Three important trees in British folklore
Trees are significant in many of the world's mythologies, and have been given deep and sacred meanings throughout the ages. Here are three beautiful trees with their own unique and interesting folklore.
Oak
The Oak Tree
Perhaps because of the oak’s size and presence, much of its folklore
concerns specific, individual oak trees. Many parishes used to contain
what became known as the Gospel Oak. This was a prominent tree at which
part of the Gospel was read out during the Beating of the Bounds
ceremonies at Rogantide in spring. In Somerset stand the two very
ancient oaks of Gog and Magog. These were named after the last male and
female giants to roam Britain. The trees are reputed to be the remnants
of an oak-lined processional route up to the nearby Glastonbury Tor. The
Major Oak in Sherwood Forest is purported to be the tree where Robin
Hood and his Merry Men hatched their plots. It is now a popular tourist
attraction although this particular tree probably does not predate the
16th century. After the battle of Worcester in 1651 King Charles II hid
from the Roundheads in a large oak tree, this is why there are so many
pubs in England named The Royal Oak.
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Hawthorn
The Hawthorn Tree
According to folklore, a hawthorn tree was the abode of fairies and
stood at the threshold of the Otherworld. The rules were quite clear:
anyone who cut down a fairy tree was doomed to perish. Although branches
were gathered on May Day, they were never brought inside a house at any
other time. And if you sat under a hawthorn tree, you were only asking
for trouble. Thomas the Rhymer, a 13th century Scottish poet, is reputed
to have encountered the Fairy Queen by a hawthorn bush from which a
cuckoo was calling. He was led into the Otherworld for what seemed like
a short time, but when he was allowed back into the land of mortals he
found that he’d been away for seven years.
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Yew
The Yew Tree
Worshipped as well as feared, Britain’s ancient yews are among the
oldest living things on the planet. In ancient times, the yew’s ability
to retain its leaves through the cold, dark winter months would have
been seen as almost magical. The yew was a sacred tree, and sites with
ancient yews became places of Druidic or Celtic worship. Druids, the
priests of the Celtic tribes, believed wands of yew would banish evil
spirits. When the pagan population was converted to Christianity from
Roman times onward, the same sites continued to be considered sacred
places. The Anglo-Saxons built churches near the old yews; later, the
old churches were built over with new.
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