The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 11 of 12)

Magical plants culled on St. John's Eve or St. John's Day among the South Slavs, in Macedonia, and Bolivia.

In Bulgaria St. John's Day is the special season for culling simples. On this day, too, Bulgarian girls gather nosegays of a certain white flower, throw them into a vessel of water, and place the vessel under a rose-tree in bloom. Here it remains all night. Next morning they set it in the courtyard and dance singing round it. An old woman then takes the flowers out of the vessel, and the girls wash themselves with the water, praying that God would grant them health throughout the year. After that the old woman restores her nosegay to each girl and promises her a rich husband.[139 - A. Strausz, Die Bulgaren (Leipsic, 1898), pp. 348, 386.] Among the South Slavs generally on St. John's Eve it is the custom for girls to gather white flowers in the meadows and to place them in a sieve or behind the rafters. A flower is assigned to each member of the household: next morning the flowers are inspected; and he or she whose flower is fresh will be well the whole year, but he or she whose flower is faded will be sickly or die. Garlands are then woven out of the flowers and laid on roofs, folds, and beehives.[140 - F. S. Krauss, Volksglaube und religiöser Brauch der Südslaven (Münster i. W., 1890), p. 34.] In some parts of Macedonia on St. John's Eve the peasants are wont to festoon their cottages and gird their own waists with wreaths of what they call St. John's flower; it is the blossom of a creeping plant which resembles honeysuckle.[141 - G. F. Abbott, Macedonian Folk-lore (Cambridge, 1903), pp. 54, 58.] Similar notions as to the magical virtue which plants acquire at midsummer have been transported by Europeans to the New World. At La Paz in Bolivia people believe that flowers of mint (Yerba buena) gathered before sunrise on St. John's Day foretell an endless felicity to such as are so lucky as to find them.[142 - H. A. Weddell, Voyage dans le Nord de la Bolivie et dans les parties voisines du Pérou (Paris and London, 1853), p. 181.]

Magical plants culled at Midsummer among the Mohammedans of Morocco.

Nor is the superstition confined to Europe and to people of European descent. In Morocco also the Mohammedans are of opinion that certain plants, such as penny-royal, marjoram, and the oleander, acquire a special magic virtue (baraka) when they are gathered shortly before midsummer. Hence the people collect these plants at this season and preserve them for magical or medical purposes. For example, branches of oleander are brought into the houses before midsummer and kept under the roof as a charm against the evil eye; but while the branches are being brought in they may not touch the ground, else they would lose their marvellous properties. Cases of sickness caused by the evil eye are cured by fumigating the patients with the smoke of these boughs. The greatest efficacy is ascribed to “the sultan of the oleander,” which is a stalk with four pairs of leaves clustered round it. Such a stalk is always endowed with magical virtue, but that virtue is greatest when the stalk has been cut just before midsummer. Arab women in the Hiaina district of Morocco gather Daphne gnidium on Midsummer Day, dry it in the sun, and make it into a powder which, mixed with water, they daub on the heads of their little children to protect them from sunstroke and vermin and to make their hair grow well. Indeed such marvellous powers do these Arabs attribute to plants at this mystic season that a barren woman will walk naked about a vegetable garden on Midsummer Night in the hope of conceiving a child through the fertilizing influence of the vegetables.[143 - W. Westermarck, “Midsummer Customs in Morocco,” Folk-lore, xvi. (1905) p. 35; id., Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with Agriculture, certain Dates of the Solar Year, and the Weather in Morocco (Helsingfors, 1913), pp. 88 sq.]

Seven different sorts of magical plants gathered at Midsummer. Nine different sorts of plants gathered at Midsummer. Dreams of love on flowers at Midsummer Eve. Love's watery mirror at Midsummer Eve.

Sometimes in order to produce the desired effect it is deemed necessary that seven or nine different sorts of plants should be gathered at this mystic season. Norman peasants, who wish to fortify themselves for the toil of harvest, will sometimes go out at dawn on St. John's Day and pull seven kinds of plants, which they afterwards eat in their soup as a means of imparting strength and suppleness to their limbs in the harvest field.[144 - J. Lecœur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand (Condé-sur-Noireau, 1883-1887), ii. 9.] In Mecklenburg maidens are wont to gather seven sorts of flowers at noon on Midsummer Eve. These they weave into garlands, and sleep with them under their pillows. Then they are sure to dream of the men who will marry them.[145 - K. Bartsch, Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Mecklenburg (Vienna, 1879-1890), ii. 285.] But the flowers on which youthful lovers dream at Midsummer Eve are oftener nine in number. Thus in Voigtland nine different kinds of flowers are twined into a garland at the hour of noon, but they may not enter the dwelling by the door in the usual way; they must be passed through the window, or, if they come in at the door, they must be thrown, not carried, into the house. Sleeping on them that night you will dream of your future wife or future husband.[146 - J. A. E. Köhler, Volksbrauch, Aberglauben, Sagen und andre alte Ueberlieferungen im Voigtlande (Leipsic, 1867), p. 376.] The Bohemian maid, who gathers nine kinds of flowers on which to dream of love at Midsummer Eve, takes care to wrap her hand in a white cloth, and afterwards to wash it in dew; and when she brings her garland home she must speak no word to any soul she meets by the way, for then all the magic virtue of the flowers would be gone.[147 - O. Freiherr von Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Fest-Kalender aus Böhmen (Prague, n. d.), p. 312.] Other Bohemian girls look into the book of fate at this season after a different fashion. They twine their hair with wreaths made of nine sorts of leaves, and go, when the stars of the summer night are twinkling in the sky, to a brook that flows beside a tree. There, gazing on the stream, the girl beholds, beside the broken reflections of the tree and the stars, the watery image of her future lord.[148 - Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, loc. cit.] So in Masuren maidens gather nosegays of wild flowers in silence on Midsummer Eve. At the midnight hour each girl takes the nosegay and a glass of water, and when she has spoken certain words she sees her lover mirrored in the water.[149 - M. Töppen, Aberglauben aus Masuren

(Danzig, 1867), p. 72.]

