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Rowan (and hawthorn) boughs were laid across lintels on solstice days to reinforce the beneficial qualities of the plants and to bestow good fortune on the dwelling.Ī mature Rowan tree. It was called the moon tree in northern myths, when the frosts at the winter solstice, would leave stars clustered among the upper branches in what may well have been the forerunner of our Christmas tree tradition. In most places, rowan is well known for its protective qualities against witches and fairies, and is believed to be the primary tree of power by ancient Celts. This Goddess tree was used to decorate springs and glades – and that belief was transferred to Christianity to adorn holy wells (often the same as pagan springs), the most famous Christian Hawthorn being that of Glastonbury. May was said to bloom at the festival of Beltane (Mayday) to mark the return of summer, although the calendar changes of the 18th century did mean that may flowered before then.
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In many places, however, the first person to bring flowering may indoors on Mayday was assured of good fortune. May, or hawthorn, brought into the house before Mayday is widely associated with bad luck. It wasn’t just my mother who wouldn’t allow may blossom in the house too early in the year. Sandwich, Kent) blackthorn staffs are carried as a badge of civic office. In contradiction to this, in many places (e.g. A blackthorn staff pointed at a pregnant women or animal was said to cause immediate miscarriage, or cause crops to whither. As late as the 1940s, anyone seen to carry a blackthorn walking stick was suspected of being a witch. Blackthornīlackthorn (sloe – pictured right) is often referred to as a witch’s tree. Four trees in particular are associated with the old religion and so, by default, with Witchcraft. Many plant-based myths seem to involve protection from, or for, witches and fairies, which in turn are euphemisms for ancient deities and their acolytes today’s Wiccans hold white to be the colour of the Goddess. White horehound is said to be an efficient cough cure, and ramsoms (wild garlic) is proffered as the cure for almost anything if you consult enough herbals. Chamomile tea is famous for its calming properties, and its relative, Feverfew, has long been advocated as an efficient remedy for migraine. Ignoring any extra housework, white flowered plants have their practical aspects. To accuse her of being superstitious would have brought on a tsunami of denial.
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My mother was a Welsh Chapel stalwart, and as stoic and sensible as they come. Pollen dropped from lily stamens will stain almost anything hence, perhaps, the aversion to arums. There’s little doubt that many superstitions have similarly prosaic origins. In the days before vacuum cleaners, the temptation for mothers to ban these work-generating posies from the parlour was understandable. This adage is said to have come about because the tiny white blossoms drop quickly. Like sweet woodruff, cow parsley has the reputation of “breaking your mother’s heart”. The runner-up roots in these ribald contests weren’t wasted, however and were stashed in their finder’s money boxes to ensure increases to the family income.Ĭow parsley is often called Devil’s parsley its close resemblance to hemlock (a highly poisonous white flower closely linked with witchcraft) may have some bearing. The winning womandrake, as it was often called, was hung in the bar until an even more realistic sample could be found. Yet in Cambridgeshire white bryony’s human torso-shaped root was the object of a pub competition to find the most womanly specimen. White bryony is said to scream when pulled from the ground, in the same way as mandrake (which it’s often falsely called), and was also claimed to be unlucky in the house. It was said that milkmaids were the only flowers excluded from may garlands for fear that the wearer would be dragged under the hill to Faeryland.
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Nor were milkmaids (cuckoo flower or lady’s smock) permitted because it was recognised as a fairy flower. For instance, she wouldn’t allow may blossom in the house before May morning had passed. Lilies, however, weren’t the only flower to draw my mother’s disapproval, as well as that of many of her generation. Why? Because in her view Arum Lilies are the Death Flower, and their presence in the home is an unerring harbinger of death in the family (though she could accept their popularity as a bridal bouquet flower without question). The moment my mother spotted them she threw a tantrum of monumental proportions and bodily evicted myself and the blooms. I once took home a bundle of Arum Lilies, discarded from the greenhouses of a local nurseryman.