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44
among the dried grass and herbs which served for His bed.
Suddenly the Sainfoin began to expand its delicate blossoms, and
to the astonishment of Mary, formed a wreath around the head of
the holy babe. In commemoration of the infant Saviour having
laid on a manger, it is customary, in some parts of Italy, to deck
mangers at Christmas time with Moss, Sow-Thistle, Cypress, and
prickly Holly: boughs of Juniper are also used for Christmas
decorations, because tradition affirms that the Virgin and Child
found safety amongst its branches when pursued by Herod’s mercenaries.
The Juniper is also believed to have furnished the
wood of the Cross on which Jesus was crucified.
At Christmas, according to an ancient pious tradition, all the
plants rejoice. In commemoration of the birth of our Saviour, in
countries nearer His birthplace than England, the Apple, Cherry,
Carnation, Balm, Rose of Jericho, and Rose of Mariastem (in
Alsatia), burst forth into blossom at Christmas, whilst in our own
land the day is celebrated by the blossoming of the Glastonbury
Thorn, sprung from St. Joseph’s staff, and the flowering of the
Christmas_ Rose, or Christ’s Herb, known in France as la Rose de
Noel, and in Germany as Christwurzel.
On Good Friday, in remembrance of the Passion of our Lord,
all the trees, says the legend, shudder and tremble. The Swedes
and Scotch have a tradition that Christ was scourged with a rod
of the dwarf Birch, which was once a noble tree, but has ever
since remained stunted and lowly. It is called Läng Fredags ris, or
Good Friday rod. There is another legend extant, which states
tha,t the rod with which Christ was scourged was cut from a
Willow, and that the trees of its species have drooped their
branches to the earth in grief and shame from that time, and
have, consequently, borne the name of Weeping Willows.
U R © © r o c o q 0 ^ U R o r n i l i ,
Sir J . Maundevile, who visited the Holy Land in the fourteenth
century, has recorded that he had many times seen the identical
crown of Thorns worn by Jesus Christ, one half of which was at
Constantinople and the other half at Paris, where it was religiously
preserved in a vessel of crystal in the King’s Chapel. This crown
Maundevile says was of “ Jonkes of the see, that is to sey. Rushes
of the see, that prykken als scharpely as Thornes;” he further
adds that he had been presented with one of the precious thorns,
which had fallen off into the vessel, and that it resembled a
White Thorn. The old traveller gives the following circumstantial
account of our Lord’s trial and condemnation, from which it
would appear that Jesus was first crowned with White Thorn,
then with Eglantine, and finally with Rushes of the sea. He
writes :—“ In that nyghte that He was taken. He was ylad into
a gardyn; and there He was first examyned righte scharply;
and there the Jewes scorned Him, and maden Him a croune
of the braunches of Albespyne, that is White Thorn, that grew
in the same gardyn, and setten it on His heved, so faste and
so sore, that the blood ran doun be many places of His visage,
and of His necke, and of His schuldres. And therefore hathe the
White Thorn many vertues ; for he that berethe a braunche on
him thereoffe, no thondre, ne no maner of tempest may dere him ; .
ne in the hows that it is inne may non evylle gost entre ne come
unto the place that it is inne. And in that same gardyn Seynt Petre
denyed oure Lord thryes. Aftreward was oure Lord lad forthe
before the bischoppes and the maystres of the lawe, in to another
gardyn of Anne ; and there also He was examyned, repreved, and
scorned, and crouned eft with a White Thorn, that men clepethe
Barbarynes, that grew in that gardyn ; and that hathe also manye
vertues. And afterward He was lad into a gardyn of Cayphas,
and there He was crouned with Eglentier. And aftre He was lad in
to the chambre of Pylate, and there He was examynd and crouned.
And the Jewes setten Hym in a chayere and cladde Hym in a
mantelle; and there made thei the croune of Jonkes of the see;
and there thei kneled to Hym, and skorned Hjmi, seyenge : ‘ Heyl,
King of the Jewes ! ’ ”
iSfltta of tJje ffirucifilion. From Maundevile’s Travels.
The illustration represents the Crown of Thorns, worn by our
Saviour, his coat without seams, called tunica inconsutilis \ the