Garlands of flowers of nine sorts gathered at Midsummer and used in divination and medicine.

Sometimes Bohemian damsels make a different use of their midsummer garlands twined of nine sorts of flowers. They lie down with the garland laid as a pillow under their right ear, and a hollow voice, swooning from underground, proclaims their destiny.[150 - Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, loc. cit.] Yet another mode of consulting the oracle by means of these same garlands is to throw them backwards and in silence upon a tree at the hour of noon, just when the flowers have been gathered. For every time that the wreath is thrown without sticking to the branches of the tree the girl will have a year to wait before she weds. This mode of divination is practised in Voigtland,[151 - J. A. E. Köhler, Volksbrauch, etc., im Voigtlande, p. 376.] East Prussia,[152 - C. Lemke, Volksthümliches in Ostpreussen (Mohrungen, 1884-1887), i. 20.] Silesia,[153 - P. Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien (Leipsic, 1903-1906), i. 144 sq.] Belgium,[154 - Le Baron de Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Calendrier Belge (Brussels, 1861-1862), i. 423.] and Wales,[155 - Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), p. 252.] and the same thing is done in Masuren, although we are not told that there the wreaths must be composed of nine sorts of flowers.[156 - M. Töppen, Aberglauben aus Masuren,

p. 72.] However, in Masuren chaplets of nine kinds of herbs are gathered on St. John's Eve and put to a more prosaic use than that of presaging the course of true love. They are carefully preserved, and the people brew a sort of tea from them, which they administer as a remedy for many ailments; or they keep the chaplets under their pillows till they are dry, and thereupon dose their sick cattle with them.[157 - M. Töppen, op. cit. p. 71.] In Esthonia the virtues popularly ascribed to wreaths of this sort are many and various. These wreaths, composed of nine kinds of herbs culled on the Eve or the Day of St. John, are sometimes inserted in the roof or hung up on the walls of the house, and each of them receives the name of one of the inmates. If the plants which have been thus dedicated to a girl happen to take root and grow in the chinks and crannies, she will soon wed; if they have been dedicated to an older person and wither away, that person will die. The people also give them as medicine to cattle at the time when the animals are driven forth to pasture; or they fumigate the beasts with the smoke of the herbs, which are burnt along with shavings from the wooden threshold. Bunches of the plants are also hung about the house to keep off evil spirits, and maidens lay them under their pillows to dream on.[158 - A. Wiedemann, Aus dem inneren und äussern Leben der Ehsten (St. Petersburg, 1876), pp. 362 sq.] In Sweden the “Midsummer Brooms,” made up of nine sorts of flowers gathered on Midsummer Eve, are put to nearly the same uses. Fathers of families hang up such “brooms” to the rafters, one for each inmate of the house; and he or she whose broom (quast) is the first to wither will be the first to die. Girls also dream of their future husbands with these bunches of flowers under their pillows. A decoction made from the flowers is, moreover, a panacea for all disorders, and if a bunch of them be hung up in the cattle shed, the Troll cannot enter to bewitch the beasts.[159 - L. Lloyd, Peasant Life in Sweden (London, 1870), pp. 267 sq.] The Germans of Moravia think that nine kinds of herbs gathered on St. John's Night (Midsummer Eve) are a remedy for fever;[160 - Willibald Müller, Beiträge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mähren (Vienna and Olmütz, 1893), p. 264.] and some of the Wends attribute a curative virtue in general to such plants.[161 - W. von Schulenburg, Wendisches Volksthum (Berlin, 1882), p. 145.]

St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) gathered for magical purposes at Midsummer. St. John's blood on St. John's Day.

Of the flowers which it has been customary to gather for purposes of magic or divination at midsummer none perhaps is so widely popular as St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum). The reason for associating this particular plant with the great summer festival is perhaps not far to seek, for the flower blooms about Midsummer Day, and with its bright yellow petals and masses of golden stamens it might well pass for a tiny copy on earth of the great sun which reaches its culminating point in heaven at this season. Gathered on Midsummer Eve, or on Midsummer Day before sunrise, the blossoms are hung on doorways and windows to preserve the house against thunder, witches, and evil spirits; and various healing properties are attributed to the different species of the plant. In the Tyrol they say that if you put St. John's wort in your shoe before sunrise on Midsummer Day you may walk as far as you please without growing weary. In Scotland people carried it about their persons as an amulet against witchcraft. On the lower Rhine children twine chaplets of St. John's wort on the morning of Midsummer Day, and throw them on the roofs of the houses. Here, too, the people who danced round the midsummer bonfires used to wear wreaths of these yellow flowers in their hair, and to deck the images of the saints at wayside shrines with the blossoms. Sometimes they flung the flowers into the bonfires. In Sicily they dip St. John's wort in oil, and so apply it as a balm for every wound. During the Middle Ages the power which the plant notoriously possesses of banning devils won for it the name of fuga daemonum; and before witches and wizards were stretched on the rack or otherwise tortured, the flower used to be administered to them as a means of wringing the truth from their lips.[162 - Montanus, Die deutschen Volksfeste, Volksbräuche und deutscher Volksglaube (Iserlohn, n. d.), p. 145; A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube

