The Fairy Thorn - a new painting & the fairy thorn that stopped a road.

This is my painting of a Fairy Thorn, a whitethorn, sceach heal, which stands on the Connemara coast.
I have painted this image several times but my previous attempts did not capture the liminal aspect of these lonely trees which feature frequently in Irish landscape and mythology.

To my eye this painting of a wind torn tree goes some way towards illustrating the otherworldliness
and sense of the Aos Sí, the People of the Mounds, I feel when I visit such places.

The lone Fairy Thorn on the coast of Connemara.

It is believed that these special trees are connected to the Good People and are thought to be meeting places where they gather to roam the countryside especially during the months of May, Bealtaine and November, Samhain.

For this reason to cut down or maim a fairy tree is to invite their displeasure and eventual misfortune will fall upon those who do so.

One such tree, a fairy thorn in Latoon, Co. Clare became famous in 1999 when the route of a new motorway meant that the tree was ear-marked for destruction.
Now this particular tree had a great deal of folklore attached to it as it was here that the Kerry fairies were said to rest on their way northwards to fight the fairies of Connaught.

It was felt by those who remember fairy lore that destroying the thorn would result in road accidents and fatalities.

The Storyteller, Eddie Lenihan, publicised the plight of the tree and the story spread through the media in Ireland and abroad. The result of this publicity was that Clare County Council and the National Roads Authority met to find a way in which their motorway could incorporate the fairy thorn.
Finally a compromise was found which benefitted both mortals and those of the Otherworld:
a section of the field in which the bush stood would form part of the motorway but the bush itself would be spared, with a special fence built around it to ensure that the Sídhe could still rest there.

© http://www.irelandinpicture.net
The fairy bush & fence beside the new road.

Sadly, in 2002, someone took a chainsaw and cut off the branches one night, leaving the trunk bare.
It is not known what befell the person who did this, though the Good People do not take this sort of destruction lightly and many believe that he will have been punished accordingly.
However, the celebrated fairy tree confounded all expectations eight months later by sprouting
new leaves and flourishing once more.

Image: ©flickr.com

You can learn more about Irish Fairy Beliefs by listening to this interview with Dr Jenny Butler:

Otherworld shenanigans on the local Fairy Path.

I have written before about the Lough Field (here & here) and the stories told to me by my late neighbour, Jim.
One particular tale, which he received from his mother, concerned the local Fairy Path.

Before the River Barrow was re-routed there was a lough near to our home, Lough Duff, ' dark lake' containing an island upon which stood a fairy thorn.
It was known that the local Sídhe had their home within the water and would gather at the tree to begin their travels across the country. Their route, the Fairy Path, crossed a small field, a road, a second field then continued eastwards towards another lough.


No one back then would build on a Fairy Path as it meant that the occupants would never have any rest from the Good People. The way to avoid this was to stand four posts at each corner of a new site and leave them overnight. If all the posts were standing the following morning it was safe to continue, if any had moved or fallen it was acknowledged that the Sídhe objected and it was better to build elsewhere.

1829 Map © OSI.ie

The 1829 Ordanance Survey Map of the area depicts Lough Duff with the island &  tree. 

Our home is marked X,  the wooden cabin Y & the second field Z. 

Jim recounted that long ago a stranger came to the area and built a wooden cabin near to the roadside in the first field. Unfortunately it seems the man knew little of fairy lore as he built directly on the Fairy Path.
After he moved in to his new home he would carefully close the doors, front and back, each morning before he left for work and when he returned in the evening both doors would be standing wide open. He couldn't explain it but the locals knew what was happening.
It was the Sídhe. He had built his house on their path and would never have a moment's peace again.
Whatever the man tried the doors would be open when he came home and eventually tiring of the Otherworldly shenanigans, he left the cabin to live elsewhere, allowing the structure to fall and the Good People to travel their path unhindered again.

Photo taken from the road, through the blackthorn where the cabin once stood, 
you can see gaps in the hedge where the Fairy Path runs either side of some thorn trees.
The Lough Field is beyond.

