St. Barnabas' thistle (Centaurea solstitialis) derived its name from
flowering at the time of the saint's festival, and we are told how:--
"When St. Barnaby bright smiles night and day,
Poor ragged robin blooms in the hay."
To Trinity Sunday belong the pansy, or herb-trinity and trefoil, hence
the latter has been used for decorations on this anniversary.
In commemoration of the Restoration of Charles II., oak leaves and
gilded oak apples have been worn; oak branches having been in past
years placed over doors and windows.
Stowe, in his "Survey of London," speaks of the old custom of
hanging up St. John's wort over the doors of houses, along with green
birch or pine, white lilies, and other plants. The same practice has existed
very largely on the Continent, St. John's wort being still regarded as an
effective charm against witchcraft. Indeed, few plants have been in
greater request on any anniversary, or been invested with such mystic
virtues. Fennel, another of the many plants dedicated to St. John, was
hung over doors and windows on his night in England, numerous
allusions to which occur in the literature of the past. And in connection
with this saint we are told how:--
"The scarlet lychnis, the garden's pride,
Flames at St. John the Baptist's tyde."
Hemp was also in demand, many forms of divination having been
practiced by means of its seed.
According to a belief in Iceland, the trijadent (Spiraea ulmaria) will, if
put under water on this day, reveal a thief; floating if the thief be a
woman, and sinking if a man.
In the Harz, on Midsummer night, branches of the fir-tree are
decorated with flowers and coloured eggs, around which the young
people dance, singing rhymes. The Bolognese, who regard garlic as the
symbol of abundance, buy it at the festival as a charm against poverty
during the coming year. The Bohemian, says Mr. Conway, "thinks he can
make himself shot-proof for twenty-four hours by finding on St. John's
Day pine-cones on the top of a tree, taking them home, and eating a
single kernel on each day that he wishes to be invulnerable." In Sicily it is
customary, on Midsummer Eve, to fell the highest poplar, and with
shouts to drag it through the village, while some beat a drum. Around
this poplar, says Mr. Folkard,[4] "symbolising the greatest solar
ascension and the decline which follows it, the crowd dance, and sing an
appropriate refrain;" and he further mentions that, at the commencement