(Berlin, 1869), p. 100, § 134; I. V. Zingerle, “Wald, Bäume, Kräuter,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, i. (1853) p. 329; A. Schlossar, “Volksmeinung und Volksaberglaube aus der deutschen Steiermark,” Germania, N.R., xxiv. (1891) p. 387; E. Meier, Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben (Stuttgart, 1852), p. 428; J. Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), i. 307, 312; T. F. Thiselton Dyer, Folk-lore of Plants (London, 1889), pp. 62, 286; Rev. Hilderic Friend, Flowers and Flower Lore, Third Edition (London, 1886), pp. 147, 149, 150, 540; G. Finamore, Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi (Palermo, 1890), pp. 161 sq.; G. Pitrè, Spettacoli e Feste Popolari Siciliane (Palermo, 1881), p. 309. One authority lays down the rule that you should gather the plant fasting and in silence (J. Brand, op. cit. p. 312). According to Sowerby, the Hypericum perforatum flowers in England about July and August (English Botany, vol. v. London, 1796, p. 295). We should remember, however, that in the old calendar Midsummer Day fell twelve days later than at present. The reform of the calendar probably put many old floral superstitions out of joint.] In North Wales people used to fix sprigs of St. John's wort over their doors, and sometimes over their windows, “in order to purify their houses, and by that means drive away all fiends and evil spirits.”[163 - Bingley, Tour round North Wales (1800), ii. 237, quoted by T. F. Thiselton Dyer, British Popular Customs (London, 1876), p. 320. Compare Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), p. 251: “St. John's, or Midsummer Day, was an important festival. St. John's wort, gathered at noon on that day, was considered good for several complaints. The old saying went that if anybody dug the devil's bit at midnight on the eve of St. John, the roots were then good for driving the devil and witches away.” Apparently by “the devil's bit” we are to understand St. John's wort.] In Saintonge and Aunis the flowers served to detect the presence of sorcerers, for if one of these pestilent fellows entered a house, the bunches of St. John's wort, which had been gathered on Midsummer Eve and hung on the walls, immediately dropped their yellow heads as if they had suddenly faded.[164 - J. L. M. Noguès, Les mœurs d'autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis (Saintes, 1891), pp. 71 sq.] However, the Germans of Western Bohemia think that witches, far from dreading St. John's wort, actually seek the plant on St. John's Eve.[165 - Alois John, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen (Prague, 1905), p. 84. They call the plant “witch's herb” (Hexenkraut).] Further, the edges of the calyx and petals of St. John's wort, as well as their external surface, are marked with dark purple spots and lines, which, if squeezed, yield a red essential oil soluble in spirits.[166 - James Sowerby, English Botany, vol. v. (London, 1796), p. 295.] German peasants believe that this red oil is the blood of St. John,[167 - Montanus, Die deutschen Volksfeste, Volksbräuche und deutscher Volksglaube (Iserlohn, n. d.), p. 35.] and this may be why the plant is supposed to heal all sorts of wounds.[168 - T. F. Thiselton Dyer, Folk-lore of Plants (London, 1889), p. 286; K. Bartsch, Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Mecklenburg, ii. p. 291, § 1450a. The Germans of Bohemia ascribe wonderful virtues to the red juice extracted from the yellow flowers of St. John's wort (W. Müller, Beiträge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mähren, Vienna and Olmütz, 1893, p. 264).] In Mecklenburg they say that if you pull up St. John's wort at noon on Midsummer Day you will find at the root a bead of red juice called St. John's blood; smear this blood on your shirt just over your heart, and no mad dog will bite you.[169 - K. Bartsch, op. cit. ii. p. 286, § 1433. The blood is also a preservative against many diseases (op. cit. ii. p. 290, § 1444).] In the Mark of Brandenburg the same blood, procured in the same manner and rubbed on the barrel of a gun, will make every shot from that gun to hit the mark.[170 - A. Kuhn, Märkische Sagen und Märchen (Berlin, 1843), p. 387, § 105.] According to others, St. John's blood is found at noon on St. John's Day, and only then, adhering in the form of beads to the root of a weed called knawel, which grows in sandy soil. But some people say that these beads of red juice are not really the blood of the martyred saint, but only insects resembling the cochineal or kermes-berry.[171 - Die gestriegelte Rockenphilosophie

(Chemnitz, 1759), pp. 246 sq.; Montanus, Die deutschen Volksfesten, Volksbräuche und deutscher Volksglaube, p. 147.] “About Hanover I have often observed devout Roman Catholics going on the morning of St. John's day to neighbouring sandhills, gathering on the roots of herbs a certain insect (Coccus Polonica) looking like drops of blood, and thought by them to be created on purpose to keep alive the remembrance of the foul murder of St. John the Baptist, and only to be met with on the morning of the day set apart for him by the Church. I believe the life of this insect is very ephemeral, but by no means restricted to the twenty-fourth of June.”[172 - Berthold Seeman, Viti, An Account of a Government Mission to the Vitian or Fijian Islands in the years 1860-61 (Cambridge, 1862), p. 63.]

Mouse-ear hawkweed (Hieracium pilosella) gathered for magical purposes at Midsummer.

