The Rose is one of the plants used for love divinations on Midsummer Eve. In Cornwall, Devon, and other counties, if a young lady will, on Midsummer Eve, walk backwards into the garden, and pluck a Rose, she is reputed to have the means of knowing who is to be her husband. The Rose must be cautiously sewn up in a paper bag, and put aside in a dark drawer, there to remain until Christmas morning, when the bag must be carefully opened in silence, and the Rose placed by the lady in her bosom. Thus she must wear it to church. Some young man will either ask her for the Rose or take it from her without asking; and that young man is destined eventually to become the lady’s husband. Herrick probably refers to this charm in the ‘Hesperides,’ when, in allusion to a bride, he says:—
“She must no more a-maying,
Or by Rosebuds divine
Who’ll be her Valentine.”
There is a curious old divination rite to be employed on the 27th of June, according to which maidens are enjoined on that morning to gather secretly a full-blown Rose, between three and four o’clock. The flower is then to be held for about five minutes over the smoke of a chafing-dish containing some brimstone and charcoal; then, before the Rose gets cool, it is to be placed on a sheet of paper, on which is inscribed the maiden’s name and that of the swain she loves, together with the date of the year, and the name of the morning star. This paper, having been folded and thrice sealed, is to be buried at the foot of the Rose-tree from which the flower was plucked, and allowed to remain there until the 6th of July, when it is to be taken up, and placed beneath the maiden’s pillow, with the result that, before morning, she will, in a dream, have her fate revealed. The Rose is utilised as a love-charm in Thuringia; there a maid who has several lovers will name a Rose-leaf after each, and then scatter them upon the water; that which sinks the last representing her future husband.
It was a common belief formerly, that when Roses or Violets flourished in Autumn, there would be a plague or some pestiferous disease during the ensuing year. Lord Bacon points out that a profusion of Roses in their season predicts a severe Winter, and the belief is still extant.
“The Thorns and Briars, vermilion hue,
Now full of Hips and Haws are seen;
If village prophecies be true,
They prove that Winter will be keen.”