Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-09-13
FLOWER SUPERSTITIoNs.
World Wide Beliefs About Good and
Bad Luck.

Superstitions about flowers are
world wide. The bride carries bou-
quet of white roses, all unconscious
of the fact that some where on the
earth are people possessed 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 Il 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. Tube
roses the bride must not wear. as
they portend mourning: in Scotland
bluebells are barred. as bringing on
insanity. Again. happy is the bride
who sees white flowers first on her
wedding morn: if they be red, look
out for sorrow and care. A lucky mar
riage may. however. be guaranteed by
putting some flowers on the bee hives
and telling the bees" In Greece
there is a superstition that if the flow
ers entwined on the altar for a we'd
ding he left there it BODIES i'll for flu
ture marriages. .,-tli'.
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 common custom
to keep the scarlet eeranium indoors
all summer as the winds are not con-
ducive to bedding out of doors. Nor
would the Mohammedan theory that
the scarlet geranium is a swallow
changed by touching Mahomet's robe
be accepted. In Scotland bringing a
Towering hawthorn into the house
foretels d death in the family. In
North Germany it is the cornflower, the
kaiser's own blume, that is barred from
the house, lest the bread mold.
Devonshire folk think it means death
to bring into the house single datfo-
dill, when this flower first appears in
the spring. There must be a bunch of
them. and the cowslip is similarly
hedged in by superstition. hydrangea
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 broom should be
brought into the house in May. The
house with bergamot near it is never
free from sickness. A plant of hello
trope in church will keep in their
places any untrue wives in the congre-
cation.
Beware Of being "overfond' of flow
ers: you will never marry. Beware
also of picking the red field lily; it will
give you freckles. Thistles, though
highly decorative, you should not gath
er, as the act foretells folly, APP
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 I'M
dertakings follows Yarrow is a flow
er that will enable 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
unjustIy executed. In England there
is a superstition that if bride and