Yet another plant whose root has been thought to yield the blood of St. John is the mouse-ear hawkweed (Hieracium pilosella), which grows very commonly in dry exposed places, such as gravelly banks, sunny lawns, and the tops of park walls. “It blossoms from May to the end of July, presenting its elegant sulphur-coloured flowers to the noontide sun, while the surrounding herbage, and even its own foliage, is withered and burnt up”;[173 - James Sowerby, English Botany, vol. xvi. (London, 1803) p. 1093.] and these round yellow flowers may be likened not inaptly to the disc of the great luminary whose light they love. At Hildesheim, in Germany, people used to dig up hawkweed, especially on the Gallows' Hill, when the clocks were striking noon on Midsummer Day; and the blood of St. John, which they found at the roots, was carefully preserved in quills for good luck. A little of it smeared secretly on the clothes was sure to make the wearer fortunate in the market that day.[174 - K. Seifart, Sagen, Märchen, Schwänke und Gebräuche aus Stadt und Stift Hildesheim

(Hildesheim, 1889), p. 177, § 12.] According to some the plant ought to be dug up with a gold coin.[175 - C. L. Rochholz, Deutscher Glaube und Brauch (Berlin, 1867), i. 9.] Near Gablonz, in Bohemia, it used to be customary to make a bed of St. John's flowers, as they were called, on St. John's Eve, and in the night the saint himself came and laid his head on the bed; next morning you could see the print of his head on the flowers, which derived a healing virtue from his blessed touch, and were mixed with the fodder of sick cattle to make them whole.[176 - J. V. Grohmann, Aberglauben und Gebräuche aus Böhmen und Mähren (Prague and Leipsic, 1864), p. 98, § 681.] But whether these St. John's flowers were the mouse-ear hawkweed or not is doubtful.[177 - A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube

(Berlin, 1869), p. 100, § 134.]

Mountain arnica gathered for magical purposes at Midsummer.

More commonly in Germany the name of St. John's flowers (Johannisblumen) appears to be given to the mountain arnica. In Voigtland the mountain arnica if plucked on St. John's Eve and stuck in the fields, laid under the roof, or hung on the wall, is believed to protect house and fields from lightning and hail.[178 - J. A. E. Köhler, Volksbrauch, Aberglauben, Sagen und andre alte Ueberlieferungen im Voigtlande (Leipsic, 1867), p. 376. The belief and practice are similar at Grün, near Asch, in Western Bohemia. See Alois John, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen (Prague, 1905), p. 84.] So in some parts of Bavaria they think that no thunderstorm can harm a house which has a blossom of mountain arnica in the window or the roof, and in the Tyrol the same flower fastened to the door will render the dwelling fire-proof. But it is needless to remark that the flower, which takes its popular name from St. John, will be no protection against either fire or thunder unless it has been culled on the saint's own day.[179 - F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), ii. 299; Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern, iii. (Munich, 1865), p. 342; I. V. Zingerle, Sitten, Bräuche und Meinungen des Tiroler Volkes

(Innsbruck, 1871), p. 160, § 1363.]

Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) gathered for magical purposes at Midsummer. Mugwort in China and Japan.

Another plant which possesses wondrous virtues, if only it be gathered on the Eve or the Day of St. John, is mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris). Hence in France it goes by the name of the herb of St. John.[180 - J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,

ii. 1013; A. de Gubernatis, Mythologie des Plantes (Paris, 1878-1882), i. 189 sq.; Rev. Hilderic Friend, Flowers and Flower Lore, Third Edition (London, 1886), p. 75. In England mugwort is very common in waste ground, hedges, and the borders of fields. It flowers throughout August and later. The root is woody and perennial. The smooth stems, three or four feet high, are erect, branched, and leafy, and marked by many longitudinal purplish ribs. The pinnatified leaves alternate on the stalk; they are smooth and dark green above, cottony and very white below. The flowers are in simple leafy spikes or clusters; the florets are purplish, furnished with five stamens and five awl-shaped female flowers, which constitute the radius. The whole plant has a weak aromatic scent and a slightly bitter flavour. Its medical virtues are of no importance. See James Sowerby, English Botany, xiv. (London, 1802) p. 978. Altogether it is not easy to see why such an inconspicuous and insignificant flower should play so large a part in popular superstition. Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) is not to be confounded with wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), which is quite a different flower in appearance, though it belongs to the same genus. Wormwood is common in England, flowering about August. The flowers are in clusters, each of them broad, hemispherical, and drooping, with a buff-coloured disc. The whole plant is of a pale whitish green and clothed with a short silky down. It is remarkable for its intense bitterness united to a peculiar strong aromatic odour. It is often used to keep insects from clothes and furniture, and as a medicine is one of the most active bitters. See James Sowerby, English Botany, vol. xviii. (London, 1804) p. 1230.] Near Péronne, in the French department of Somme, people used to go out fasting before sunrise on St. John's Day to cull the plant; put among the wheat in the barn it protected the corn against mice. In Artois people carried bunches of mugwort, or wore it round their body;[181 - Breuil, “Du culte de St. – Jean-Baptiste,” Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Picardie, viii. (1845) p. 224, note 1, quoting the curé of Manancourt, near Péronne.] in Poitou they still wear girdles of mugwort or hemp when they warm their backs at the midsummer fire as a preservative against backache at harvest;[182 - L. Pineau, Le folk-lore du Poitou (Paris, 1892), p. 499.] and the custom of wearing girdles of mugwort on the Eve or Day of St. John has caused the plant to be popularly known in Germany and Bohemia as St. John's girdle. In Bohemia such girdles are believed to protect the wearer for the whole year against ghosts, magic, misfortune, and sickness. People also weave garlands of the plant and look through them at the midsummer bonfire or put them on their heads; and by doing so they ensure that their heads will not ache nor their eyes smart all that year. Another Bohemian practice is to make a decoction of mugwort which has been gathered on St. John's Day; then, when your cow is bewitched and will yield no milk, you have only to wash the animal thrice with the decoction and the spell will be broken.[183 - J. V. Grohmann, Aberglauben und Gebräuche aus Böhmen und Mähren (Prague and Leipsic, 1864), pp. 90 sq., §§ 635-637.] In Germany, people used to crown their heads or gird their bodies with mugwort, which they afterwards threw into the midsummer bonfire, pronouncing certain rhymes and believing that they thus rid themselves of all their ill-luck.[184 - F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie, i. p. 249, § 283; J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,

