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cattle sheds, just as in England, France, and Switzerland, Holly is
employed as a decoration. In Thibet, they burn Juniper-wood
as incense in a gigantic altar, with an aperture at the top, which is
called Song-hoom, and bears some resemblance to a limekiln.------
The old notion of the ancients that the burning of Juniper-wood
expelled evil spirits from houses evidently led to some superstitious
pradtices in this country in later times. Thus we find Bishop Hal.
writing :—
“ And with glasse stills, and sticks of Juniper,
Raise the Wack spright that burns not with the fire.”
In some parts of Scotland, during the prevalence of an epidemic,
certain mysterious ceremonies are enacted, in which the burning of
Juniper-wood plays an important part. In Germany and Italy,
the Juniper is the objedt of a superstitious reverence on account of
its supposed property of dispersing evil spirits. According to Herr
Weber, in some parts of Italy, holes or fissures in houses are
brushed over with Juniper-boughs to prevent evil spirits introducing
sickness ; in other parts, boughs of Juniper are suspended before
doorways, under the extraordinary belief that witches who see the
Juniper are seized with an irresistible mania to count all its small
leaves, which, however, are so numerous that they are sure to
make a mistake in counting, and, becoming impatient, go away for
fear of being surprised and recognised. In Waldeck, Germany,
when infants fall ill, their parents place in a bunch of Juniper some
bread and wool, in order to induce bad spirits to eat, to spin, and
so forget the poor little suffering babe. In Germany, a certain
Frau Wachholder is held to be the personification and the presiding
spirit of the Juniper, who is invoked in order that thieves may be
compelled to give up their ill-gotten spoils : this invocation takes
place with certain superstitious ceremonies beneath the shadow of
a Juniper, a branch of which is bent to the earth. In Germany,
also, the Juniper, like the Holly, is believed to drive away from
houses and stables, spells and witchcraft of all description, and
specially to cast out from cows and horses the monsters which are
sometimes believed mysteriously to haunt them. For a similar
reason, in Germany, in order to strengthen horses, and to render
them tractable and quiet, they administer to them on three successive
Sundays before sunrise, three handfuls of salt, and seventy-
two Juniper-berries. Prof. De Gubernatis tells us that from a rare
Italian book which he possesses, he finds that in Bologna it is
customary on Christmas Eve to distribute in most houses branches
of Juniper; and moreover, that the best authorities have proved the
omnipotence of Juniper against serpents and venomous beasts, who
by their bites represent sins; and that the Juniper furnished the
wood for the Cross of the Saviour and protedled the Prophet Elijah.
In Tuscany, the Juniper receives a benedidtion in church on
Palm Sunday. In Venetia, Juniper is burnt to purjfy the air,
IIi
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recalling the ancient Roman custom of burning it instead of incense
on the altars. In Norway and Sweden, the floors are
strewed with the tops of Juniper, which diffuse a pleasant fragrance.
Evelyn says that Juniper-berries afford “ one of the
most universal remedies in the world to our crazy forester, and
he wonders that Virgil should condemn the shadow of such a
beneficial tree, but suspefts him misreported as having written
the following lines :—
“ Now let us rise, for hoarseness oft invades
The singer’s voice who sings beneath the shades:
From Juniper unwholesome dews distil.”
The old herbalists recommended the berries of the Juniper for use
as counter-poisons and other wholesome medicines, and water
wherein these berries had been steeped was held to be health-
giving and useful against poisons and pestilent fevers. The smoke ot
the leaves and wood was said to drive away serpents, “ and all m-
fedtion and corruption of the aire which bring the plague, or suchlike
contagious diseases.” The Juniper would appear to be potent
in dreams ; thus, it is unlucky to dream of the tree itself, especmlly
if the person be sick ; but to dream of gathering the berries, if it be
in winter, denotes prosperity ; whilst to dream of the acffual berries
signifies that the dreamer will shortly arrive at great honours and
become an important person. To the married it foretells the birth
of a male child. The Juniper is held to be under the dominion
of the Sun.
The Lilium candidum has derived its name
JU N O ’ S R O S E .— ................. - r T . 1
of Juno’s Rose from the legend that relates how Jupiter, to make
his infant son Hercules immortal, put him to the breast of the
sleeping Juno; and how, when the babe withdrew from her, the
milk which fell from his lips formed the Milky Way, and, falling on
earth, caused the White L ily to spring up. (See Lily).
TUNO’ S T E A R S .—A name originally given by Dioscorides
to the Coix lacryma (now called Job’s Tears), but for some unknown
reason transferred to the Vervain {Verbena officmahs).
JU P I T E R ’ S P L A N T S .—The Pink {Dianthus) is Jo v e ’s
f io w i ; the Oak is sacred to him because he first taught mankind
to live upon Acorns; his sceptre is of Cypress. The Dodonaean
Tupiter is usually depicffed with a wreath of Oak-leaves; the
Olympian Jove wears a wreath of Olive, and his mantle is decorated
with various fiowers, particularly the L ily ; to Jupiter
Ammon the Beech is dedicated. The^ {Smipermvum
tectorum) has obtained its name of Jupiter s Beard fo v i s Ba^a) from
its ma^ive infiorescence resembling the sculptured beard of
Tupiter. The same plant i s , also called Jupiter s Eye from its
stellate form: in its centre is a bud, and on the surrounding petals
can be distinguished a little eye, from which circumstance has
arisen the superstition, mentioned by Dioscorides, that this plant