[Herbalist] Re: Tussie-Mussies- Poesys, etc.

[Corwyn and Carowyn]

Greetings!

>Nice to have the citations for the period use of this.

Yes, it would be, wouldn't it??  ;-)  This is what I was told, a long
time ago, before I was documenting sources in the SCA: the language of
flowers was indeed used in the Middle Ages, and here and there we catch
glimpses of it - Shakespeare is one, and some of the herbals are another.
 (Somewhere, where I can't find the darn things right now, is a
translation of a writer waxing quite poetic over various flowers.
Interspersed are the "meanings" for the flowers.)  The Victorians
codified it, and went hog-wild with it along with their obsession over
courtly love and romanticism.

Another clue is to look in the margins of some of the Books of Hours, or
to look at the background of the illuminations in other Books of Hours,
or to look at the flowers in the background of tapestries.  Many went on
a theme.  I've tested my Victorian list many times on the medieval pages
by checking what each flower / herb means, and I havent seen a glaring
error yet.  I've assumed my book is the best I'll have without doing the
research myself (I'm already writing a book, someone else can have this
one!!!  ;-) ;-)

>I took a
>class once where a friend of mine brought the flowers and small glass
>'bosom buddies' vials, and we all made poseys for the cleavage!  (Must
have
>been an Elizabethan event, it's been quite a long time.)

They're period!  I have the pic to prove it, even though it's at the end
of the period we study!

>From my hubby on May Day, I got cream roses - richness, perpection, best
qualities - and one of the most lovely poems!  Loved it!

-Caro


________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.