Rustic Superstitions.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 402, 14 September 1889, Page 3

Rustic Superstitions.

Occasionally when the dairymaid churned for a Ions? time without, making butter she would sfcir the cream with a twig of mountain ash and beat the cow with another, thus breaking the witch's spell. But to pi-event accidents of this kind it has long been customary in the Northern countries to make the churn staff of ash. For the same reason herd-boys employ an ash twig for driving cattle, and one may often see a mountain ash growing near a house. On the Continent the tree is in equal repute, and in Norway and Denmark rowan branches are usually put over stable doors to keep out witches, a similar notion prevailing in Germany. No tree, perhaps holds such a prominent place in witchcraft lore as the mountain ash, its mystic power having rarely failed to render fruitless the evil influence of these enemies of mankind. To counteiact the spell of the evil eye, from -which many innocent persons were believed to suffer in the witchcraft period, many flowers have been in requisition among numerous charms used. Thus, the Russian maidens still hang round the stem of the bird tree red ribbon, the Brahmans gather rice, and in Italy rue is in demand. The Scotch peasantry pluck twigs of ash, the Highland women the groundsel, and the German folk woar the radish. In early times the ring wort was recommended by Apuleius, and later on the fern was regarded as a preservative against this baneful influence. The Chinese put faith in the garlic, and, in short, every country has ifcs own special plants. — ' Ponular Science Monthly.'