Two. Under the Hawthorn Tree

Bill Vaughn

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Two. Under the Hawthorn Tree

Bill Vaughn
Bill Vaughn

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10twoUnder the Hawthorn TreeCould you but see the strange-looking characters . . . carelessly trudging along with a pipe in the corner of their mouths; the big shilelahs sloped across their shoulders, and all their worldly possessions tied up in a dirty bundle, suspended at the end of it—except, perhaps some half-dozen brats, one of whom rides pick-aback, while the mother brings up the rear with the other five—you would indeed be astonished how they drag out what must appear to everyone but themselves so miserable an existence.—john barrown Ireland it’s not unusual to come upon a strange, solitary old tree swaying in a field, the tracks of a tractor swerving around it in the dirt. That the farmer, his father, and probably his grand-father took such obvious care to spare this tree says something about these farmers. It also says something about the tree. A rowan or a willow unlucky enough to take root in a valuable tract of barley or oats would soon go under the plow. But this lone sentinel is a hawthorn, more of an icon than a plant, holding an intensely symbolic and emo-tionally charged place in the cultural, religious, and political history of the island.Pilgrims to this day tie ribbons and bits of their clothing to certain hawthorns, called “rag trees” or “clootie trees,” as a supplication for health, money, or love. Flowering branches of hawthorn were hung on doors to keep out faeries, and put up in barns to encourage cows to pro-duce more milk. The purity of its white blossoms was a central symbol in the month of Mary observances after the cult of the Virgin spread across Europe to Ireland during the Renaissance. But as one of the par-adoxes in the body of folklore associated with the tree, it was believed I

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10twoUnder the Hawthorn TreeCould you but see the strange-looking characters . . . carelessly trudging along with a pipe in the corner of their mouths; the big shilelahs sloped across their shoulders, and all their worldly possessions tied up in a dirty bundle, suspended at the end of it—except, perhaps some half-dozen brats, one of whom rides pick-aback, while the mother brings up the rear with the other five—you would indeed be astonished how they drag out what must appear to everyone but themselves so miserable an existence.—john barrown Ireland it’s not unusual to come upon a strange, solitary old tree swaying in a field, the tracks of a tractor swerving around it in the dirt. That the farmer, his father, and probably his grand-father took such obvious care to spare this tree says something about these farmers. It also says something about the tree. A rowan or a willow unlucky enough to take root in a valuable tract of barley or oats would soon go under the plow. But this lone sentinel is a hawthorn, more of an icon than a plant, holding an intensely symbolic and emo-tionally charged place in the cultural, religious, and political history of the island.Pilgrims to this day tie ribbons and bits of their clothing to certain hawthorns, called “rag trees” or “clootie trees,” as a supplication for health, money, or love. Flowering branches of hawthorn were hung on doors to keep out faeries, and put up in barns to encourage cows to pro-duce more milk. The purity of its white blossoms was a central symbol in the month of Mary observances after the cult of the Virgin spread across Europe to Ireland during the Renaissance. But as one of the par-adoxes in the body of folklore associated with the tree, it was believed I

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