones and stalks to their companions.
The gum which exudes from the Cherry-tree is considered
equal in value to gum-arabic, Hasselquist relates that during a siege
upwards of one hundred men were kept alive for nearly two months,
without any other nutriment than that obtained by sucking this
gum.-——The Cherry is held by astrologers to be under the dominion
of Venus. To dream of Cherries denotes inconstancy and disappointment
in life.
C H E S N U T .—The Chesnut [Fagus Castanea) was classed
by Pliny among the fruit trees, on account of the value of the
nut as an article of food. He states that the tree was introduced
from Sardis in Pontus, and hence was called the Sardian
Acorn. The Chesnuts of Asia Minor supplied Xenophon’s whole
army with food in their retreat along the borders of the Euxine.
Once planted in Europe, the Chesnut soon spread all over the
warm parts._ It fiourished in the mountains of Calabria, and is the
tree with which Salvator Rosa delighted to adorn his bold and rugged
landscapes. -The Castagno dei cento cavalli (Chesnut of the hundred
horses) upon Mount Etna is probably the largest tree in Europe,
beingmorethan 200 feet in circumference. Chesnuts are included
in the list of funereal trees. In Tuscany, the fruit is eaten with
solemnity on St, Simon’s Day. In Piedmont, they constitute the
appointed food on the eve of All Souls’ Day, and in some houses
they are left on the table under the belief that the dead poor will
come during the night and feast on them. In Venice, it is customary
to eat Chesnuts on St. Martin’s Day, and the poor women
assemble beneath the windows and sing a long ballad, or, after
expressing their good wishes towards the inmates of the house,
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ask for Chesnuts to appease their hunger. (See also H o r s e -
C h e s n u t .)
C H O H O B B A .—The Mexicans regard with peculiar sandlity
and reverence a herb which grows in their country, and which they
call Chohobba. I f they wish an abundant crop of Yucca or Maize,
if they wish -to know whether a sick chief will recover or die, if
they desire to learn whether a war is likely to occur, or, in fact, if
they desire any important information, one of their chiefs enters
the building consecrated to their idols, where he prepares a liquid
obtained from the herb Chohobba, which can be absorbed through
the nose; this fluid has an intoxicating effecit, and he soon loses
all control over himself. After awhile, he partly recovers, and sits
himself on the ground, with head abased, and hands beneath his
knees, and so remains for some little time. Then he raises his
eyes, as if awaking from a long sleep, and gazes upwards at the
sky, at the same time muttering between his teeth some unintelligible
words. No one but his relatives approaches the chief, for
the people are not allowed to assist at the rite. When the relatives
perceive that the chief is beginning to regain consciousness, they
return thanks to the god for his recovery, and ask that he may
be permitted to tell them what he has seen whilst in his trance.
Then the half-dazed chief relates what the god has told him
regarding the particular matters he had wished to enquire about,
C H O K E P E A R .—The fruit of the Wild Pear, Pyrus communis,
is so hard and austere as to choke: hence the tree has been
called the Choke Pear. It is supposed to have been a Pear of this
description that caused the death of Drusus, a son of the Emperor
Claudius, He caught in his mouth, and swallowed, a Pear thrown
into the air, but owing to its extreme hardness, it stuck in his
throat and choked him.
C h r i s t m a s R o s e .^—See Hellebore.
C H R I S T ’ S H E R B .—The Black Hellebore is called Christ’s
Herb or Christmas Herb [Christwurz), says Gerarde, “ because it
floureth about the birth of our Lord J esus Christ.” (See H e l l e b o r e .)
C H R I S T ’ S L A D D E R .—In the fourteenth century, the
Frythrcea Centaurium was called Christ’s Ladder [Christi scala), from
the name having been mistaken for Christ’s Cup [Christi schale), in
allusion to the bitter draught offered to our Lord upon the Cross.
C H R I S T ’ S P A LM .—The Ricinus communis is commonly
known as Palma Christi, or Christ’s Palm. The same plant is also
reputed to have been Jonah’s Gourd.
C H R I S T ’ S T H O R N .—Gerarde, in his Plerbal, calls the
Paliurus, Christ’s Thorn or Ram of L ib y a ; and he writes: “ Petrus
Bellonius, who travelled over the Holy Land, saith, that this
shrubby Thorne Paliurus, was the Thorne wherewith they crowned
our Saviour Christ, his reason for the proofe hereof is this, That
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