Hazel, Rowan, Hawthorn, Oak: Trees in Irish Folklore

Trees in the map of Ireland

Some of the clearest evidence of how much trees mattered in Ireland is in its place-names. Doire, an oak wood, gives Derry and the many Derry- names across the country. Kildare is Cill Dara, "the church of the oak". Newry is An tIúr, from Iúr Cinn Trá, "the yew at the head of the strand". Names beginning Coll- and Cuill- often point to hazel.

Hazel and wisdom

In the Fenian stories, the young Fionn mac Cumhaill is set to cook a salmon for the poet Finnegas. The fish is the Salmon of Knowledge, which had eaten the hazelnuts that fell into a well. Fionn burns his thumb on the skin, puts it in his mouth, and gains its wisdom. Ever after, hazel is linked with knowledge in Irish storytelling.

Hawthorn: the fairy thorn

A lone hawthorn standing in a field is, in parts of Ireland, still treated as a "fairy tree" and left alone. Folklore collections record many warnings about cutting one. The belief is not only historical: in 1999 a road scheme in County Clare was adjusted after a campaign to protect a fairy bush at Latoon.

Rowan: protection

In Irish and Scottish tradition, rowan was widely used for protection. Sprigs were fixed over doors and byres, especially around May Eve (the eve of Bealtaine), to keep harm away from the household and its animals.

Oak and yew

Oak woods were valued for timber, acorns for pigs, and shelter; the scale of oak in Irish place-names reflects how common they once were. Yew, very long-lived and evergreen, often stands in old churchyards. In the tale Tochmarc Étaíne a druid carves Ogham on yew rods.

What about the "Celtic tree calendar"?

You may have seen a "Celtic tree astrology" chart assigning a tree to your birthday. It is not ancient. It descends from Robert Graves's book The White Goddess (1948), which built a tree calendar out of the Ogham letter names, and it was popularised in the decades after. It can be fun, but no early Irish source contains it.

Where Emerald Seer fits

Our eight archetypes — Oak, Hazel, Birch, Rowan, Willow, Yew, Hawthorn and Alder — take their names from Ogham tree-letters and their mood from folklore like the above. The personalities we give them are our own, modern interpretation, and we say so every time they appear.