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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
88
In
Denmark[1]
many
an
anxious
lover
places
the
St.
John's
wort
between
the
beams
under
the
roof
for
the
purpose
of
divination,
the
usual
custom
being
to
put
one
plant
for
herself
and
another
for
her
sweetheart.
Should
these
grow
together,
it
is
an
omen
of
an
approaching
wedding.
In
Brittany
young
people
prove
the
good
faith
of
their
lovers
by
a
pretty
ceremony.
On
St.
John's
Eve,
the
men,
wearing
bunches
of
green
wheat
ears,
and
the
women
decorated
with
flax
blossoms,
assemble
round
an
old
historic
stone
and
place
upon
it
their
wreaths.
Should
these
remain
fresh
for
some
time
after,
the
lovers
represented
by
them
are
to
be
united;
but
should
they
wither
and
die
away,
it
is
a
certain
proof
that
the
love
will
as
rapidly
disappear.
Again,
in
Sicily
it
is
customary
for
young
women
to
throw
from
their
windows
an
apple
into
the
street,
which,
should
a
woman
pick
up,
it
is
a
sign
that
the
girl
will
not
be
married
during
the
year.
Sometimes
it
happens
that
the
apple
is
not
touched,
a
circumstance
which
indicates
that
the
young
lady,
when
married,
will
ere
long
be
a
widow.
On
this
festival,
too,
the
orpine
or
livelong
has
long
been
in
request,
popularly
known
as
"Midsummer
men,"
whereas
in
Italy
the
house-leek
is
in
demand.
The
moss-rose,
again,
in
years
gone
by,
was
plucked,
with
sundry
formalities,
on
Midsummer
Eve
for
love-divination,
an
allusion
to
which
mode
of
forecasting
the
future,
as
practised
in
our
own
country,
occurs
in
the
poem
of
"The
Cottage
Girl:"
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
