been formed
from the wood of Ivy. Let the reader hear this double sex of Bacchus in
mind; he will find it recurring again in the myth of Ivy. 'We must,'
says CREUZER (_Symbolik und Mythologie der Alten Voelker_), 'think of ALL
things, if we would not see the Bacchic genii in their mysterious rites,
from a one-sided point of view. Not only Bacchus himself, but his male
and female companions must each, like their lord on earth, appear in
_different_ forms. For the mysteries loved the antique, the
pregnant-with-meaning, _i. e._ that which has a really symbolical
fulness, and supplies full food for thought.' And again: 'It would have
been very strange if the Man-Woman had not also appeared in this
mysterious array of forms. In his origin, Bacchus is an Indian god, and
to the Hindus the world was bi-sexed.' Thus we find in the Ivy, as his
sacred plant, a curious and beautiful symbol, in whose trailing embraces
the ancient East and West are bound together.

If the Ivy cup was held to typify female nature, so too were the leaves
of that plant emblematical of the receptive sex. The thyrsus, the
distinctive object borne by the worshippers of Bacchus, was a phallic or
male symbol, the characteristic portion of which was wreathed and buried
in Ivy leaves; signifying the union of the sexes. It is curious to
observe that this regarding the Ivy as characteristic of the feminine
principle, found its way among the Druids, and was transmitted from them
to the Christian and Christmas ceremonies of the middle ages. In these
we always find that the thorned holly is spoken of as male, and the Ivy
as female. In the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1779, a correspondent
relates a ceremony, which is still preserved in some parts of England.
'The girls, from five or six to eighteen years old, were assembled in a
crowd, burning an uncouth effigy, which they called a _holly-boy_, and
which they had stolen from the boys; while in another part of the
village, the boys were burning what they called an _Ivy-girl_, which
they had stolen from the girls. The ceremony of each burning was
attended with huzzas and other acclamations, according to the receipt of
custom in all such cases.'[1]

There is but one legend in all the legends of the gods; but one
solution, though the enigmas be thousandfold; and the myth of the Ivy is
only a repetition of that of Bacchus and of all the immortals--the
endless allegory of birth and death, male and female, winter and spri