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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
133
In
Switzerland
so
much
importance
was
in
years
past
attached
to
flowers
and
their
symbolical
significance
that,
"a
very
strict
law
was
in
force
prohibiting
brides
from
wearing
chaplets
or
garlands
in
the
church,
or
at
any
time
during
the
wedding
feast,
if
they
had
previously
in
any
way
forfeited
their
rights
to
the
privileges
of
maidenhood."[5]
With
the
Swiss
maiden
the
edelweiss
is
almost
a
sacred
flower,
being
regarded
as
a
proof
of
the
devotion
of
her
lover,
by
whom
it
is
often
gathered
with
much
risk
from
growing
in
inaccessible
spots.
In
Italy,
as
in
days
of
old,
nuts
are
scattered
at
the
marriage
festival,
and
corn
is
in
many
cases
thrown
over
the
bridal
couple,
a
survival
of
the
old
Roman
custom
of
making
offerings
of
corn
to
the
bride.
A
similar
usage
prevails
at
an
Indian
wedding,
where,
"after
the
first
night,
the
mother
of
the
husband,
with
all
the
female
relatives,
comes
to
the
young
bride
and
places
on
her
head
a
measure
of
corn--emblem
of
fertility.
The
husband
then
comes
forward
and
takes
from
his
bride's
head
some
handfuls
of
the
grain,
which
he
scatters
over
himself."
As
a
further
illustration
we
may
quote
the
old
Polish
custom,
which
consisted
of
visitors
throwing
wheat,
rye,
oats,
barley,
rice,
and
beans
at
the
door
of
the
bride's
house,
as
a
symbol
that
she
never
would
want
any
of
these
grains
so
long
as
she
did
her
duty.
In
the
Tyrol
is
a
fine
grove
of
pine-trees--the
result
of
a
long-established
custom
for
every
newly
united
couple
to
plant
a
marriage
tree,
which
is
generally
of
the
pine
kind.
Garlands
of
wild
asparagus
are
used
by
the
Boeotians,
while
with
the
Chinese
the
peach-blossom
is
the
popular
emblem
of
a
bride.
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