Sacred England: A Written Wood of Celtic Trees
Where would we be without trees? From showing off nature’s beauty to fighting the climate crisis, they play vital roles in our everyday lives. It’s been this way for centuries.
Millennia ago, Britons – also known as Celts – shared what is now the UK with other peoples like the Romans, Vikings, and Anglo-Saxons. Theirs was a Pagan society; spiritual lives centred on the natural world. Different bodies of water, for example, were valued for their healing properties and viewed as portals to the Otherworld.
Trees are no different. There are beliefs about many species native to our islands. In original Celtic artwork, the Tree of Life is an important symbol of renewal. Its powerful goodness springs up from the earth – where, again, the Otherworld lies hidden. Essentially, trees birth gifts to us from out of death.
Nowadays, neo-Celtic spirituality even sees trees as central to Celtic communication, through Ogham. Here, each letter stands for a certain species. Thought to date from the first millennium AD, this alphabet isn’t as old as the Latin the Romans brought here when they invaded in 55 BC.
Nor is it as widespread. Ogham inscriptions have been found in places that border the Irish Sea, and also represent words in our nearest neighbour’s language. Every tree species, however, can be found across each European island. Below, I’ve gathered a selection – a written wood, if you like – of native trees, and the beliefs behind them.
Birch
B, not A, begins Ogham. It stands for beithe, the Irish-Gaelic name for birch. As the first letter in the alphabet, it’s thought to symbolize beginnings and renewal.
At New Year, the Celts bundled bits of birch together to make brooms, of sorts. They’d use them to drive out the old year’s spirits. Today, these brooms are known as besoms, useful for sweeping leaves and moss outside, for pre-ritual cleansing in Wicca, and for dressing up as a witch at Halloween.
There are two types of native birch in the UK: downy and silver, which can be mistaken for each other. Behind its myths of renewal, the silver birch in particular has deep roots that bring nutrients to the surface, thus improving soil quality for itself and neighbouring plants.
Oak
In this series on ‘Sacred England’, we’ve already seen that the oak rules for just six months of the year. He does always regain his throne – but should that be their throne? Despite being called King of the Forest, oak is actually monoecious. This means that both male and female flowers are found on each individual tree. It can then self-pollinate.
This species was central to belief. Sacred to pretty much every Pagan deity who was the god of thunder, and therefore king of the gods, oak brings together notions of strength, nobility, and spirituality.
History has only reinforced this. Druids, the mysterious priests of the Celts, are thought to have taken their name from duir, oak’s Ogham letter D. Centuries after them, Prince Charles (not that one) hid up an oak tree from opposing English Civil War forces in 1651. When he returned in 1660 as King Charles II, the subsequent public holiday was known as Oak Apple Day, and is still celebrated in some southern English counties.
Hazel
This tree is also monoecious but, unlike oak, hazel flowers can’t self-pollinate; each individual has to work with another for their species to continue. Perhaps this is why it became a symbol of reconciliation – well, according to Victorian floriography, at least. Hazel also often forms the handles of besoms, uniting with birch to produce this useful tool.
Hazel is a powerful magical tree in Celtic belief, ancient and modern. A classic wand wood, it’s thought to ward off evil spirits, being most famous as a dowser, or divining rod. These were useful for finding hidden, underground treasures – especially water, because hazel likes to grow in damp conditions. In mythology, it was known as the Tree of Knowledge; eating hazelnuts gave the Salmon of Knowledge its famous wisdom. Ogham links hazel to the letter C, coll: creativity, purity, honesty.
Rowan
Next we have rowan, which is also known as mountain ash, although rowan and ash aren’t the same species. It has bright, distinctive red berries. These definitely look poisonous, but are actually edible. It seems they need to be heat-processed or frozen first – they’re quite bitter – but they’re full of vitamin C, too, and good for making jam… as long as you know what you’re doing!
One thing I’m certain of, however, is that vitamins are good for you, and rowan stands for something similar in Celtic belief: protection. Along with expression and connection, this important function is the meaning of L, luis, Ogham’s second letter.
Culturally, rowan, along with oak, helped form the druids’ sacred groves, neutral places where Britons could be at one with the gods and make important decisions for their tribes. The trees were also known as witch-wood, because they warded off fairies and evil witchcraft.
Willow
There are several different types of this tree, but the most famous is white willow. Its leaves and branches hang in a sad-looking way, giving it the nickname ‘weeping’. The species is most easily associated, then, with death and mourning, but its symbolism has changed over time.
All willows grow easily near water, and so the Celts believed it useful for communicating with the Otherworld. Shakespeare has Ophelia drown after falling from the tree in Hamlet. In the nineteenth century, however, different types of willow held a range of messages, from ‘love forsaken’ (creeping willow) to ‘freedom’ (water willow) in the Language of Flowers. In Ogham, the meaning is again different: S, for sail, is all about imagination and intuitive vision.
Behind the myth, willow is easy to plant. It’s possible to just wedge a fairly thick branch of it into the soil and leave it there. It’ll grow into a new tree. While this species will always be associated with death, it’s a reminder that endings can also make way for beginnings – just as the Celts believed.
Written by E.A. Colquitt
E.A. (Eleanor Anne) Colquitt is an emerging writer. She is currently working on her first novel, with shorter pieces most recently published by Lucent Dreaming and Reflex Fiction.
One of the first contributors to The Everyday Magazine, her latest project here is 'Sacred England': a series on English places and their corresponding mythologies.
Find her blog here: eacolquitt.wordpress.com
Recipes