Our home, along the road, was also originally a wooden structure.
In the corner of the oldest part of the cottage stands a post, preserved by danish oil and wood hardener, with stone walls on either side.

The previous owners maintained that it was the remains of another fairy thorn but that is unlikely given the beliefs of the time however, it may be one of the original posts erected to check that the site did 

not obstruct the Fairy Path.

The old wooden post marking a corner of the original dwelling?

Many years later, in 2009, a man from a nearby town bought the field across the road from the site
of the old cabin. His plan was to build a modern, two storey house, not to live in but to sell for a profit. When the architect came to look around we spoke with him and explained about the Fairy Path which cuts across part of the site.
He nodded politely but told us it would make no difference, the new house would be built regardless.

Sure enough building began a few months later and the ground floor walls were constructed.
Not long afterwards we heard sounds coming from the house in the evening after the builders had left and several people reported hearing doors slamming where there were no doors.
Shadowy shapes were seen passing the empty window frames at dusk.

Jim had the explanation for what was happening: the Sídhe were unhappy with the construction and making their presence felt. In the past none had built on the old Fairy Path and remained there and none would do so now.
Now, in 2015, the house is still unsold.

The end of the house where the Fairy Path runs & the overgrown For Sale sign.

The 'Otherworld Shenanigans' posts are based upon the tales and reminiscences of my elderly neighbour, Jim, who lived his life in the same house he was born in.
Jim died several years ago and is remembered as a real character by those who knew him.

Whitethorn ~ on the threshold of the Otherworld.

The month of May sees a procession of whitethorn stretching their long white fingers across the green land. 

They stand in the liminal places, between land and water,

beside sacred wells.

They guard ancient sites,

Oweynagat, “Cave of the Cats”, Co. Roscommon, home of the Morrigan.

Grange Stone Circle, Co. Limerick.

And gathering points where the Good People meet.

Distant whitethorn on the local Fairy Path where the Daoine Sídhe are said to gather. 

They trail across forgotten pathways

The path to Sheean. Link to read more: SHEEAN

and carry healing spells.

The Rag Tree at Killeigh, Co. Offaly. Link to read more: RAG TREE 

Standing between this world and the Otherworld the whitethorn, An Sceach Gheal, ‘bright, shining thorn’, is steeped in folklore and regarded with respect for fear of supernatural retribution. 

Felling a lone thorn brings bad luck and today many farmers continue to work around them.

Injury or even death could also befall anyone who damaged or cut down a lone bush. 

The close relationship between tree and Good People was acknowledged across the island. 

Some thorns were believed to have almost human attributes. 

In Co. Cork it was understood that a stick of whitethorn would have a temper of its’ own if used in anger and elsewhere blood was believed to flow from a lone bush if felled.

The kinship between thorn and Daoine Sídhe was occasionally utilised by people.

In Co. Laois it was once customary to sprinkle sprigs of whitethorn with holy water before planting them in fields in the belief that banishing the connection to the Otherworld would discourage the Good People from taking the crops.

Within old church yards thorns are left in place although they are often pruned 

to reflect Christian symbolism.

This bond was understood to be of service to cattle too.

Farmers would hang the afterbirth of a premature calf on a whitethorn believing that the bush would help it to survive and in some areas a sprig from a fairy thorn was hung in the milk parlour to encourage cows to produce creamier milk. 

The May Bush decorated skeletal remains of whitethorn and ivy.
Link to read more: MAY BUSH 

On May Eve when the bush was decorated there were differing views on the use of whitethorn for this purpose. 

In some areas it was acceptable and in others, using a branch of thorn was considered unlucky.

Throughout the country however, it was believed that bringing blossom into the house would shortly be followed by illness and death.

Whitethorn blossom exudes a scent that many find unpleasant and it has been found that the chemical trimethylamine, which is formed when animal tissues decay, is also present in the blossom. 

Unbaptised infants who had died and were denied internment in consecrated ground, were buried in the ‘sacred space’ beneath lone thorns, especially if they stood within fairy forts.

