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i'ii,
third year, and in this way the parents testified their joy that the little
ones had passed the age rendered critical by the maladies incident
to infants. The Roman Catholic priesthood, always alert at appropri-
atmg popular pagan customs, and adapting them to the service of
their church, have perpetuated this old practice. The little children
crowned with flowers and habited as angels, who to this day
accompany the procession of the Corpus Domini at the beginning
of June, are taught to scatter flowers in the road, to symbolise their
own spnng-time and the spring-time of nature. Cn this day, along
the entire route of the procession at Rome, the ground is thickly
strewn with B ay and other fragrant leaves. In the worship of the
Madonna, flowers play an important rôle, and Roman altars are
still piled up with fragrant blossoms, and still smoke with perfumed
incense.
After The feast of Whitsuntide, the young Russian maidens
repair to the banks of the Neva, and fling in its waters wreaths of
flowers, which are tokens of affection to absent friends.
In the West of Germany and the greater part of France the
ceremony is observed of bringing home on the last harvest wain a
tree or bough decorated with flowers and gay ribbons, which is
graciously received by the master and planted on or near the house,
to remain there till the next harvest brings its successor. Some rite
of this sort, Mr. Ralston says, seems to have prevailed all over the
North of Europe. “ So, in the autumnal harvest thanksgiving feast
at Athens, it was customary to carry in sacred procession an Clive-
branch wrapped in wool, called Eiresione, to the temple of Apollo,
and there to leave it ; and in addition to this a similar bough was
solemnly placed beside the house door of every Athenian who was
fruit culture or agriculture, there to remain until
replaced by a similar successor twelve months later.”
1^ .
- ^ earliest days of the Christian era our Lo rd ’s ascension
into J a v e n has been commemorated by various ceremonies, one of
whi J was the perambulation of parish boundaries. At Penkridge, in
S ta ffo jsh ire , as well as at Wolverhampton, long after the Reformation,
the inhabitants, during the time of processioning, used to adorn
their wells with boughs and flowers ; and this ancient custom is
still practised every year at Tissington, in Derbyshire, where it is
known as “ well-flowermg.” There are five wells so decorated
and the mode of dressing or adorning them is this the flowers
are inserted m moist clay and put upon boards cut in various forms,
surrounded with boughs of Laurel and White Thorn, so as to mv^
the appearance of water issuing from small grottoes. The flowers
are arranged in_ various patterns, to give the effect of mosaic
work, and are inscribed with texts of Scripture and suitable
mottoes. After church, the congregation walk in procession to
the wells and decorate them with these boards, as well as with
garlands of flowers, boughs, &c. Flowers were cast into the wells,
and from their manner of falling, lads and lasses divined as to
the progress of their love affairs.
“ Bring flowers ! bring flowers ! to the crystal well,
That springs 'neath the Willows in yonder delL
• . . . . • • •
And we’ll scatter them over the charmed well,
And learn our fate from its mystic spell.”
“ And she whose flower most tranquilly
Glides down the stream our Queen shall be.
In a crown we’ll wreath
Wild flowers that breathe ;
And the maiden by whom this wreath shall be worn
Shall wear it again on her bridal morn.”—Merritt.
Before the Reformation the Celtic population of Scotland, the
Hebrides, Ireland, Wales, and Cornwall were in the habit of
naming wells and springs after different saints and martyrs.
Though forbidden by the canons of St. Anselm, many pilgrimages
continued to be made to them, and the custom was long retained
of throwing nosegays into springs and fountains, and chaplets into
wells. Sir Walter Scott tells us that “ in Perthshire there are
several wells dedicated to St. Fillan, which are still places of
pilgrimage and offerings, even among Protestants.”
“ Thence to St. Fillan’s blessed well.
Whose spring can frenzied dreams dispel,
And the crazed brain restore.”
Into some of these Highland wells flowers are cast, and occasionally
pins, while the surrounding bushes are hung with rags and shreds,
in imitation of the old heathen practice. The ceremony of sprinkling
rivers with flowers was probably of similar origin. Milton and
Dryden both allude to this custom being in vogue as regards
the Severn, and this-floral rite is described in ‘ The F le e c e ’ as
follows:—
“ W ith light fantastic toe the nymphs
Thither assembled, thither every swain ;
And o’er the dimpled stream a thousand flowers.
Pale Lilies, Roses, Violets, and Pinks,
Mix’d with the greens of Burnet, Mint, and Thyme,
And Trefoil, sprinkled with their sportive arms.
Such custom holds along th’ irriguous vales,
From Wreken’s brow to rocky Dolvoryn,
Sabrina’s early haunt,”
Sinc|af iJforaf ©eremonlei^.
In all countries flowers have from time immemorial been
chosen as the happy accompaniment of bridal ceremonies. Among
the ancients it was customary to crown newly-married persons
with a chaplet of red and white Roses. On arriving at the house
of her husband, the Roman bride found woollen fillets round the
D