Читать книгу A Book of Britain: The Lore, Landscape and Heritage of a Treasured Countryside - Johnny Scott - Страница 51

Our two native ash trees, the common ash and mountain ash, or rowan, were both held in very high regard by Iron Age man. A mature common ash tree, with its upward-reaching widely spaced branches, is a magnificent specimen. They are one of the easiest trees to recognise; it is the only one that has black buds in the spring, followed by purple florets resembling little cauliflowers. The leaves are very distinctive, having from nine to eighteen long-toothed leaflets lying opposite each other on each stem, and in the autumn the tree produces bunches of winged seeds known as Ash Keys. It grows in most soils and conditions, particularly in limestone areas, and evolved a reliable and productive seed-manufacturing system, bearing both male and female flowers on a single tree, often developing hermaphrodite flowers. When mature, the tree can reach a height of forty metres, which is reflected in its Latin name of Excelsior, with the bark as deeply fissured as an oak and developing an incredibly large and deep root system.

EARLY PEOPLE ACROSS NORTHERN EUROPE BELIEVED THAT THE ROOTS OF AN ASH TREE REACHED DEEP INTO THE UNDERWORLD AND THAT ITS UPWARD-SWEEPING BRANCHES WERE STRETCHING TO THE GODS … THE ASH WAS GENERALLY CONSIDERED A SPLENDID TREE WHICH MUST HAVE ANY NUMBER OF MAGICAL PROPERTIES.

Early people across northern Europe believed that the roots of an ash tree reached deep into the underworld and that its upward-sweeping branches were stretching to the gods. It all becomes very convoluted in Norse mythology, which has a squirrel running up and down the tree carrying messages from a serpent gnawing at the roots to an eagle in the canopy; a deer feeding on ash leaves, from whose antlers flowed the great rivers of the world; and a magical goat dispensing mead from its udders to the warriors in Odin’s Great Hall. All in all, the ash was generally considered a splendid tree which must have any number of magical properties, not least of which was that the wood burnt with equal intensity when either green or dry, and an old saying is, ‘Burn ash wood green, ‘tis fit for a queen.’

In British folklore ash trees were also credited with a range of protective and healing properties, most frequently related to child health. Newborn babies were often given a teaspoon of ash sap, and sick children, especially those suffering from a rupture, broken limbs or rickets, would be passed naked through a cleft in an ash tree or ash sapling. The cleft was often specifically made for the purpose and bound together again after the ceremony; as the ash healed the child’s health would improve. A decoction of the leaves, bark and fruits were believed to cure arthritis, rheumatism, warts and snake bites, alleviate fluid retention, improve general health and promote longevity.

Any tree with autumn berries was attributed with magical properties, and the bitter scarlet berries of the mountain ash or rowan trees were believed to be the ambrosia of the gods. Furthermore, the berries have a tiny five-pointed star opposite its stalk in the shape of the pentagram, an ancient symbol of protection. Belief in the rowan trees’ ability to ward off evil was pretty well universal across Britain. A rowan tree growing near a dwelling was believed to protect the occupants from witches, and where I farm in the Borders there are any number of ruined bothies used by shepherds centuries ago, scattered about the hills, all of which have a rowan growing nearby. Country people would invariably carry a piece of rowan bound in red thread in their pocket or sewn into the lining of a coat as a personal defence against witches. From John o’Groats to Lands End, across Wales and throughout Ireland, rowan sprigs were hung above beds as a protection against visits from the night hag and nailed above the doors of stables or cow biers to safeguard the animals. Needless to say, cutting down a rowan tree would incur the most calamitous bad luck, particularly if it grew near a house, and to this day second-home buyers in Scotland and Wales are warned of the danger.