of the Franco-German War, he saw sprigs of pine stuck on the railway
carriages bearing the German soldiers into France.
In East Prussia, the sap of dog-wood, absorbed in a handkerchief, will
fulfil every wish; and a Brandenburg remedy for fever is to lie naked
under a cherry-tree on St. John's Day, and to shake the dew on one's
back. Elsewhere we have alluded to the flowering of the fern on this
anniversary, and there is the Bohemian idea that its seed shines like
glittering gold.
Corpus Christi Day was, in olden times, observed with much
ceremony, the churches being decorated with roses and other choice
garlands, while the streets through which the procession passed were
strewn with flowers. In North Wales, flowers were scattered before the
door; and a particular fern, termed Rhedyn Mair, or Mary's fern--
probably the maiden-hair—was specially used for the purpose.
We may mention here that the daisy (Bellis perennis) was formerly
known as herb-Margaret or Marguerite, and was erroneously supposed
to have been named after the virtuous St. Margaret of Antioch:--
"Maid Margarete, that was so meek and mild;"
Whereas it, in all probability, derives its name from St. Margaret of
Cortona. According to an old legend it is stated:--
"There is a double flouret, white and red,
That our lasses call herb-Margaret,
In honour of Cortona's penitent,
Whose contrite soul with red remorse was rent;
While on her penitence kind heaven did throw
The white of purity, surpassing snow;
So white and red in this fair flower entwine,
Which maids are wont to scatter at her shrine."
Again, of the rainy saint, St. Swithin, we are reminded that:--"Against St. Swithin's hastie showers,
The lily white reigns queen of the flowers"--
A festival around which so much curious lore has clustered.
In former years St. Margaret's Day (July 20) was celebrated with
many curious ceremonies, and, according to a well-known couplet in
allusion to the emblem of the vanquished dragon, which appears in most
pictures of St. Margaret:--