The power of the lone hawthorn and May Day

Hawthorn trees are associated with May Day and many ancient customs. Blossoming hawthorn trees are one of the signs that Spring is really here, and known as the May Tree. Heard the expression: "ne'er cast a clout till May be out"? It doesn't mean don't take off any clothes ('clout'- old word for clothes) such as your wool vest, until the end of May. Rather it means that Spring hasn't properly arrived until the May tree flowers are out.

Hawthorn's associated with another saying: "to hold a torch for someone", meaning to love some-one. Apparently this comes from ancient Greeks who used hawthorn wood for their torches in wedding processions. (I'm always fascinated by how something so old is still known?)

I think of my dad whenever I see a hawthorn tree - and my house is surrounded by them! He loved their blossom, their gnarled trunks and talked about eating the fresh 'bread and cheese' leaves. I've since discovered the tender leaves of hawthorn were a 'famine food', eaten by hungry young children.

Humans aren't the only ones to benefit from hawthorn as a food source. Its flowers offer pollen to bees and enjoyed by dormice. Around 300 insects enjoy the hawthorn as a food plant, and the the berries, or haws feed many birds in Winter.

It's supposed to be bad luck to bring any hawthorn blossom inside, perhaps because people used to think the blossom smelt like decaying bodies during the Great Plague.

Hawthorn has contrasting powers and some positive associations too. The blossoms were used outside, especially as part of crowns for the May Queen.

Lone hawthorns are viewed as liminal trees, the gateway to a magical land of fairies, or covering pots of gold. It was believed that if you chopped down a lone hawthorn you'd come a-cropper. If you look at the twisted, inter-grown roots and bottom of old hawthorn trees, it's easy to imagine there's a magical world hidden beneath.

Photo: Stephen Garnett at Winskill near Settle.