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Virgin, under the name of Herha Sande Marie. It was formerly
customary to strew the churches with Mint or other herbs or
flowers. In ‘ Appius and Virginia,’ an old play, is an illustration
of this custom :—
“ Thou knave, but for thee ere this time of day
My lady’s fair pew had been strewed full gay
With Primroses, Cowslips, and Violets sweet.
With Mints, and with Marygold and Marjoram meet,
Which now lyeth uncleanly, and all along of thee.”
Among the women of the Abruzzi there exists a curious superstition.
If, whilst walking, they should chance to come across a
plant of Mint, they will bruise a leaf between their fingers, in
order to ensure that, on the day of their death, Jesus Christ will
assist them. In Holstein, at the funeral of peasants, Mint is
carried by youths attending the ceremony. Pliny was of opinion
that “ the smell of Mint doth stir up the minde and taste to a
greedy desire of meat ; ” and other old writers state that Mint
should be smelled, as being refreshing for the head and memory ;
probably on this account it was formerly a custom to strew it “ in
chambers and places of recreation, pleasure, and repose, and when
feasts and banquets are to be made.” Gerarde says of this herb :—
“ It is poured into the eares with honied water. It is taken inwardly
against scolopendres, beare-wormes, sea scorpions and serpents.
It is applied with salt to the bitings of mad dogs.”
M I S T L E T O E .— According to Scandinavian mythology,
Baldr (the Apollo of the North) was rendered by his mother Frigg
proof against all injury by the four elements, fire, air, earth,
and water: Loki, the evil spirit, however, being at enmity with
him, fashioned an arrow out of Mistletoe (which proceeded from
neither of the elements), and placed it in the hand of Hodr, the
blind deity, who launched the fatal dart at Baldr, and struck him
to the earth. The gods decided to restore Baldr to life, and as a
reparation for his injury, the Mistletoe was dedicated to his mother
Frîgg ; whilst, to prevent its being again used adversely to her, the
plant was placed under her sole control so long as it did not touch
the earth, the empire of Loki. On this account it has always been
customary to suspend Mistletoe from ceilings ; and so, whenever
persons of opposite sexes pass under it, they give one another the
kiss of peace and love, in the full assurance that this plant is no
longer an instrument of mischief. Like the Indian Asvattha,
and the Northern Rowan, the Mistletoe was supposed to be the
embodiment of lightning : hence its Swiss name, Donnerhesen; and
like them, again, it is very generally believed to spring from seec.
deposited by birds on trees. Some naturalists, indeed, say that
the seeds will not vegetate until they have passed through the
stomach of a bird, and so recommend that fowls should be caused
to eat the seeds, which, after evacuation, sliould be sown. This
old belief in the Mistletoe-seed being sown by birds is referred to
iilj
by Lord Bacon in his ‘ Natural History.’ His lordship says:-
‘ They have an idle tradition that there is a bird called a Missel-
bird that feedeth upon a seed which many times she cannot digest,
and so expelleth it whole with her excrement, which, falling upon
a bough of a tree that hath some rift, putteth forth the Misseltoe.”
■ In Druidic times, the Mistletoe was regarded as a divine gift
of peculiar sandfity, only to be gathered with befitting ceremonies,
on the sixth day, or at latest on the sixth night, of the sixth moon
after the winter solstice, when their year commenced. Pliny
tells us that “ the Druids hold nothing more sacred than the Mistletoe
and the tree upon which it is produced, provided it be an
Oak. They make choice of groves of Oak on their own account,
nor do they perform any of their sacred rites without the leaves of
these trees, so one may suppose that for this reason they are called
by the Greek etymology Druids, and whatever Mistletoe grows
upon the Oak they think is sent from heaven, and is a sign of Goc
Blimself as having chosen that tree. This, however, is rarely found,
but, when discovered, is treated with great ceremony ; they call it
by A name which in their language signifies the curer of all ills, and,
having duly prepared their feast and sacrifices under the tree, they
bring to it two white bulls, whose horns are then for the first time
tied ; the priest, dressed in a white robe, ascends the tree, and, with
a golden pruning-hook, cuts off the Mistletoe, which is received into
a white sagum, or sheet ; then they sacrifice the viéfims, praying that
God would bless His own gift to those on whom He has bestowed it.”
As the Dniids attributed to the Mistletoe marvellous curative properties,
they placed it in water, and distributed this water to those
who deserved it, to aiil as a charm against the spells of witches
and sorcerers. I f any portion of this plant came in contacfl with
the earth, it was considered as ominous of some impending national
disaster.------The pradtice of decorating dwellings with Mistletoe and
Holly is undoubtedly of Druidic origin. Dr. Chandler states that,
in the times of the Druids, the houses were decked with boughs in
order that the spirits of the forest might seek shelter among them
during the bleak winds and frosts of winter.- Among the Worcestershire
farmers, there is a very ancient custom of taking a bough
of Mistletoe, and presenting it to the cow that first calved after
New Year’s Day, as this offering is presumed to avert ill-luck from
the dairy. In some provinces of France, they preserved for a long
period the custom of gathering the Mistletoe of the Oak, which
tliey regarded as a talisman. Many public documents attest that,
in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, large gatherings of the
country-people took place at the fêtes held in commemoration of
the ceremony of the sacred Mistletoe, and which was called
Auguilanneuf (Gui del'anneuf). In Flolstein, the peasantry call the
Mistletoe the “ Specflre’s wand,” from the supposition that a branch
borne in the hand will enable the holder not only to see ghosts, but
to compel them to speak. The magical properties of the Mistletoe
I