Countryman's Diary
| NORTH YORKSHIRE |  | | | CLEVELAND | | | COUNTY DURHAM | | |
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It’s May – time to protect your home from the threat of witches
MAY has long been
known as the month of
blossom. There can be
little doubt that it is the
most beautiful month of the year
so far as new growth and floral
splendour is concerned.
In Anglo-Saxon times it was
known as Thri-Milch because the
lush growth of this period meant
the cows could be milked three
times each day.
The present name of May might
be derived from the Roman festival
in honour of Maia. She was
the legendary mother of Mercury,
the messenger god, and sacrifices
were offered to him on the first
day of the month we know as
May.
Another possibility is that May
evolved from the Sanskrit mah
meaning growth, and yet another
is that the month's name could
result from it being dedicated by
Romulus to the Roman senators.
They were known as majores.
Whatever the source of the name,
the month of May has always
been a cause for celebration, with
May Day sporting hundreds of
different events and ceremonies
throughout the country. These
range from maypole dancing to
lie-telling contests, not to mention
dock-pudding-making competitions
and the election of May
Queens.
May 1 has, therefore, been given
lots of different names including
May Gosling Day, Birch Twig Day,
Robin Hood's Day, Yellowhammer
Day and Cattle Anointing Day.
May 2 is also rather special, because
it is Rowan Tree Day, which
is sometimes called Rowan Tree
Witch Day. In times not too far
past, Yorkshire folk would decorate
their horses, cattle and houses
with sprigs of rowan tree
leaves, otherwise known as the
mountain ash, witchwood or
wicken tree. Their purpose was to
prevent witches, fairies and other
evil spirits from harming the
house, the people and their livestock.
In some areas, this custom was
undertaken on May 3, but in either
case it was essential that the
sprigs were cut with a domestic
knife, not a saw or axe, and that
they were collected from a tree
never previously used for this
purpose.
Furthermore, the twigs had to be
carried home along a route not
used for the outward journey.
Lots of pieces were needed and
so a barrow or cart might be required
to carry them home.
Back at the house or farm, the
rowan twigs were put to work.
Some would be fashioned into
small crosses whilst other remained
as single twigs, but they
would be displayed around the
house or livestock shelters with
particular emphasis on doors and
windows. Small crosses might appear
above a door, for example, or
beside a bedroom window or
even within the cow byre. Sometimes,
the twigs were pushed into
thatched roofs or haystacks as a
protection against fire.
People would also wear garlands
of rowan, some being gathered
later in the year when the beautiful
red berries of this tree had matured.
These might be worn
around the necks of people to ensure
general good health but especially
to ward off rheumatism.
Garlands were also placed around
the necks of horses and cattle, especially
when they were due to
breed and one practice was to
place a necklace of rowan twigs
around the neck of a pig that had
been ear-marked for slaughter,
the belief being that it would produce
some very good meat.
Small pieces of rowan were
utilised around the house to
make pegs and dowels for small
carpentry tasks, but also for making
the handles of tools such as
knives, garden equipment and
even ploughs. All were thought to
ensure good fortune and freedom
from witches. Horsemen would
make their whip handles from
rowan too, and in Yorkshire it was
said that: "If your whipstock's
made of rowan, you can safely
drive through any town."
Certain items of household
equipment were also made of
rowan to ensure they were free
from the harmful attention of
witches - one example was the
churn. It was widely believed that
witches could prevent the milk
turning into butter so either the
churn itself, or essential parts of
it, consisted of rowan. Likewise,
cradles, or key parts of them,
were also made of rowan to protect
babies from harmful influences.
Because rowan wood has a tendency
to buckle under severe
weight or stress, the wood was
seldom used for vital beams within
the house or outbuildings, although
some crossbeams above
the hearths of Scottish homes
were made of this timber. Its flexibility
meant the wood was sometimes
used as a substitute for yew
when making long bows.
So if you wish to protect your
house against witches, now is the
time to go out and collect those
small twigs of rowan by using a
kitchen knife.
MY CORRESPONDENCE
this week includes an
email from a reader at
Stanwick St. John, near Richmond.
She refers to garden birds
who relish the presence of feeders
and adds that her garden has become
a favoured haunt of
goldfinches.
The reason, it seems, is due to the
design of her seed dispenser. It is
known as a nyger seed dispenser,
which is essentially a perspex
cylinder with three sets of small
vertical slots and some metal
perches. She informs me that
birds such as tree sparrows and
great tits will occasionally visit the
feeder but seem defeated by its
design. Goldfinches, however, will
come along and remain for hours
because they can cope with its
unique features.
What puzzles my correspondent
is how a human designer could
work out precisely what sort of
aperture would suit a goldfinch's
beak while not being favoured by
other species. She adds that the
goldfinches ignore the ordinary
peanut feeders, apparently leaving
them for the hoi polloi. And,
she tells me, that special
goldfinch feeder was made by a
firm based in the United States.
Another letter comes from a reader
in Great Ayton. She refers to
my recent notes about the derivation
of the name of Northallerton
and its links to the alder tree (D &
S Times, April 11). I wrote that the
aller section of the name originated
in the word eller, an old name
for the alder. However, my correspondent,
who is 83 years old,
has always understood that the
name eller refers to willow trees,
not alders.
She refers to a location widely
known as Skelton Ellers. It is situated
between Guisborough and Skelton along the A173 and can
be identified by a steep descent
with a sharp corner at the bottom
- it was always a challenge when I
was hurtling around the locality
on my racing bike. The local
wood is known as Ellers Wood,
and the beck is Skelton Ellers
Beck.
My correspondence remembers
the willows that flourished in that
area and recalls, some 70 years
ago, an old man with a beard who
occupied a shack in those woods
as he wove baskets from the coppiced
willow stems. His handicraft
was hung outside his door
for sale but he died many years
ago and, in time, his old home
became a ruin and was removed.
Since that time, she has always
associated ellers with willows and
wonders whether willows could
also be known by that name. I
have checked my own references
and cannot find any suggestion
that willows were known by the
alternative name of ellers.
However, my Dictionary of the
North Riding Dialect by Sir Alfred
Pease, published in 1928, suggests
that some people refer to
the elder tree as eller. The elder is
also called the bottery bush or
burtree and most of us call it elderberry,
but Pease does confirm
that the word eller refers to the
alder.
However, many plants and trees
are often known, in small areas,
by names that are not used elsewhere
and my correspondent
may be quite correct due to the
willow's strong links with Skelton
Ellers. I thank her for such an interesting
letter.
1:01pm Friday 2nd May 2008
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