ii. 1013; I. V. Zingerle, in Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, i. (1853) p. 331. and ib. iv. (1859) p. 42 (quoting a work of the seventeenth century); F. J. Vonbun, Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie (Chur, 1862), p. 133, note 1. See also above, vol. i. pp. 162, 163, 165, 174, 177.] Sometimes wreaths or girdles of mugwort were kept in houses, cattle-sheds, and sheep-folds throughout the year.[185 - A. de Gubernatis, Mythologie der Plantes (Paris, 1878-1882), i. 190, quoting Du Cange.] In Normandy such wreaths are a protection against thunder and thieves;[186 - A. de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France (Paris and Lyons, 1846), p. 262.] and stalks of mugwort hinder witches from laying their spells on the butter.[187 - Jules Lecœur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand (Condé-sur-Noireau, 1883-1886), ii. 8.] In the Isle of Man on Midsummer Eve people gathered barran fealoin or mugwort “as a preventive against the influence of witchcraft”;[188 - Joseph Train, Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of Man (Douglas, Isle of Man, 1845), ii. 120.] in Belgium bunches of mugwort gathered on St. John's Day or Eve and hung on the doors of stables and houses are believed to bring good luck and to furnish a protection against sorcery.[189 - Le Baron de Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Calendrier Belge (Brussels, 1861-1862), i. 422.] It is curious to find that in China a similar use is, or was formerly, made of mugwort at the same season of the year. In an old Chinese calendar we read that “on the fifth day of the fifth month the four classes of the people gambol in the herbage, and have competitive games with plants of all kinds. They pluck mugwort and make dolls of it, which they suspend over their gates and doors, in order to expel poisonous airs or influences.”[190 - J. J. M. de Groot, The Religious System of China, vi. (Leyden, 1910) p. 1079, compare p. 947.] On this custom Professor J. J. M. de Groot observes: “Notice that the plant owed its efficacy to the time when it was plucked: a day denoting the midsummer festival, when light and fire of the universe are in their apogee.”[191 - J. J. M. de Groot, op. cit. vi. 947.] On account of this valuable property mugwort is used by Chinese surgeons in cautery.[192 - J. J. M. de Groot, op. cit. vi. 946 sq.] The Ainos of Japan employ bunches of mugwort in exorcisms, “because it is thought that demons of disease dislike the smell and flavour of this herb.”[193 - Rev. John Batchelor, The Ainu and their Folk-lore (London, 1901), p. 318, compare pp. 315 sq., 329, 370, 372.] It is an old German belief that he who carries mugwort in his shoes will not grow weary.[194 - Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, iv. (1859) p. 42; Montanus, Die deutschen Volksfeste, p. 141. The German name of mugwort (Beifuss) is said to be derived from this superstition.] In Mecklenburg, they say that if you will dig up a plant of mugwort at noon on Midsummer Day, you will find under the root a burning coal, which vanishes away as soon as the church bells have ceased to ring. If you find the coal and carry it off in silence, it will prove a remedy for all sorts of maladies.[195 - K. Bartsch, Sagen, Märchen, und Gebräuche aus Mecklenburg (Vienna, 1879-1880), ii. 290, § 1445.] According to another German superstition, such a coal will turn to gold.[196 - Montanus, Die deutschen Volksfeste, p. 141.] English writers record the popular belief that a rare coal is to be found under the root of mugwort at a single hour of a single day in the year, namely, at noon or midnight on Midsummer Eve, and that this coal will protect him who carries it on his person from plague, carbuncle, lightning, fever, and ague.[197 - J. Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), i. 334 sq., quoting Lupton, Thomas Hill, and Paul Barbette. A precisely similar belief is recorded with regard to wormwood (armoise) by the French writer J. B. Thiers, who adds that only small children and virgins could find the wonderful coal. See J. B. Thiers, Traité des Superstitions

(Paris, 1741), i. 300. In Annam people think that wormwood puts demons to flight; hence they hang up bunches of its leaves in their houses at the New Year. See Paul Giran, Magie et Religion Annamites (Paris, 1912), p. 118, compare pp. 185, 256.] In Eastern Prussia, on St. John's Eve, people can foretell a marriage by means of mugwort; they bend two stalks of the growing plant outward, and then observe whether the stalks, after straightening themselves again, incline towards each other or not.[198 - C. Lemke, Volksthümliches in Ostpreussen (Mohrungen, 1884-1887), i. 21. As to mugwort (German Beifuss, French armoise), see further A. de Gubernatis, Mythologie des Plantes, ii. 16 sqq.; J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,

iii. 356 sq.]

Orpine (Sedum telephium) used in divination at Midsummer.

