Verbena in Human Culture
- See also Verbena (disambiguation)
Verbena has long been associated with divine and other supernatural forces. It was called "tears of Isis" in ancient Egypt, and later on "Juno's tears". In ancient Greece it was dedicated to Eos Erigineia. In the early Christian era, folk legend stated that V. officinalis was used to staunch Jesus' wounds after his removal from the cross. It was consequently called "holy herb" or (e.g. in Wales) "Devil's bane".
Vervain flowers are engraved on cimaruta, Italian anti-stregheria charms. In the 1870 The History and Practice of Magic by "Paul Christian" it is employed in the preparation of a mandragora charm.
While common vervain is not native to North America, it has been introduced there and for example the Pawnee have adopted it as an entheogen enhancer and in oneiromancy, much like Calea zacatechichi is used in Mexico.
The generic name is the Latin term for a plant sacred to the ancient Romans. Pliny the Elder describes verbena presented on Jupiter altars; it is not entirely clear if this referred to a verbena rather than the general term for prime sacrificial herbs.
The common names of verbena in many Central and Eastern European languages often associate it with iron. These include for example the Dutch IJzerhard ("iron-hardener"), Danish Læge-Jernurt ("medical ironwort"), German Echtes Eisenkraut ("true ironherb"), Slovak Železník lekársky ("medical ironherb"), and Hungarian vasfű ("iron grass").
In hanakotoba (花言葉, Japanese flower-language), vervains are called bijozakura (美女桜) and are a symbol of cooperativeness. In Western culture, they are the birthday flower of July 29.
An indeterminate vervain is among the plants on the eighth panel of the New World Tapestry ("Expedition to Cape Cod"), embroidered in 1602/03.
In the William Faulkner short story "An Odor of verbena", verbena is used symbolically and described as "the only scent that can be smelled above the scent of horses and courage", similar to the symbolic use of honeysuckle in "The Sound and the fury".
William Carew Hazlitt's Faiths and Folklore (1905) quotes John Aubrey's Miscellanies (1721), to wit:
"Vervain and Dill / Hinder witches from their will."
In the series of young adult novels The Vampire Diaries, author L. J. Smith uses vervain to protect humans from vampires, in an extension of vervain's fabled magic-suppression powers against witches. In The Struggle, Volume II, the vampire Stefan instructs the human Elena that vervain can "protect you against bewitchment, and it can keep your mind clear if vampire or an other supernatural that is using Powers against you." He tells her how it is prepared and used, "Once I've extracted the oil from the seeds, you can rub it into your skin, or add it to a bath. And you can make the dried leaves into a sachet and carry it with you, or put it under your pillow at night", but gives her an unprepared sprig for protection in the meantime.
In the 1977 novel Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa, one of the major characters, Pedro Camacho, constantly drinks "verbena-and-mint tea" instead of coffee. The character, a writer of radio soap operas, claims that it "clears the synapses."
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