An Ash tree up on the Bath Downs. Do you have a special tree? I am hundreds of miles away from my tree. It has had barbed wire fencing wrapped round it cruelly, the hooks digging into the bark. I have told this tale often but it is Odin's tree, the great Scandinavian World Yggdrasil tree with all its legend which is an Ash tree, powerful and strong. Nine leafed twigs, a magic number, though of course there can be 11 or 13 leaves. Magic just doesn't have to be confined. But conversely in folklore, if you found an equal number of leaves than you were sure to find your love by night.
Gilbert White (1720 to 1793) talks of shrew-ash (shrews or fairy mice). Shrews apparently ran over the cattle and stiffened their limbs. The cure was to entomb the little shrew mouse inside the trunk of an ash. A branch off the tree when stroked over the cattle would then cure them!
I hate to bring sex into the room but Aubrey Burl says this, and he is a great hero of mine. Well in winter when you look at the buds of the new growth, you will see a large bud with two smaller ones on either side. This is phallic and was why the Ash tree became sacred to Odin. Do I believe this? well it is a nice addenda to the story, and talking of stories, have you met the Man in the Tree, a good Celtic tale of nonsense.
A celtic story to tell, this again features Finn, who was walking through a wood one day and happened to spy a man sitting at the top of a tree. A blackbird on his right shoulder, and in his left hand a bronze vessel filled with water, in which swam a skittish trout, and a stag at the bottom of the tree. The man would crack a nut, half of which he ate himself the other half he gave to the blackbird. Then he would take an apple out of the bronze vessel, half of which he ate himself the other half he threw to the stag below. Then he would take a sip of the water in the vessel, as did the stag and the blackbird - they would all drink together.
The followers of Finn asked who this disguised hooded man was. Ann Ross speculates that this 'nurturer of animals' could be attributed to Cernunnos again or the romano-celtic god Vosegus, who has some of the attributes of the man in the tree.
The followers of Finn asked who this disguised hooded man was. Ann Ross speculates that this 'nurturer of animals' could be attributed to Cernunnos again or the romano-celtic god Vosegus, who has some of the attributes of the man in the tree.
I haven't got a tree here in Yorkshire that somehow appeals to me, though when I sit in the park at Hebden Bridge, waiting for the hour of my optician appointment I look up to a fir tree with its many branches and feel its age and I wonder can it feel mine.
Trees are a gift, their presence gives us oxygen to breathe, clears the air and most of all calms us with their presence. A new forest across the Western side of England is to be created so the government says. It will take in Wiltshire, Gloucester, Mendips and the Cotswold.
ReplyDeleteThat's some nice folklore.
My favourite tree in Melbourne is also a favourite of many. https://trusttrees.org.au/tree/VIC/South_Yarra/Alexandra_Ave_And_Punt_Road
How are the new and colourful walking shoes?
Haven't tried them yet but will!
DeleteI don't have a favorite tree but I did enjoy a book about trees. I can't remember if I mentioned it to you already. It's The Hidden Life of Trees. I read the illustrated version and thought it was fabulous.
ReplyDeleteI like your new walking shoes and think it's great that Andrew wants to keep you healthy!
I remember a book a few years back Ellen called 'Meeting with Remarkable Trees' which had all the very old trees of Britain.
Deletegood tales...... i had an ash tree in my garden here..... it was bloody massive..... in fact it was bigger than my three storey house..... the ash is renowned for a couple of reasons...... last to get its leaves and first to lose them....... and the branches are quite brittle and they shed a lot of weight in winds and rain...... so much so that, unfortunately for me, and the planet, the tree simply had to go....... its stump does sort of live on as it is well colonised with glistening inkcaps and turkey tail and candlesnuff fungi..... lots of moss.... and of course we get bloody ash saplings springing up all over the place...... sorry it wasn't a great ending but it's life of a different kind.....
ReplyDeleteIt is alright if the helicopter ash keys land on the lawn then they can get cut by the lawn mower. They can also host, I think it is honeydew from greenfly which are attracted to it. Anyway whatever it is it is very sticky.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that I do have a special tree - have never really thought of that, but perhaps I should... I would love to have a fruiting quince tree again, that would be wonderful.
ReplyDeleteQuince fruit make that lovely amber jelly or jam. Very tart, and if I remember rightly is one of the first blossoms Mark.
DeleteI do have a favorite tree. I passed it on the school bus on the way to school every day. I am not sure why it caught my eye, but 60 years later, it is there still, dead on one side but still showing green every spring.
ReplyDeleteWe are losing our ash trees to the emerald ash borer.
I think the same thing happened here Debby the loss of ash trees but there are always some that manage to make it through the disease.
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