But one plant was carefully avoided--the cuckoo flower.[3] As in
other floral rites, the selection of plants varies on the Continent, branches
of the elder being carried about in Savoy, and in Austrian Silesia the
Maypole is generally made of fir. According to an Italian proverb, the
universal lover is "one who hangs every door with May."
Various plants are associated with Whitsuntide, and according to
Chaucer, in his "Romaunt of the Rose":--
"Have hatte of floures fresh as May,
Chapelett of roses of Whitsunday,
For sich array be costeth but lite."
In Italy the festival is designated "Pasqua Rosata," from falling at a
time when roses are in bloom, while in Germany the peony is the
Pentecost rose.
Herrick tells us it was formerly the practice to use birch and spring-
flowers for decorative purposes at Whitsuntide:--
"When yew is out then birch comes in,
And May-flowers beside,
Both of a fresh and fragrant kinne,
To honour Whitsontide."
At this season, too, box-boughs were gathered to deck the large open
fire-places then in fashion, and the guelder rose was dedicated to the
festival. Certain flower-sermons have been preached in the city at
Whitsuntide, as, for instance, that at St. James's Church, Mitre Court,
Aldgate, and another at St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditch, known as the
Fairchild Lecture. Turning to the Continent, it is customary in Hanover
on Whit-Monday to gather the lily of the valley, and at the close of the
day there is scarcely a house without a large bouquet, while in Germany
the broom is a favourite plant for decorations. In Russia, at the
completion of Whitsuntide, young girls repair to the banks of the Neva
and cast in wreaths of flowers in token of their absent friends.
Certain flowers, such as the rose, lavender, woodruff, and box were
formerly in request for decking churches on St. Barnabas' Day, the
officiating clergy having worn wreaths of roses. Among the allusions to
the usage may be mentioned the following entries in the churchwarden's
accounts of St. Mary-at-Hill, London, in the reigns of Edward IV. And
Henry VII.:--"For rose garlondis and woodrolf garlondis on St. Barnabe
Daye, xj'd." "Item, for two doss (dozen?) di bocse (box) garlands for
prestes and clerkes on St. Barnabe Day, j's. v'd."