A similar mode of divination has been practised both in England and in Germany with the orpine (Sedum telephium), a plant which grows on a gravelly or chalky soil about hedges, the borders of fields, and on bushy hills. It flowers in August, and the blossoms consist of dense clustered tufts of crimson or purple petals; sometimes, but rarely, the flowers are white.[199 - James Sowerby, English Botany, vol. xix. (London, 1804) p. 1319.] In England the plant is popularly known as Midsummer Men, because people used to plant slips of them in pairs on Midsummer Eve, one slip standing for a young man and the other for a young woman. If the plants, as they grew up, bent towards each other, the couple would marry; if either of them withered, he or she whom it represented would die.[200 - John Aubrey, Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme (London, 1881), pp. 25 sq.; J. Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), i. 329 sqq.; Rev. Hilderic Friend, Flowers and Flower Lore, Third Edition (London, 1886), p. 136; D. H. Moutray Read, “Hampshire Folk-lore,” Folk-lore, xxii. (1911) p. 325. Compare J. Sowerby, English Botany, vol. xix. (London, 1804), p. 1319: “Like all succulent plants this is very tenacious of life, and will keep growing long after it has been torn from its native spot. The country people in Norfolk sometimes hang it up in their cottages, judging by its vigour of the health of some absent friend.” It seems that in England the course of love has sometimes been divined by means of sprigs of red sage placed in a basin of rose-water on Midsummer Eve (J. Brand, op. cit. i. 333).] In Masuren, Westphalia, and Switzerland the method of forecasting the future by means of the orpine is precisely the same.[201 - M. Töppen, Aberglauben aus Masuren

(Danzig, 1867), pp. 71 sq.; A. Kuhn, Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. 176, § 487; E. Hoffmann-Krayer, Feste und Bräuche des Schweizervolkes (Zurich, 1913), p. 163. In Switzerland the species employed for this purpose on Midsummer day is Sedum reflexum. The custom is reported from the Emmenthal. In Germany a root of orpine, dug up on St. John's morning and hung between the shoulders, is sometimes thought to be a cure for hemorrhoids (Montanus, Die deutschen Volksfeste, p. 145). Perhaps the “oblong, tapering, fleshy, white lumps” of the roots (J. Sowerby, English Botany, vol. xix. London, 1804, p. 1319) are thought to bear some likeness to the hemorrhoids, and to heal them on the principle that the remedy should resemble the disease.]

Vervain gathered for magical purposes at Midsummer. Magical virtue of four-leaved clover on Midsummer Eve.

Another plant which popular superstition has often associated with the summer solstice is vervain.[202 - See above, vol. i. pp. 162, 163, 165. In England vervain (Verbena officinalis) grows not uncommonly by road sides, in dry sunny pastures, and in waste places about villages. It flowers in July. The flowers are small and sessile, the corolla of a very pale lilac hue, its tube enclosing the four short curved stamens. The root of the plant, worn by a string round the neck, is an old superstitious medicine for scrofulous disorders. See James Sowerby, English Botany, vol. xi. (London, 1800) p. 767.] In some parts of Spain people gather vervain after sunset on Midsummer Eve, and wash their faces next morning in the water in which the plants have been allowed to steep overnight.[203 - Dr. Otero Acevado, in Le Temps, September 1898. See above, vol. i. p. 208, note 1.] In Belgium vervain is gathered on St. John's Day and worn as a safeguard against rupture.[204 - Le Baron de Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Calendrier Belge (Brussels, 1861-1862), i. 422.] In Normandy the peasants cull vervain on the Day or the Eve of St. John, believing that, besides its medical properties, it possesses at this season the power of protecting the house from thunder and lightning, from sorcerers, demons, and thieves.[205 - A. de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France, p. 262; Amélie Bosquet, La Normandie romanesque et merveilleuse, p. 294; J. Lecœur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand, i. 287, ii. 8. In Saintonge and Aunis the plant was gathered on Midsummer Eve for the purpose of evoking or exorcising spirits (J. L. M. Noguès, Les mœurs d'autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis, p. 72).] Bohemian poachers wash their guns with a decoction of vervain and southernwood, which they have gathered naked before sunrise on Midsummer Day; guns which have been thus treated never miss the mark.[206 - J. V. Grohmann, Aberglauben und Gebräuche aus Böhmen und Mähren, p. 207, § 1437.] In our own country vervain used to be sought for its magical virtues on Midsummer Eve.[207 - A. Kuhn, Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. 177, citing Chambers, Edinburgh Journal, 2nd July 1842.] In the Tyrol they think that he who finds a four-leaved clover while the vesper-bell is ringing on Midsummer Eve can work magic from that time forth.[208 - I. V. Zingerle, Sitten, Bräuche und Meinungen des Tiroler Volkes

(Innsbruck, 1871), p. 107, § 919.] People in Berry say that the four-leaved clover is endowed with all its marvellous virtues only when it has been plucked by a virgin on the night of Midsummer Eve.[209 - Laisnel de la Salle, Croyances et Légendes du Centre de la France (Paris, 1875), i. 288.] In Saintonge and Aunis the four-leaved clover, if it be found on the Eve of St. John, brings good luck at play;[210 - J. L. M. Noguès, Les mœurs d'autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis, pp. 71 sq.] in Belgium it brings a girl a husband.[211 - Le Baron de Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Calendrier Belge, i. 423.]

Camomile gathered for magical purposes at Midsummer.

At Kirchvers, in Hesse, people run out to the fields at noon on Midsummer Day to gather camomile; for the flowers, plucked at the moment when the sun is at the highest point of his course, are supposed to possess the medicinal qualities of the plant in the highest degree. In heathen times the camomile flower, with its healing qualities, its yellow calix and white stamens, is said to have been sacred to the kindly and shining Balder and to have borne his name, being called Balders-brâ, that is, Balder's eyelashes.[212 - W. Kolbe, Hessische Volks-Sitten und Gebräuche

(Marburg, 1888), p. 72; Sophus Bugge, Studien über die Entstehung der nordischen Götter- und Heldensagen (Munich, 1889), pp. 35, 295 sq.; Fr. Kauffmann, Balder (Strasburg, 1902), pp. 45, 61. The flowers of common camomile (Anthemis nobilis) are white with a yellow disk, which in time becomes conical. The whole plant is intensely bitter, with a peculiar but agreeable smell. As a medicine it is useful for stomachic troubles. In England it does not generally grow wild. See James Sowerby, English Botany, vol. xiv. (London, 1802) p. 980.] In Westphalia, also, the belief prevails that camomile is most potent as a drug when it has been gathered on Midsummer Day;[213 - A. Kuhn, Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. 177, § 488.] in Masuren the plant must always be one of the nine different kinds of plants that are culled on Midsummer Eve to form wreaths, and tea brewed from the flower is a remedy for many sorts of maladies.[214 - M. Töppen, Aberglauben aus Masuren

(Danzig, 1867), p. 71.]

