Wednesday 18 May 2022

Hawthorn

The Hedges have suddenly become white in the last week as Hawthorn is flowering everywhere


 
 Hawthorn (or May) is one of those plants that has been around forever with so much folklore attached to it.  
During the land enclosures in the 16th to 18th centuries it's estimated that 200,000 miles of Hawthorn hedges were planted. Fast growing, sturdy and very spiny it makes a perfect impenetrable hedge when it's cut and laid. Something that doesn't happen so much nowadays, and of course many of those old Hawthorn hedges were pulled out in the 70's as farm machinery got bigger and farmers were paid to remove them and make bigger fields. 

Before the calendar changes Hawthorn would have been in flower on May day which was a special day for celebrations, also known Beltane( Bel's Fire) and would have been used in many of the old traditional festivities.
 
It was once though to protect from lightening
 
Beware the oak, it courts a stroke,
Beware the Ash, it courts a flash,
Creep under the Thorn,
It will save you from harm.
 
  Hawthorn branches were woven into a globe and hung in the rafters of the kitchen to protect from fire. Taken down when the May flowered the following year it was then burnt and the ashes scattered on the vegetable garden for fertility. 

But from the mid C17 it was considered unlucky to bring Hawthorn blossom into the house, thought to be due to the fact that people with the  plague had the scent of  May flowers about them.
 
Hawthorn blossom and Elder flowers
Fill the house with evil powers

 
 From that time Hawthorn was said to be a favourite of witches who were thought to be able to turn themselves into the tree at any time. So it was never a good idea to sit and rest or fall asleep under a Hawthorn as you could be taken by the witch and disappear into the mysterious fey world forever.
 
 
From The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady

It was thought that felling a Hawthorn was disastrous unless a prayer was said beforehand and to fell a Hawthorn when clearing the land to build a house meant bad luck or even death for the people who would live there.
Hawthorns crossed from Pagan to Christian lore and  in Ireland often became "mass trees" dedicated to Saints or associated with holy wells. While in  England The Glastonbury Thorn is  the most well known, growing from a staff planted in the ground by St Joseph of Arimathea.


And of course Cicely Mary Barker had an illustration for the May Fairy in her book "Flower Fairies of the Spring.


 

Back Tomorrow
Sue


 

41 comments:

  1. "Ne'er cast a clout till may is out" - the May IS out, so we can stop wearing our winter vests!

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    1. Definitely no vest needed yesterday - a lovely warm day

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  2. And you can eat the young leaves of the hawthorn, called ‘bread and cheese’ by children. Athene

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    1. I've tried them often - but never found them very edible or tasty!

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  3. My Lancashire mother would say Hawthorn flower was called "Mother Death" and it was considered unlucky to bring the blossom in the house.

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    1. Definitely no may in the house in Suffolk either

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  4. My mum always said no May in the house too as it was unlucky. I thought that came from Hawthorn being used for Christ's crown of thorns.

    I saw a lovely deep pink one next to the normal white yesterday in a hedgerow and was reminded of the beautiful one Keith's mum had in her garden. When her house was sold to an Indian gentleman who used it as a rental, the first thing he did was chop the tree down and rip out all her beautiful roses. So sad.

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    1. We had a dark pink Hawthorn at the smallholding when we moved in but a couple of years later it just suddenly died over winter

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  5. This was such an interesting post. I had no idea that hawthorn is also called May. I always enjoy your posts about folklore.

    With love from,
    Kelly (Mrs. Kiwi)

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  6. May was my mum's favourite blossom, it remi DS me each year of her joy once it bloomed.

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    1. Spring has really arrived with the May blossom this year

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  7. Always remember the 'Glastonbury Thorn' and its validity as the stick of Jesus or was it Joseph of Arimathea I can't remember. The Queen has a sprig on her Christmas table every year I think.

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    1. Didn't know about the Queens tradition - I wonder why?

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  8. Thanks for this. I had not heard all of those. We have discovered that we have a beautiful Hawthorn outside our kitchen window and it has been in flower now for a week or so. I am very grateful to the previous owners for planting it.

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  9. Absolutely fascinating, thanks very much, Sue. xx

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  10. They say you learn something new every day - and now I know that people who get the plague smell like the flowers of hawthorns!

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  11. When is May hawthorn and when blackthorn? I've never known. In Alison Uttley's The Country Child, Susan brings May into the house, thinking to please her mother with the pretty flowers, and is driven out again with cries of horror, because of the bad luck it was thought to bring.

    There's hawthorn in my mixed hedge and it's flowering now (Dorset). It's a real shining white.

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    1. I've never known Blackthorn to be called May - it flowers much earlier too

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  12. So much mystery surrounding the hawthorn.
    cathy

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    1. It curious how some plants have so many old traditions and sayings about them

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  13. It is surprising 100 miles make, herein south essex the hawthorn has finished

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    1. Oh that's interesting to know. It won't last too long here with the hot days and predicted thunderstorms tonight!

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  14. Hawthorn is beautiful isn't it, and this year it seems spectacular all along the canal towpath.

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    1. I love to come across a pink hawthorn - a nice surprise

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  15. The white blooms on the Hawthorne tree are quite beautiful. All the folklore around the tree is amazing. The tree has a long history. The display of a mass planting of Hawthorne must be very impressive in May.

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  16. I never knew any of those old traditions. I love the drawings in your seasonal and nature books!

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  17. This is a lovely post, thank you. I love to see May flowers but I remember my own mum being cross when I took some into the house once. She made me take them right out again! She was convinced they brought bad luck.

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    1. I'm sure my Mum would have been the same - she didn't let Lilac in either

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  18. A very different scent from that of the lilac in your header and yet in its own way just as beautiful.

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    1. The white Lilac in the garden doesn't seem to have much scent - sadly

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  19. The blossoms from the May tree, as it most commonly called in my area, sets off my hay fever-eyes and nose streaming. I still love it for its beauty. The flower fairies books always lift my spirits.

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    1. Yes it was alwyas called May in our house too

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  20. Always interesting to find a new blog, noticed you on Codinsandcream. Hawthorn now that make me sneeze a bit in flower and there is a fair bit down by the river and quite a lot around the village. I've not see that first book you mentioned in a long time

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    1. I may be new to you but I've been writing since 2013!

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  21. What interesting folklore and history. And good for the Irish for turning its reputation to good.

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