The evil eye. An account of this ancient and wide spread superstition

in WORSHIP OF THE OAK 105
here does not accord with other accounts, though
the custom is abundantly recorded.
Here in Britain we all believe in the sacred groves
of our Druid forefathers, whose worship is said to
have always been under an oak. The Saxons held
their meetings under an oak, and there are endless
stories connected with that tree, all of which may be
said to be kept alive by our still commemorating the
29th of May as "Oak Apple Day," with boughs of
oak—a notable example of popular inaccuracy. The
date of the Restoration being perpetuated by the
memory of King Charles's escape on quite a differ-
ent occasion. We are too apt to forget that besides
King Charles's oak, all this tree-worship is in our
very midst, and is kept up to this day. What Is
the old Christmas custom of wassailing the apple-
trees, which the writer himself has often heard going
on, but a worship, a pouring out of a libation to the
tree spirit ? ^^^
In the typical representation of "plenty" known
to all Freemasons, we have in the " ear of corn near
a fall of water," not only a reminder of the ancient
worship of the spirit of vegetation, symbolised by
\±
the corn, but also another example of association of
ideas with facts—the dramatic representation of the
desired result. The corn irrigated by the water
from this point of view is a singularly appropriate
symbol of abundance.
Our Scandinavian forefathers were less acquainted
169 See IF. Somerset Word-Bk. p. 820. Brand, Pop. Ant. vol. i. pp.
9-29. An account of the recent performance of this curious ceremony appeared
in ^^ Devon and Someiset Weekly News, Feb. 20, 1890, although Brand says
the custom is discontinued. Raymond in Sam and Sabina (Pseudonym
Library) gives a good account of wassailing apple-trees, and also of burning
the ashen faggot.