Mullein (Verbascum) gathered for magical purposes at Midsummer.

Thuringian peasants hold that if the root of the yellow mullein (Verbascum) has been dug up in silence with a ducat at midnight on Midsummer Eve, and is worn in a piece of linen next to the skin, it will preserve the wearer from epilepsy.[215 - A. Witzschel, Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Thüringen (Vienna, 1878), p. 289, § 139.] In Prussia girls go out into the fields on Midsummer Day, gather mullein, and hang it up over their beds. The girl whose flower is the first to wither will be the first to die.[216 - W. J. A. von Tettau und J. D. H. Temme, Volkssagen Ostpreussens, Litthauens und Westpreussens (Berlin, 1837), p. 283.] Perhaps the bright yellow flowers of mullein, clustering round the stem like lighted candles, may partly account for the association of the plant with the summer solstice. In Germany great mullein (Verbascum thapsus) is called the King's Candle; in England it is popularly known as High Taper. The yellow, hoary mullein (Verbascum pulverulentum) “forms a golden pyramid a yard high, of many hundreds of flowers, and is one of the most magnificent of British herbaceous plants.”[217 - James Sowerby, English Botany, vol. vii. (London, 1798), p. 487. As to great mullein or high taper, see id., vol. viii. (London, 1799), p. 549.] We may trace a relation between mullein and the sun in the Prussian custom of bending the flower, after sunset, towards the point where the sun will rise, and praying at the same time that a sick person or a sick beast may be restored to health.[218 - Tettau und Temme, loc. cit. As to mullein at Midsummer, see also above, vol. i. pp. 190, 191.]

Seeds of fir-cones, wild thyme, elder-flowers, and purple loosestrife gathered for magical purposes at Midsummer.

In Bohemia poachers fancy that they can render themselves invulnerable by swallowing the seed from a fir-cone which they have found growing upwards before sunrise on the morning of St. John's Day.[219 - J. V. Grohmann, Aberglauben und Gebräuche aus Böhmen und Mähren, p. 205, § 1426.] Again, wild thyme gathered on Midsummer Day is used in Bohemia to fumigate the trees on Christmas Eve in order that they may grow well;[220 - J. V. Grohmann, op. cit. p. 93, § 648.] in Voigtland a tea brewed from wild thyme which has been pulled at noon on Midsummer Day is given to women in childbed.[221 - J. A. E. Köhler, Volksbrauch, Aberglauben, Sagen und andre alte Ueberlieferungen im Voigtlande (Leipsic, 1867), p. 377.] The Germans of Western Bohemia brew a tea or wine from elder-flowers, but they say that the brew has no medicinal virtue unless the flowers have been gathered on Midsummer Eve. They do say, too, that whenever you see an elder-tree, you should take off your hat.[222 - Alois John, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen (Prague, 1905), p. 84.] In the Tyrol dwarf-elder serves to detect witchcraft in cattle, provided of course that the shrub has been pulled up or the branches broken on Midsummer Day.[223 - J. N. Ritter von Alpenburg, Mythen und Sagen Tirols (Zurich, 1857), p. 397.] Russian peasants regard the plant known as purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) with respect and even fear. Wizards make much use of it. They dig the root up on St. John's morning, at break of day, without the use of iron tools; and they believe that by means of the root, as well as of the blossom, they can subdue evil spirits and make them serviceable, and also drive away witches and the demons that guard treasures.[224 - C. Russwurm, “Aberglaube aus Russland,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, iv. (1859) pp. 153 sq. The purple loosestrife is one of our most showy English wild plants. In July and August it may be seen flowering on the banks of rivers, ponds, and ditches. The separate flowers are in axillary whorls, which together form a loose spike of a reddish variable purple. See James Sowerby, English Botany, vol. xv. (London, 1802) p. 1061.]

Magical properties attributed to fern seed at Midsummer.

More famous, however, than these are the marvellous properties which popular superstition in many parts of Europe has attributed to the fern at this season. At midnight on Midsummer Eve the plant is supposed to bloom and soon afterwards to seed; and whoever catches the bloom or the seed is thereby endowed with supernatural knowledge and miraculous powers; above all, he knows where treasures lie hidden in the ground, and he can render himself invisible at will by putting the seed in his shoe. But great precautions must be observed in procuring the wondrous bloom or seed, which else quickly vanishes like dew on sand or mist in the air. The seeker must neither touch it with his hand nor let it touch the ground; he spreads a white cloth under the plant, and the blossom or the seed falls into it. Beliefs of this sort concerning fern-seed have prevailed, with trifling variations of detail, in England, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Russia.[225 - J. Brand, Popular Antiquities, i. 314 sqq.; Hilderic Friend, Flowers and Flower Lore, Third Edition (London, 1886), pp. 60, 78, 150, 279-283; Miss C. S. Burne and Miss G. F. Jackson, Shropshire Folk-lore (London, 1883), p. 242; Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), pp. 89 sq.; J. B. Thiers, Traité des Superstitions (Paris, 1679), p. 314; J. Lecœur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand, i. 290; P. Sébillot, Coutumes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne (Paris, 1886), p. 217; id., Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute-Bretagne (Paris, 1882), ii. 336; A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube

