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durable: there is a celebrated tree enclosed in Cawdor Castle, near
Inverness, which has stood from time immemorial. Tradition
relates that the Castle was built over the tree in consequence of
a dream, by which the original proprietor was instrufled to erefl:
a castle on this particular spot. From the most remote times it
has been customary for guests to assemble themselves around this
venerable tree, and drink success to the House of Cawdor. The
most remarkable of English Thorns is that known as the Glastonbury
Thorn, which is reputed to have sprung from the staff of
Joseph of Arimathea. (See G la s to n b u r y Thorn) . B y astrologers
the Hawthorn is placed under the dominion of Mars.
Turner remarks that, should he “ want weapons, he may make use
of the prickles and let Saturn take the fruit.”
Haymaids, or Hedgemaids, the Ground-Ivy.—See Ivy.
H A Z E L .—The Hazel {Covylus Avellana) is the theme of many
traditions, reaching from the remotest ages, and in England the
tree would seem to have acquired almost a sacred characiter. In
Scandinavian mythology the Hazel was consecrated to the god Thor,
and in the poetic Edda a staff of Hazel is mentioned as a symbol
of authority, and hence employed for the sceptres of kings. In
classic mythology, the Hazel rod becomes the caduceus of the god
Mercury. Taking pity on the miserable, barbarous state of mankind,
Apollo and Mercury interchanged presents and descended
to the earth. The god of Harmony received from the son of
Maia the shell of a tortoise, out of which he had construciled a
lyre, and gave him in exchange a Hazel stick, which had the power
of imparting a love of virtue and of calming the passion and hatred
of men. Armed with this Hazel wand. Mercury moved among
the people of earth, and touching them with it, he taught them to
express their thoughts in words, and awakened within them feelings
of patriotism, filial love, and reverence of the gods. Adorned with
two light wings, and entwined with serpents, the Hazel rod of
Mercury is still the emblem of peace and commerce. An old
tradition tells us that God, when He banished Adam from the terrestrial
Paradise, gave him in His mercy the power of producing instantly
the animals of which he was in want, upon striking the sea
with a Hazel rod. One day Adam tried this, and produced the
sheep. E v e was desirous of imitating him, but her stroke of the
Hazel rod brought forth the wolf, which at once attacked the
sheep. Adam hastened to regain his salutary instrument, and produced
the dog, which conquered the wolf. A Hebrew legend
states that Eve, after eating the forbidden fruit, hid herself
in the foliage of a Hazel-bush. It was a Hazel-tree which
afforded shelter to the Virgin Mary, surprised by a storm, whilst
on her way to visit St. Elizabeth. Under a Hazel-tree the
Holy Family rested during their flight into Egypt. It was of
wattled Hazel-hurdles that St. Joseph, of Arimathea, raised the first
ll
P
English Christian church at Glastonbury. In Bohemia, a certain
“ chapel in the Hazel-tree,” dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is
regarded with much reverence : it was erefled in memory of a
butcher to whom a statue of the Virgin, near a Hazel-tree, had
spoken. The butcher carried off the image to his house, but during
the night the statue returned to its former place near the Hazel-
tree. For the ancient Germans, the Hazel-tree, which reblossoms
towards the end of winter, was a type of immortality. It
is now considered a symbol of happy marriages, because the Nuts
are seen on its branches united in pairs.------ In the Black Forest, the
leader of a marriage procession carries a Hazel wand in his hand.
In some places, during certain processions on Sunday, the Oats
stored in stables for horses are touched, in the name of God, with
Hazel-branches. It is believed that this humble shrub frightens
serpents. An Irish tradition relates that St. Patrick held a
rod of Hazel-wood in his hand when he gathered on the promontory
of Cruachan Phadraig all the venomous reptiles of the
island and cast them into the sea, The Hazel rod or staff
appears in olden times to have had peculiar sanflity : it was used
by pilgrims, and often deposited in churches, or kept as a precious
relic, and buried with its owner. Several such Hazel staffs have
been found in Hereford Cathedral.------The Tyroleans consider
that a Hazel-bough is an excellent lightning conduflor. According
to an ancient Hebrew tradition, the wands of magicians
were made of Hazel, and of a virgin branch, that is, of a bough
quite bare and destitute of sprigs or secondary branches. Nork
says that by means of Hazel rods witches can be compelled to
restore to animals and plants the fecundity which they had previously
taken from them. Pliny states that Hazel wands assist
the discovery of subterranean springs ; and in Italy, to the present
day, they are believed to a£t as divining-rods for the discovery of
hidden treasure—a belief formerly held in England, if we may
judge from the following lines by S. Shepherd (1600) :—
“ Some sorcerers do boast they have a rod,
Gather’d with words and sacrifice,
And, borne aloft, will strangely nod
To hidden treasure where it lies.”
Extraordinary and special conditions are necessary to ensure
success in the cutting of a diviriing-rod. It must always be
performed after sunset and before sunrise, and only on certain
nights, among which are specified those of Good Friday, E p iphany,
Shrove Friday, and St. John’s Day, the first night of a
new moon, or that preceding it. In cutting it, one must face the
east, so that the rod shall be one which catches the first rays of
the morning sun ; or, as some say, the eastern and western sun
must shine through the fork of the rod, otherwise it will be valueless.
Both in France and England, the divining-rod is much more commonly
employed at the present time than is generally supposed.