CHAPTER XVII.
PLANTS AND THE CALENDAR.
A goodly array of plants have cast their attractions round the festivals
of the year, giving an outward beauty to the ceremonies and observances
celebrated in their honour. These vary in different countries, although
we frequently find the same flower almost universally adopted to
commemorate a particular festival. Many plants, again, have had a
superstitious connection, having in this respect exercised a powerful
influence among the credulous of all ages, numerous survivals of which
exist at the present day. Thus, in Westphalia, it is said that if the sun
makes its appearance on New Year's Day, the flax will be straight; and
there is a belief current in Hessia, that an apple must not be eaten on
New Year's Day, as it will produce an abscess.
According to an old adage, the laurestinus, dedicated to St. Faine
(January 1), an Irish abbess in the sixth century, may be seen in bloom:--
"Whether the weather be snow or rain,
We are sure to see the flower of St. Faine;
Rain comes but seldom and often snow,
And yet the viburnum is sure to blow."
And James Montgomery notices this cheerful plant, speaking of it as
the,
"Fair tree of winter, fresh and flowering,
When all around is dead and dry,
Whose ruby buds, though storms are lowering,
Spread their white blossoms to the sky."
Then there is the dead nettle, which in Italy is assigned to St. Vincent;
and the Christmas rose (Helleboris niger), dedicated to St. Agnes (21st
January), is known in Germany as the flower of St. Agnes, and yet this
flower has generally been regarded a plant of evil omen, being coupled
by Campbell with the hemlock, as growing "by the witches' tower,"
where it seems to weave,
"Round its dark vaults a melancholy bower,
For spirits of the dead at night's enchanted hour."