Garlands of wild roses were sometimes wound around coffins (or more often shrouds) in Europe. Thorns even worked against fairies. Much of the folkore surrounding vegetation can be traced back to pre-Christian religion in Europe, when trees were regarded as sacred. Peoples from Scandinavia to Italy and Britain to Syria cultivated sacred groves where they held their rites. For centuries afterward, the ancient characterisations and powers of the trees remained current. Much of this ancient lore survived in Northern Europe within fairy legends of which the following are a fair sample: the birch tree was believed to possess a spirit which could inflict madness if it touched a person on the head, or death if it touched them on the heart; the Elder tree appeared as the abode, or form, of a witch and was therefore very unlucky to fell unless you asked her permission first; cradles were not to be made from Elder wood as the fairies would torment the child laying in it.
Hawthorn
Hawthorn was placed around windows by the Greeks and Romans to prevent witches in astral form entering their houses. Hawthorn was widely held to be the thorn in Christ's crown of thorns, which helps to explain its efficacy in post-Pagan Europe. In Bosnia, women returning from homes which had had suffered a recent bereavement would scatter pieces of hawthorn behind them to prevent the spirits of the dead following. The Slavs used either a hawthorn or an aspen stake to stake a vampire. Hawthorn was used to keep spirits at bay in non-Christian Asia and the Americas too.
In fact, Hawthorn's significance is certainly pre-Christian. It was regarded as an unlucky tree. May, when Hawthorn flowers, was believed to be an unlucky month for marriage among northern European peoples. Hawthorn was one of the plants used at the pagan festival of Beltane, which marked the beginning of the second half of the Celtic Year & became May Day. Communities would "bring in the may", fetching blossoms and branches into the house from the forest, and would errect a hawthorn pole to dance around - the May Pole. May Day dew was an aid to many ailments, including childlessness. Beltane was essentially a fertility rite, a celebration of rebirth and regeneration after winter.
However hawthorn's potency made it worthy of respect, and it was in general an unlucky tree. It was very unlucky to "bring in the May" at any other time than May Day, and it was wise to avoid Hawthorns at any significant dates in the Supernatural calendar such as Hallowe'en or Midsummer's Eve, when the plant's supernatural associates such as fairies were likely to be lurking around it.
Rowan
Rowan was used in Northern Europe including Scotland and Ireland, in the same way as hawthorn was used further south. The Welsh believed that Christ's cross was a Rowan, and it was said that this was why it was so widely planted in cemetaries, where it was credited with the power to keep the dead in the graves. However, as with hawthorn, this Christian aspect of its history was grafted on to the earlier, pagan significance that the plant had. It was known as "Thor's helper", from a Scandinavian legend where it helped the God to cross a river. Väinämöinen , the magician of Finnish legend, sowed rowan trees in "holy places" - possibly where human sacrifices were offered to the sun. In the Irish romance of Fraoth, rowan berries were guarded by a dragon; their magical properties meant that one meal of them gave the sustenance of nine ordinary meals, they cured the wounded and added a year to a person's life. Rowan is thought by many to be one of the trees sacred to the pre-Christian pagans because of an abundance of its remains around stone circles and ancient monuments.
Despite its stromg association with the old powers, which included fairy guardians, rowan later was credited with the ability to repel witches and fairies. Rowan butter churns were protected from "overlooking" by fairies or witches, an action which would otherwise curdle the butter inside. Rowan crosses, icons of mixed pagan and Christian heritage were used to protect people and livestock from disease. In some places rowan, rather than hawthorn, was brought home during the spring festivities; in Herefordshire, on May-Day, it was customary to place a rowan cross one over every sty, stall and doorway. Rowan was also recorded as being effective against werewolves in Belgium, and also in Russia where werewolves were whipped with the twigs.
The most powerful kind of rowan was "flying rowan" - where the tree grew from the cleft of a rock or similar and did not visibly touch the ground. Frazer wrote that mistletoe growing from oaks and orchids growing from tamarinds had similar powers: the notion of invulnerability being suggested by the aerial position of the plant, away from the earth. Mistletoe was indeed used against trolls and werewolves, and mistletoe used for medicinal purposes was most effective if it had never touched the earth. Mistletoe was also sometimes used against nightmare.
Yew
Part of Macbeth's third witch's contribution to the cauldron was the most potent of trees: Yew. Like the other trees here, its capacity to control malign influences did not derive from any kindly character; on the contrary, its uncanny nature simply attracted any evil toward itself and away from any other buildings or beings in close proximity. Most churchyards in England grew yews to keep the dead in their graves. In Brittany, a yew tree was thought to extend a root to the mouth of each corpse intered in its graveyard. Yew was an emblem of death in all European countries and was sacred to Hecate in Ancient Greece and Rome. Bulls sacrificed to Hecate in Rome were wreathed in yew; their throats were cut in order that ghosts could drink their gushing blood.
However, the real reason for the yew in the British graveyard is far more prosaic; the wood is excellent for making bows, being straight-grained and hard. But yew berries were reputedly poisonous, so the trees were not welcome where they may have been eaten by livestock. Ironically, modern research has found that this 'tree of death' may in fact be a tree of life to sufferers of many major types of cancer - yew bark is a source of a highly effective drug named Taxol.
Apotropaics is a huge subject, covered at length in the book of Unnatural Predators. Join our mailing list to get publication information and site updates.
