Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-08-02
QUEER FLOWER sUPERsTITIoNs.
World Wide Beliefs About the Good
and Bad Luck They Brinq.

SuperstitionS about flowers are world
bride carries q bouquet of white roses.
all unconscious Of the fact that some
where on the earth are people possess
ed with the idea that to smell white
roses is bad for the BRAIN" Nor recks
she, as she sees the same bouquet torn
apart by her girl friends in grand
scramble for it, that to pull a flower
to pieces-as is inevitable under the
circumstances-is sure sign that you
will die of consumption. Had she
worn no veil it would have been bad
luck to have any flowers in the hair at
all. Tuberoses the bride must not wear,
bluebells are barred, as bringing on in
sanity. Again, happy is the bride who
sees white flowers first on her wedding
morn: if they be red, look out for sor-
row and care. A lucky marriage may,
however, he guaranteed by putting
some flowers on the bee hives and
telling the bees" In Greece there Is
superstition that il the flowers en-
twined on the altar for a wedding be
left there it bodies i'll for future mar
riages.
Some Of the most curious supersti-
tions about flowers have to do with the
seemingly innocent matter of bringing
them into the house. If you keep a
scarlet geranium in the house all the
year some one will surely die they say.
Evidently this fear is not current in
some of the coast towns, because there
it is a common custom to keep the
scarlet geranium indoors all summer as
the winds are not conductive to bedding
out of doors. Nor would the Moham-
medan theory that the scarlet gera-
MUM is a swallow changed by touch
ing Mahomet's robe be accepted. In
Scotland bringing a Towering haw-
thorn into the house foretels a death In
the family. In north Germany it Is the
cornfiower, the kasers own bloom,
that Is barred from the house, lest the
bread mold.
Devonshire folk think it means death
to bring into the house a single daft
fodil. when this flower first appears in
the spring. There must be bunch Of
them, and the cowslip is similarly
hedged in by superstition. A hydran-
gea in the house brings trouble" and
snowdrops are "unlucky," while wild
flowers prevent the first brood Of
chickens from Matching. If you want
a plant indoors to have a large and
profuse bloom, put on the flower pot
some fresh earth from the grave of an
infant baptized within twelve months.
No yellow bloom should be brought i'll
to the house in May. The house with
bergamot near it is never Tree from
sickness. A plant of heliotrope in
church will keep in their places any
untrue wives in the congregation.
Beware of being "overfond" Of flow
ers; you will never marry. Beware al
so of picking the red field lily; it will
give you freckles. Thistles, though,
highly decorative, you should not
gather, as the act foretells folly, ap-
preaching dispute" In general, though,
it is good luck to gather flowers. To
pick roses is happy omen, and as for
violets, complete success in all under
takings follows. Yarrow is a flower
that will enable a girl to see her true
love, but she must pluck it from the
grave Of a young man. If she finds
saffron instead on the grave, that is a
good omen for some one; if there are
three yellow lilies the man has been
unjustly executed. In England there Is
a superstition that If bride and groom
eat periwinkle leaves together they will
love one another. Should he. after
marriage, prove recalcitrant, here is a
way to win him back: Take piece Of
the root of a wallhower and part
ridges heart, roll them into a ball and
make the man eat it. If you want to
know whether your lover loves you.
crush some bleeding heart. If the juice
is red, he does; if it is white, he does
not.
Witches, of course, must be excluded
from the house. The Chinese bring
this about-or think they do, which
amounts to the same thing-by sus-
pending punches of herbs and magic
plants over the door. In Canton it is
a New Year custom, after cleaning the
house, to put near the door a pair Of
scrolls of the lucky red color with
some such inscription as: Leaves of
the Moxa. like banner, procure a hun
dred blessings" In England hawthorn
used to be hung over the entrance to
a house in May to keep off witches.
On May day the witches, as well as the
fairies, are in the gore, so choose
some other time for burning it. If you
don't believe there are any witches
there are German folk who will tell you
to carry a four-leaf clover on Christ
mas Eve and let your own eyes con-
vince you.
1t is good luck to eat the first May
flower you see in the spring. If it is
crocus, let it alone; in Austria they
say it draws away ones strength.
Nor must you dig up a cuckoo flower
and tempt luck by moving a wild daisy
into the garden. In Egypt the anemone
is one Of the lucky flowers of spring;
wrap the first one in red cloth and, If
not disturbed, it will cure disease.
On the French coast it is useless to
try to catch fish unless the waters are
first strewn with flowers by the fisher
mems wives and daughters. In Devon
shire they regard it as unlucky to plant
a bed of lilies of the valley: the one
doing so will die in the course of twelve
months. The Turk sees misfortune in
so slight a thing as the fall of rose
petal and will sometimes guard against
such dropping by carefully picking the
flowers before they fall apart. In Sa-
moa the head of a corpse is wreathed
in flowers To aid in getting admission
to paradise.
The japanese see a significance in
III, fact that the flowers of the red