Lone thorn on Rath Coffey used as an infants' grave.
Link to read more: Cillín

Others mark age-old stopping places from hearth to grave.

Whitethorn standing between farm yard and road. 

It was customary for bearers to rest the coffin at the foot of this bush and local lore states 

that the thorn must not be removed. 

By the end of Lughnasadh the Whitethorn has become the Hawthorn,

limbs laden with red haws. 

And as the year progresses the tree reveals her true nature.

Thorn on the Burren - image © eyeem.

Living an average of 400 years, with some reaching 700, they become twisted and gnarled, claws sharp and fingers bent with age.

Thorns on the Burren coast.

A procession of bent forms reminiscent of hags, ridden by the wind.

'Wind-blown Trees' by Paul Henry.

At Samhain, standing starkly on the threshold of the Otherworld, they guard supernatural paths awaiting transformation.

Otherworld shenanigans: The Fairy Wife.

It was around this time of year when Jim and I were chatting that I asked if he'd ever seen the
Good People himself.
" No, but my mother told me about the Fairy Wife " he replied.

Back then in the summer months many families spent their days outdoors on the land, taking their
meals in the open air and only going inside to sleep.

Jim's mother would have a fire in the yard where she cooked and when she was alone there one evening she heard a commotion.

Harvesting by hand.

Looking across into the field, she saw the neighbours had stopped working and were shouting.
A women, her hair loose, was running across the field making for Lough Duff below.

The lough was still there in those days, deep and dark, with the island in the centre.

The 1829 Ordanance Survey Map of the area showing Lough Dubh, the island and the fairy thorn.

"Everyone knew the fairies lived there and no one would set foot on it." Jim explained.

Jim's mother hurried over and recognised the woman as the wife of a local man.
It was clear that she was going to throw herself into the lake so the men left their work and went
to save her.

Lough Doire Bhile, Glengoole. The island on Lough Duff  may have looked like this.

As she reached the water's edge the woman stopped and a strange thing happened.
Voices rose from the lough saying:

" Welcome home milé mór, so long as you 

didn't tell the verge about the egg water. " *

It was the Good People greeting her.
A moment later she had disappeared into the depths never to be seen again.

...

I asked Jim what the fairies'  words meant, he didn't know, so we puzzled over them for a while.
Maybe they were originally as Gaeilge or had been misremembered in the telling?
Or perhaps they were words that are no longer used?

Jim shook his head, we drank some more tea and sat in silence.
" All those years and that man never knew he was married to a fairy " Jim finally said.

The Lough Field today where Lough Duff once lay. 

As the year turns towards Samhain and the Good People will leave their home in the Lough Field,
I look out and imagine that the Fairy Wife travels with them, reunited with her kin.



* I'm still baffled by the phrase spoken by the Good People and have searched for possible meanings:
- Míle Mór refers to a 'thousand, great' welcomes.
- The 'verge' could be a verger, a church official who acted as a caretaker.
-  'Egg water' may allude to isinglass, a type of gelatine made from fish, used to preserve eggs
before we had refrigeration.

- Or perhaps it was the practice of drinking the water in which eggs were boiled to provide
Vitamin D3? We will never know.

You can read more of Jim's tales by clicking on the titles below:
 Digging for Gold / Ballygillaheen / The Fairy Path

The 'Otherworld Shenanigans' posts are based upon the tales and reminiscences of my elderly neighbour, Jim, 

who lived his life in the same house he was born in. 

Jim died several years ago and is remembered as a great character by those who knew him.

Blackthorn, dark sister of the May.

Blackthorn, Draighean, a prelude to the May, 

has recently started to blaze a trail, like pale spirits across the land.

Unlike the whitethorn, blackthorn blossom appears before the leaves unfurl, giving a contrast of white flowers against dark, thorny branches and although both trees in folklore are associated with fairy belief, tales told of the blackthorn are darker.

White blossoms are appearing to signal the ebbing of the winter weather.

Blackthorn is understood to be protected by the Good People and only the fool hardy would consider cutting or burning these thorns. 

