i I
Ml
i ,
The Pine was dedicated to Bacchus, and at the Dionysian festivals
the votaries sometimes wore garlands of its foliage: its cone is
frequently represented surmounting the god’s thyrsus, possibly as
being symbolic of fecundity and reprodudtion. The connedtion of
the Pine with Bacchus is still maintained by the Greeks, who place
the cones in their wine vats, to preserve and flavour the wine by
means of the resin. The Pine-cone was considered a symbol of
the heart of Zagraeus, who was destroyed by the Titans, and whose
ashes were given to Semele, the mother of Bacchus. We find
the Pine also dedicated to Pan, because Pitys, one of the many
nymphs whom he loved, was changed into that tree, to escape
the importunities of Boreas. The wood of the Pine was
employed in the construdtion of the first boats: hence the tree was
a l^ sacred to the sea-god Neptune. Ovid introduces Pan as
“ crowned with a pointed leaf of Pine-leaf,” in reference to the
sharpness of its narrow leaves. The length and straightness of
its trunk, and freedom from branches, rendered it a suitable walking
staff for the giant Polyphemus (oEn. iii.) ; and Turnus (from the
resinous nature of this tree) is represented as, raising a flaming
brand of Pine-wood to set on fire the ships of the Trojans.------
In Assyrian monuments, we find the Pine-cone offered to the god
guarding life. According to a Roman legend, two lovers who
had died of love and were buried in the same cemetery, were
changed, the one into a Pine, the other into a Vine, and were
thus enabled to continue their fond embraces. Prof. De Gubernatis
remarks that, despite the legend of St. Martin, written by
Sulpicius, who represented the Pine as a diabolic tree, Christianity
itself has consecrated it. The town of Augburg, which
has for its badge a Pine-cone, is under the protedlion of St.
Afra. In Sicily, they believe that the form of a hand is to
be seen in the interior of the fruit—the hand of Jesus blessing
the Pine which had saved Him during the flight into Egypt
by screening Him and His mother from Herod’s soldiers. ^At
Ahorn, near Coburg, a frightful wind sent by a sorceress had bent
the church steeple, which thus became an objecit of derision to the
inhabitants of the surrounding villages. A shepherd, to save his
village from such a standing reproach, attached a short rope to a
Pine, which the inhabitants still pointed out in Nork’s time, and
by dint of invocations and magical imprecations succeeded in
straightening the steeple. Nork adds that in the year 1300, at
Krain, near a convent, a statue of the Madonna, concealed in the
trunk of a Pine, miraculously made itself heard by a priest: on that
account a church has been eredted in honour of the Virgin, in the
immediate vicinity. King Crcesus threatened the inhabitants of
Lampsacus that the destrudtion of their town should be as complete
as a felled Pine, which, once cut down, never sprouts out again.
The comparison was particularly apt, inasmuch as the town of
Lampsaclius was reputed to have been formerly called Pityusa—
“ the place planted with Pines.” In a Pompeian design, we find
a rural Cupid with a crown oi Pine. Ovid crowns the Fauns with
Pine. Virgil calls the Pine Pronuha, because the torches used at
weddings were made of Pine-wood. In the hymn of Callimachus
to Diana, virgins are represented as wearing chaplets of Pine.
-The Pine-cone unopened symbolised virginity.— ^ In Podolia,
in Little Russia, the bride-cake is ornamented with sprigs of
Pine. In Japan, the Pine has become a symbol of constancy
and conjugal fidelity, because it is always verdant, even beneath
the snow. The Pine is a funereal tree, and, as is the case with
all others of its class, it symbolises immortality and generation.
Like the Cypress and the Fir, on account of the durability of its
wood and its evergreen foliage, it represents the perpetuity of life,—
a symbol that appears singularly in keeping with the funereal
rites of a people who believed in the immortality of the soul.
In Russia, when the coffin is being carried to the cemetery, it
is covered with branches of Pine or F ir. The Fijian believes
that, after death, the spirit, with his war-club and a whale’s tooth,
journeys to the world’s end : there grows the sacred Pine, and at
it the spirit hurls his whale’s tooth. I f he strikes it, he proceeds
on his way rejoicing, but if he misses his mark, his further progress
is stopped. Crowns of Pine were worn by viffiors at the Isthmian
games. The Pine was one of the trees ordered to be used by
the Jews in eredting their tents at the Feast of the Tabernacles.
According to tradition, the Pine seen in a dream portends dissolution.
P IN K .—The Pink {Dianthus) has been said to derive its name
from the Dutch word Pinkster—AVhitsuntide—the season at which
a species called of old the Whitsuntide Gilliflower, is in flower. In
Bologna, however, the flower is held sacred to St. Peter, who is
believed to have been partial to it above all others; the 29th of
June is there considered to be the day of Pinks. In an old
work quoted by Alphonse Karr, the author recommends the watei
distilled from Pinks as an excellent remedy against epilepsy, anc
adds: “ but if a conserve be composed of it, it is the life and
delight of the human race.” A vinegar made of Pinks was
formerly prized for its efficacy against the plague.
PixiE-STOOL.—See Toadstool.
P L A N E .—The Plane-tree {Platanus orientalis) was specially
venerated in Greece. In the school of Plato, the philosophers used
to walk and converse under the shadow of these delightful trees.
—Pausanias mentions a Plane tree of extraordinary size and beauty
in Arcadia, supposed to have been planted by Menelaus thiiteen
hundred years before. -The Plane was held sacred to Helen, the
wife of Menelaus. Evelyn gives an account c)f the passion conceived
by Xerxes for a Plane-tree. Whilst marching through Lydia,
he is said to have stopped his vast army of 1,700,000 soldieis, that
2 K
{ ! I ->1
- i\ Jl\l
i il
NI
ii