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p l a n t h o t e , h e g eT ^ f , a n ü h f \ e f .
says: “ The nails on the top are represented so exadlly, that nothing
more perfedt can be imagined................In the open flower they are
twisted and marked with dark blood-like spots, as if they had been
already removed from the Cross. The small undeveloped seed-
vessels may be compared to the sponge full of vinegar offered to
our Lord. The star-form of the half-opened flower may represent
the star of the Wise Men; but the five petals, fully opened, the five
wounds. The base of the ovary is the column of the flagellation.
The filaments represent the scourges spotted with blood, and the
purple circle on them is the crown of thorns, blood covered. The
white petals symbolise the purity and brightness of Our Lord, and
His white robe. The corniculata folia, the sub-petals, white inside
and green without, figure hope and purity, and are sharply pointed,
as if to indicate the ready eagerness with which each one of the
faithful should embrace and consider the mysteries of the Passion.
The leaves of the whole plant are set on singly, for there is one
God, but are triply divided, for there are Three Persons. The
plant itself would climb toward heaven, but cannot do so without
support. So the Christian, whose nature is to climb, demands
constant assistance. Cut down, it readily springs up aga in ; and
whoever holds the mysteries of the Passion in his heart cannot be
hurt by the evil world. Its fruit is sweet and delicate, and the
Passion of our Lord brings sweet and delegable fruit to us.” In
his 'Paradisus Terrestris,' John Parkinson, writing in 1629, speaks of
the “ Virgin Climer,” as “ a brave and too-much-desired plant,”
with flowers which “ make a tripartite shew of colours most de-
lightfull,” and are “ of a comfortable sweet sent, very acceptable,”
The plant's native Indian name was Maracot; from the likeness
of the fruit to a small Pomegranate, it was sometimes called
Granadilla ; the Mexican Jesuits named it Flor de las cinca llagas; but
in Italy, it was usually known as Fior della Passione, the name which
it has retained throughout Europe.
P A T JLQ W 'N IA .—-The uoble hardy tree, Paulownia imperialis,
was so named in 1840 in honour of the Hereditary Princess of the
Netherlands, a daughter of the Emperor of Russia. The Paulow-
mas are famous throughout Japan for the hardness and beauty of
their wood ; they attain a height of about thirty feet, and produce
dark lilac flowers, which are borne in three spikes upon a tri-lobed
sinuous leaf. These flowers, which resemble the blossom of the
Catalpa, constitute one of the crests of the Mikado of Japan,
P A V E T T A IN D IC A .—A race of Malays, called the Aruans,
when burying their dead, carry the body into the forest, and hoist
it upon the summit of four posts, A tree, usually the Pavetta indica,
IS then planted near it, and at this final ceremony none but nude
females are allowed to be present.
P E A .—The priests of ancient Egypt were not allowed to partake
of P e a s . _ T h e Pea, like most trailing and climbing plants, has
fi
p l a n t Tâore, T se g e 't^ /, a n il “b ij r lc /. 489
always traditionally been connecited with celestial fire. According
to a mediæval legend, the ancient Midsummer or St. John’s Day
fires were kindled at the season of the Summer solstice for the
purpose of scaring away pestilential dragons ; and these dragons
carried Peas in their flight, which they cast down in such quantities
as to fill up the wells, and their smell was so foul that the cattle
refused to eat them : these Peas represent lightning, and their smell
is the sulphurous fume that clings to everything struck by it. The
ancient German Zwergs, who are dwarfs closely connedted with
the thunder-god Thor, and who forged for him his lightning
hammer, are exceedingly fond of Peas, and often plunder the Pea-
fields. Peas were consecrated to Thor himself, and to this day in
Berlin Peas with Saurkraut are a standing dish on Thor’s Day
(Thursday). The Pea was the favourite vegetable of Thor himself,
and St. Nicholas, who in some countries has replaced him, is sometimes
represented as being clad in Peas-straws. In the North of
England, if a lass’s lover has proved unfaithful to her, she is, by
way of consolation, rubbed with Peas-straw by neighbouring lads.
A Scottish ballad says :—
“ I f you meet a bonnie lassie
Gie her a kiss, and let her gae ;
I f you meet a dirty hussey,
Fie, gae rub her o’er wi’ strae ! ”
Similarly when a Cambrian youth has been jilted, and his sweetheart
marries a rival, the same operation is performed upon hirq,
as a solace, by the village lasses. In the North of England,
Carling Sunday (the fourth in Lent) is universally celebrated by
feasts of Peas and butter. The use of Peas in divination concerning
love affairs probably arises from the fact that they are sacred to
the patron of marriage. In Bohemia, the girls go into a Pea-field,
and there make a garland of five or seven kinds of flowers, all of
different hues. This garland they use as a pillow, lying down with
their right ear upon it, and then they hear a voice from underground,
which tells them what manner of man they will have for a husband.
A curious custom, known as “ Peascod wooing,” was formerly
extant in many country places ; it was performed, according
to Brand, by selecting one growing on the stem, snatching it away
quickly, and if the good omen of the Peas remaining in the husk
was preserved, then presenting it to the chosen lady. A girl
shelling Peas will, if she should chance to find a pod containing
nine, place it on the lintel of the kitchen door, and the first single
man who enters is considered to be marked out for her future
husband. Gay alludes to this custom in the following lines :—
“ As Peascod once I plucked, I chanced to see
One that was closely filled with three times three ;
Which, when I cropped, I safely home conveyed,
And o’er the door the spell in secret laid.
The latch moved up, when who should first come in,
But in his proper person— Lubberkin.”
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