Archaic England : $b an essay in deciphering prehistory from megalithic monuments, earthworks, customs, coins, place-names, and faerie superstitionsBayley, Harold
History
Archaic England : $b an essay in deciphering prehistory from megalithic monuments, earthworks, customs, coins, place-names, and faerie superstitions
Bayley, Harold
Archaeology; England -- Antiquities
We have it on the authority of Shakespeare that "Fairies use flowers for
their charactery," whence probably the pink with its pinked or ray-like
petals was a flower of Pan on High. _Dianthus_, the Greek for pink,
means "divine" or "day flower," and like the daisy or Day's Eye the
Pansy was in all probability deemed to be Pan's eye. Among the list of
Elphin names with which, complained Reginald Scott, "our mothers' maids
have so frayed us,"[181] he includes "Pans" and the "_First_ Fairy" in
Lyly's _The Maid's Metamorphosis_, introduces himself by the remark, "My
name is Penny". To this primary elf may perhaps be assigned the plant
name Pennyroyal, and his haunts may be assumed at various Pennyfields,
Pandowns, and Bunhills.
Some authorities maintain that Bonfire is a corruption of Bonefire, or
fire of bones. But bones will not burn, and the "Blessing Fire,"
Bonfire, Good Fire, or Beltane is still worshipped in Brittany under the
Celtic name of _Tan Tad_ or _Fire Father_. In Brittany there exists to
this day a worship of the Druidic Fire Father, which in its elaborate
ritual preserves seemingly the exact spirit and ceremony of prehistoric
fire-worship. In Provence the grandfather sets the Christmas log alight,
the youngest child pours wine over it, then amid shouts of joy the log
is put upon the fire-dogs and its first flame is awaited with reverence.
This instance is the more memorable by reason of the prayer which has
survived in connection with the ceremony and has been thus quoted in
_Notes and Queries_: "Mix the brightness of thy flames with that of our
hearts, and maintain among us peace and good health. Warm with thy fire
the feet of orphans and of sick old men. Guard the house of the poor,
and do not destroy the hopes of the peasant or the seaman's boat."
The instances of Bonfire or Beltane customs collected by the author of
_The Golden Bough_ clearly evince their original sanctity. In Greece
women jumped over the all-purifying flames crying, "I leave my sins
behind me," and notwithstanding the strenuous efforts of Christianity to
persuade our forefathers that all who worship fire "shall go in misery
to sore punishment," the cult of Fire still continues in out-of-the-way
parts even now. To this day children in Ireland are passed through the
fire by being caught up and whisked over it, my authority for which
statement observing: "We have here apparently an exact repetition of the
worship described in the Old Testament and an explanation of it, for
there the idolatrous Israelites are described as passing their sons and
their daughters through the fire. This the writer always thought was
some purifying cruel observance, but it seems that it could be done
without in any way hurting the children."[182]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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