(Berlin, 1869), pp. 94 sq., § 123; F. J. Vonbun, Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie (Chur, 1862), pp. 133 sqq.; Montanus, Die deutschen Volksfesten, p. 144; K. Bartsch, Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Mecklenburg, ii. 288, § 1437; M. Töppen, Aberglauben aus Masuren,

p. 72; A. Schlossar, “Volksmeinung und Volksaberglaube aus der deutschen Steiermark,” Germania, N.R., xxiv. (1891) p. 387; Theodor Vernaleken, Mythen und Bräuche des Volkes in Oesterreich (Vienna, 1859), p. 309; J. N. Ritter von Alpenburg, Mythen und Sagen Tirols (Zurich, 1857), pp. 407 sq.; I. V. Zingerle, Sitten, Bräuche und Meinungen des Tiroler Volkes

(Innsbruck, 1871), p. 103, § 882, p. 158, § 1350; Christian Schneller, Märchen und Sagen aus Wälschtirol (Innsbruck, 1867), p. 237; J. V. Grohmann, Aberglauben und Gebräuche aus Böhmen und Mähren, p. 97, §§ 673-677; Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Fest-Kalendar aus Böhmen (Prague, n. d.), pp. 311 sq.; W. Müller, Beiträge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mähren (Vienna and Olmutz, 1893), p. 265; R. F. Kaindl, Die Huzulen (Vienna, 1894), p. 106; id., “Zauberglaube bei den Huzulen,” Globus, lxxvi. (1899) p. 275; P. Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien (Leipsic, 1903-1906), i. 142, § 159; G. Finamore, Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi (Palermo, 1890), p. 161; C. Russwurm, “Aberglaube in Russland,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, iv. (1859) pp. 152 sq.; A. de Gubernatis, Mythologie des Plantes (Paris, 1878-1882), ii. 144 sqq. The practice of gathering ferns or fern seed on the Eve of St. John was forbidden by the synod of Ferrara in 1612. See J. B. Thiers, Traité des Superstitions

(Paris, 1741), i. 299 sq. In a South Slavonian story we read how a cowherd understood the language of animals, because fern-seed accidentally fell into his shoe on Midsummer Day (F. S. Krauss, Sagen und Märchen der Südslaven, Leipsic, 1883-1884, ii. 424 sqq., No. 159). On this subject I may refer to my article, “The Language of Animals,” The Archaeological Review, i. (1888) pp. 164 sqq.] In Bohemia the magic bloom is said to be golden, and to glow or sparkle like fire.[226 - J. V. Grohmann, op. cit. p. 97, §§ 673, 675.] In Russia, they say that at dead of night on Midsummer Eve the plant puts forth buds like glowing coals, which on the stroke of twelve burst open with a clap like thunder and light up everything near and far.[227 - Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, iv. (1859) pp. 152 sq.; A. de Gubernatis, Mythologie des Plantes, ii. 146.] In the Azores they say that the fern only blooms at midnight on St. John's Eve, and that no one ever sees the flower because the fairies instantly carry it off. But if any one, watching till it opens, throws a cloth over it, and then, when the magic hour has passed, burns the blossoms carefully, the ashes will serve as a mirror in which you can read the fate of absent friends; if your friends are well and happy, the ashes will resume the shape of a lovely flower; but if they are unhappy or dead, the ashes will remain cold and lifeless.[228 - M. Longworth Dames and E. Seemann, “Folk-lore of the Azores,” Folk-lore, xiv. (1903) pp. 142 sq.] In Thuringia people think that he who has on his person or in his house the male fern (Aspidium filix mas) cannot be bewitched. They call it St. John's root (Johanniswurzel), and say that it blooms thrice in the year, on Christmas Eve, Easter Eve, and the day of St. John the Baptist; it should be dug up when the sun enters the sign of the lion. Armed with this powerful implement you can detect a sorcerer at any gathering, it may be a wedding feast or what not. All you have to do is to put the root under the tablecloth unseen by the rest of the company, and, if there should be a sorcerer among them, he will turn as pale as death and get up and go away. Fear and horror come over him when the fern-root is under the tablecloth. And when oxen, horses, or other domestic cattle are bewitched by wicked people, you need only take the root at full moon, soak it in water, and sprinkle the cattle with the water, or rub them down with a cloth that has been steeped in it, and witchcraft will have no more power over the animals.[229 - August Witzschel, Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Thüringen (Vienna, 1878), p. 275, § 82.]

Branches of hazel cut at Midsummer to serve as divining-rods.

Once more, people have fancied that if they cut a branch of hazel on Midsummer Eve it would serve them as a divining rod to discover treasures and water. This belief has existed in Moravia, Mecklenburg, and apparently in Scotland.[230 - W. Müller, Beiträge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mähren (Vienna and Olmutz, 1893), p. 265; K. Bartsch, Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Mecklenburg, ii. p. 285, § 1431, p. 288, § 1439; J. Napier, Folk-lore, or Superstitious Beliefs in the West of Scotland (Paisley, 1879), p. 125.] In the Mark of Brandenburg, they say that if you would procure the mystic wand you must go to the hazel by night on Midsummer Eve, walking backwards, and when you have come to the bush you must silently put your hands between your legs and cut a fork-shaped stick; that stick will be the divining-rod, and, as such, will detect treasures buried in the ground. If you have any doubt as to the quality of the wand, you have only to hold it in water; for in that case your true divining-rod will squeak like a pig, but your spurious one will not.[231 - A. Kuhn, Märkische Sagen und Märchen (Berlin, 1843), p. 330. As to the divining-rod in general, see A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks

(Gütersloh, 1886), pp. 181 sqq.; J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,