In other places, whether a lone bush or a stand of trees, the thorn should not be cut on May 11th, 

the old date for Bealtaine, or on November 11th, the original Samhain. 

Those who ignore this advice do so at their peril as it is known They have their own ways of exacting the price to be paid.

Lone blackthorn.

Where blackthorn grows near whitethorn, the site is considered especially magical. 

This is Dempsey’s Ring. Co. Offaly, photo taken in summer 

showing some remaining whitethorn blossom.

Here both blackthorn & whitethorn trees protect the remains of a fairy fort.

Just as the devil is said to spit on blackberries at the start of winter, so the Good People blight the sloes of the blackthorn at Samhain.

In Galway it was customary to drink sloe wine on Hallow’een, whilst in Co. Roscommon the last sloe was baked into the Barn brac, the Hallow’een cake, and whoever received the fruit in their slice was the person who would live the longest.

Sloes, the fruit of the blackthorn, are still used to make sloe gin.

The tree itself is said to be protected by the ferocious Lunantishee, beings believed to live within 

the bush itself.

Some associate the blackthorn with the Leannán Sidhe, the Fairy Lover, who seeks the love of a mortal but whose love is both beautiful and terrible. 

Once captivated the human is blessed with poetic inspiration but will finally waste away of longing for her.

‘The Spirit of Blackthorn’ painted after many visits to a wild place where

 thorn trees grew unmolested.

The fierce nature of the thorn is also reflected in Irish mythology when it was used by warriors who fought with clubs of spiked blackthorn ringed with iron. 

The shillelagh or Irish fighting stick was also made from blackthorn because of its’ hardness and the wood was cured to further strengthen it by burying it in a dung heap or smearing it with butter then placing it up the chimney.

Antique shillelagh.

It is said that the first blackthorn fighting stick was made in the village of Shillelagh, Co. Wicklow and they were developed by the Siol Ealaigh people of the area over 1,200 years ago.

In many areas a thorn walking stick was understood to be a charm against danger and evil spirits 

and when carried at night, it protected against ill-wishers and the attentions of the Good People.

Image from pinterest.com
'Paddy the sticks', who made and sold blackthorn walking sticks 

was once a well known figure in Killarney.

.

The abiding belief in the Good People here has meant that in many places fear of retribution has guarded the blackthorn and hidden many sacred sites from destruction.

In untamed places, where the blossom grows thickest, 

beware the paths which wind through her spiny tunnels, for eventually

they will lead you to the waiting Lunantishee and on into the Otherworld.

Brighid's Crosses for Imbolc

Wrapped up warmly and wearing wellies I ventured into the Lough Field today to cut the reeds to
make Brighid's Crosses for our home and for friends.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Lough Field was once a lake containing a tiny island on
which grew a fairy thorn. When the course of the River Barrow was changed the lake dried up
but local belief held that the thorn and the field was still the gathering place of the Sídhe.

Several stories about the field and the lough were told to me by an elderly man who had lived
here all his life and although Jim considered himself to be good Catholic, attending mass every
week and saying the rosary regularly, he confessed that he had a strong belief in the 'good folk'
and the Old Ones who are still about.
At one time, before electricity came to this part of the island and people still rambled to each
others' homes of an evening to tell stories, it was understood that the fairies lived in the Lough
itself, so today I made sure to ask their permission before I began to cut.

This year I was alone but in previous years several of my women friends have gathered
by the fire here to make crosses, drink tea and eat home made scones.

Pic © Séan Gilmartin

We make several different forms of crosses each once special to Brighid in different counties.
The well known four-armed cross,

Pic © Séan Gilmartin

My own favourite the three-armed cross,

Pic © Séan Gilmartin

And the more complicated woven cross which needs two pairs of hands.

Pic © Séan Gilmartin

Once completed the cross is hung above the hearth or the front door as protection against
famine, fire and disease.

Tonight the goddess is believed to walk the land of Ireland. 

So I wish you all the blessings of Brighid on your hearths and on your homes.

For more information on Brighid and Kildare please visit HERE