Category Archives: Herbal Magic

St. David of Wales — and his leeks!

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Children wearing their St David's Day leeks on March 1, 1957.

Children wearing their St David’s Day leeks on March 1, 1957.

Many Welsh people wear one or both of the National symbols of Wales to celebrate St. David: the daffodil (a generic Welsh symbol) or the leek (Saint David’s personal symbol) on March 1. The association of leeks with St. David arises from an occasion when a troop of Welsh soldiers were able to distinguish each other from a troop of the English enemy dressed in similar fashion by wearing leeks. Leek soup is also a popular dish on March 1.

The word leek comes from the Anglo-Saxon name for the plant, leac. The leek, like its relatives the onion and garlic, has been known as a food plant for thousands of years. Over 1,200 years before Christ, the Israelites in the Sinai wilderness longed for the leeks, onions, garlic, meat and other foods they had known in Egypt (Numbers 11:4-6).

The emperor Nero ate great quantities of leeks under the delusion that they improved his voice.

Beginning in antiquity, soldiers of many centuries believed that carrying a leek in battle would assure safety and victory; this was probably why St. David told the Welsh soldiers to wear it.

Who was St. David of Wales? He is said to have been the primary evangelizer of Wales and as a member of Welsh royalty, he founded a Celtic monastic community at Glyn Rhosyn (“The Vale of Roses”) on the western headland of Pembrokeshire at the spot where St David’s Cathedral stands today. David’s fame as a teacher and ascetic spread throughout the Celtic world. The date of Saint David’s death is recorded as 1 March, but the year is uncertain – possibly 588.

Saint David was recognised as a national patron saint at the height of Welsh resistance to the Normans. Saint David’s Day was celebrated by Welsh diaspora from the late Middle Ages. Indeed, the 17th-century diarist Samuel Pepys noted how Welsh celebrations in London for Saint David’s Day would spark wider counter-celebrations amongst their English neighbors: life-sized effigies of Welshmen were symbolically lynched, and by the 18th century the custom had arisen of confectioners producing “taffies”—gingerbread figures baked in the shape of a Welshman riding a goat—on Saint David’s Day.

In 1485, Henry VII of England, whose ancestry was partly Welsh, became King of England after victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field; Henry was the first monarch of the House of Tudor and this dynasty added a Welsh dragon to the royal coat of arms, a reference to the monarch’s origins.

#StValentineDay 2016

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The skull and other relics of St. Valentine, a priest martyred in Rome during the early centuries of Christianity, now kept on a side altar in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome.

The skull and other relics of St. Valentine, a priest martyred in Rome during the early centuries of Christianity, now kept on a side altar in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome.

With the modern celebration of Valentine’s Day nearly upon us, can thoughts of love magic be far behind? A number of traditional ways to win another’s heart have been used over the years. One way a woman could win a man’s heart was by feeding him food into which she had mixed some of her own blood (menstrual blood was especially effective). Catching the reflection of mating birds in a mirror on Thursday was the first step in a more complicated love spell. After catching the reflection, a person would give the mirror to his or her chosen and once the receiver looked into the mirror, they would be irresistibly infatuated with the mirror-giver. Or a woman might resort to the much more simple use of caraway seeds, cloves, or coriander to win the affection of the man she had chosen. One English love potion included the kidney of a rabbit, the womb of a swallow, and the heart of a dove while an ancient Greek love potion used a stallion’s semen or a mare’s vaginal discharge.

Garlic, saffron, ginger, or even vanilla(!) were more likely to be used in erotic magic, which was less concerned with affection, and more likely to be aimed by men at women. Wax images could be pierced by pins to incite lust. Striking the intended with hazel or willow branches was also thought to inspire lust. Or you could obtain a few hairs from your intended’s head, tie them in a knot with twine, and then keep the amulet on your thigh or around your genitals to draw your intended’s attentions.

Of course, there were ways to deflect this sort of magic as well. Lily or lettuce could break love spells or decrease lust and thwart unwanted attentions. Just be sure not to confuse which herbs you feed to which guest at your table!

Palms and Willows

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Palm Sunday in Moscow (2011); the clergy are holding festive bundles of palm fronds and pussy willows.

Palm Sunday in Moscow (2011); the clergy are holding festive bundles of palm fronds and pussy willows.

The Christian world celebrates Jesus’ emntrance into Jerusalem on the last Sunday before Easter(in the English speaking world) or PASCHA (most other traditional Christian cultures/languages) and this celebration of Jesus’ entrance into the Holy City is commonly called “Palm Sunday.” When Christianity came to northern and eastern Europe, no palms were available so the local plants which sprouted earliest were used in the celebrations. Even now, willows, osiers and weeping willows are consecrated on Palm Sunday in most of Central Europe and Eastern Europe.

In Lithuanian folklore, the osier — a kind of willow with male spores — was regarded as an unusual tree. Folklore tells that the osier grew out of a secretly murdered man. A fife made of osier wood, speaks in a man’s voice. Evil spirits avoid it because of its red color.

Many palm bunches have a branch of juniper in them. Juniper is green year round, with late ripening berries (which are used to flavor gin) and with a peculiar odor. Cranberry, mistletoe, filbert and oak branches together with dried baby’s breath and ferns are sometimes also used with the palms or willows. Pussy willows are especially common in the Eastern Orthodox churches. Among the Czechs and in the Baltic States, there is an old custom of whipping each other with the willows from church. Having returned home with consecrated fronds, one whips the head, back shoulders of those who stayed home, repeating all the time, ” illness out, health return”. The following words were spoken or sung, when striking with the palm:

“I am not the one striking
The Palm is striking
You are not in pain
The Palm is in pain
Soon it will be Easter!”
OR
“It is not I who is thrashing, but the rod
It will thrash until it breaks
The great day is in a week
It will entertain everyone
Remain the same as you have been
Be healthy as a fish.”

Lithuanian writings of 1573 say that to protect from devils and thunder, crosses were made from the consecrated palms and were thrust behind doors, windows and gated. Most often the palms were placed behind pictures of saints until the junipers dried and began shedding. The juniper branches are burned and these ashes, together with juniper sheddings, are placed in attics to protect roofs from storms. As thunder knocks, a palm is placed on the windowsill, on the side of the storm.

The smoke of a burning palm, scents all corners of the house and protects from thunder. Palms were nailed to beehives so that bees would swarm in great numbers. Palms were tied with colored, wooly yarns. This yarn was used to bind women’s wrists, to keep away pain. That was the most popular healing method during harvest work. Before animals were let out of barns in the spring, they were incensed with a burning palm. It was also said that if a palm was planted near water and it began to sprout, there would be no water shortage.

There are several other folk practices associated with the palms and willows:

1 – he who goes to church on Palm Sunday without a palm in his hands, the devil will shove his tail into the hands.
2 – collecting branches to make palms, select those with many buds. The more buds, the longer will be your life.
3 – if you plant consecrated palms on both river banks, when it is the end of the world and all waters vanish, there will be drinking water where the palms are growing.
4 – one should not comb hair on Palm Sunday, because fleas will grow to the size of the palm, or buds on the branches.
5 – if the palm lasts three years, then when black clouds cover the skies, take the palm and cross the clouds with it.
6 – old palms should be burned and their ashes sprinkled over cabbages, to protect them from worms.

Want to see my other blog posts and photos about Palm Sunday, willows, etc,? Click here and here.