Why Our Native Irish Trees Were Sacred to our Ancestors

Share

Ireland has had a long and intimate relationship with trees. Re-forestation projects are currently restoring our forests—slowly. But let’s remind ourselves as to why native Irish trees are so special to us.

Six thousand years ago, native forests of oak, ash, elm, birch, pine, alder and hazel trees flourished across our landscape. By 1900, less than one percent of these woodlands remained. Progress has been made to restore forest cover, but Ireland remains one of the least wooded countries in Europe.

Native Irish tree species have been linked to our culture and society from the earliest times. Trees were of the greatest importance, not only for the obvious practical reasons but also for spiritual reasons. Imagine what the ancient woods of Ireland must have been like for our ancestors. Every tree had its uses; ash for hurleys, alder for shields, hazel for construction. The mighty oak, the most important of all, was considered chief among the airig fedo (nobles of the forest).

In pre-Christian times, brehons or judges were responsible for the law and some of these laws dealt specifically with trees. The penalty for damaging particular trees was a fine, usually exacted not in money but livestock. For example, if you cut down an oak or a hazel tree, you could be fined two and a half cows while the fine for cutting down an elm or birch tree would be one cow. The different penalties reflected the relative importance of each tree.

The Tree Alphabet

Trees were even used as the inspiration for written language in ancient Ireland. A system of writing called  Ogham, designed specifically for the Irish language, reflected the special role trees played in everyday life. This alphabet was invented around the fourth century, and examples can still be seen on carved standing stones in old monastic sites and in museums.

The letters of the Ogham alphabet were all assigned names. Unlike letters in the English alphabet, these letter names were meaningful words. Originally eight letters were named after trees – birch, alder, willow, oak, hazel, pine, ash and yew. In the middle ages, scholars gave other tree names to the remaining letters, resulting in a tree alphabet.

An eighth century description of how Ogham is read highlights how the lore of trees had been mingled with writing: ‘Ogham is climbed (i.e. read) as a tree is climbed, treading on the root of the tree first with one’s right hand before one and one’s left hand last’. This indicates that Ogham should be read as it is inscribed on upright stones, from the bottom up.

Trees as Spiritual Symbols

There was more than just a practical and economic value placed on native Irish trees. The ancient Irish were a spiritual people who lived in harmony with nature. They saw magic and enchantment all around them and especially in trees. Many species of tree such as yew, hazel, hawthorn, elder and rowan were considered to have magical properties. Very often a single hawthorn can be seen, standing alone guarding a special place. These trees are regarded as fairy thorns, a meeting place for fairies or sídhe.

Hawthorn trees are also associated with holy wells, where hanging strips of cloth or rags sometimes marks their presence. Such trees are known as rag trees. Rowan trees too are associated with the fairy host, while its berries were used as a protection against evil. Individual trees that stood out in the landscape, perhaps for their size or shape, or the place in which they grew, were of particular importance and were known as bile.

Tree Placenames

Many place names in Ireland incorporate tree names. Of the sixty-two thousand townland names in Ireland, thirteen thousand mention trees while sixteen hundred mention some derivation of dair (oak), such as Dare or Derry.

With the arrival of Christianity, many sacred pagan trees and groves were taken over and adapted for Christian worship. Evidence for this practice exists in unlikely places, like the presence of ancient yew trees within church grounds or the combination of the word cill (church) with tree names (i.e Cill Dara or Kildare).

We also know that many of the early Irish saints had favourite trees. Saint Kevin had a favourite yew tree at Glendalough while Saint Bridget had a special oak in Kildare.

Sadly, we have lost much of our natural woodlands along with the lore that went hand in hand with them.  Some traditions still persist; lone fairy thorns can still be seen dotted around the landscape, especially around ringforts and raths, whilst occasionally one may come across a rag tree or bush.

Gathering Seeds

Once the ancient forests disappeared, the plants and animals that lived in those forests also disappeared. Today, only small pockets of native Irish trees dot the landscape, relics of the ancient forests that covered Ireland. While many of our woodland traditions are shrouded in the mists of time, we can at least strive to restore the woodland themselves to their former glory and find a place for them in the modern world.

Native Irish trees are important havens for our flora and fauna, as well as being a potential timber resource for the future. They require careful management to protect them from overgrazing and the spread of non-native plants. We can all play a small part in this. Below are some examples of native Irish trees from which you can gather seeds to replant elsewhere.

Oak – Dair

acorn-990846_960_720

Once widespread throughout Ireland, centuries of harvesting has made truly native oak hard to find, though small woods grow in most counties. Acorns, the seeds of the oak are easy to spot. However, oak trees don’t produce a good crop of acorns every year, so gather plenty in a good year.

The traditional Irish oak is the sessile oak, the main species found in Ireland’s most familiar woodlands. Sessile means that the acorns have no stalk; in contrast, those of the pedunculate oak hang from long stalks. Sessile oak is found more commonly on poor acid soils, often in hilly regions. The woodlands of Killarney, Co. Kerry, the Glen of the Downs, Co. Wicklow and Glenveagh, Co. Donegal, are just a few places where these magnificent trees grow. They are important ecologically as habitats for hundreds of insects, along with many birds and mammals.

Acorns can be collected while still on the tree if they are ripe. They can be picked when the acorn has turned brown and comes away from the cup fairly easily. When the seed is fully ripe, there is usually a big fall. It often happens on the morning following the first frost. In tree nurseries you often hear the question “has the big fall happened yet?” It is also important to note that with oak (as with hazel and beech) there is a gradual fall of non-viable seed before the “big fall”. Sow straight away if possible as stored seed may lose viability.

Hazel – Coll

corkscrew-hazel-635467_960_720

Hazelnuts are one of the foods associated with the very earliest settlements in Ireland. These Mesolithic settlers also used hazel as a strong flexible timber for hut building. Wood from hazel trees was also used to make eel and lobster traps.

Hazel grows as an understorey in oak and ash woodlands or as pure hazel woods. Hazel scrub woodland covers extensive areas of limestone, particularly on the Burren plateaus of north Clare and soils derived from limestone in the Glens of Antrim. It is often associated with a rich ground flora of woodland flowers.

Hazel is known for its yellow ‘lambs tail’ catkins in spring, but the nuts grow from small bud-like structures with a tuft of red. Collect the nuts from the wilder areas. The nuts are up to 2 cm long, pale green at first, ripening to pale brown. They are borne usually in pairs, each between two overlapping light green bracts or husks.

The first seeds shed by the tree are usually non-viable. It is best to collect the nuts directly from the tree when they begin to turn brown. Use a tool of some sort to pull down the branches e.g. a rake or use a specialised extending claw. When fully ripe, they will fall to the ground (or the tree can be shaken). But you need to be quick – it’s amazing how fast wildlife will clean the woodland floor of fallen nuts.

Scots Pine – Péine Albanach

pine-tree-238791_960_720

Pollen found in soil samples from bogs indicates that Scots pine was widespread in Ireland thousands of years ago. Human impact and the gradual change to a warmer, wetter climate led to its decline. It may even have died out completely. Pine stumps have been found in bogs, standing where they grew seven thousand years ago, before the formation of the peat.

Most of the pines growing in the countryside now were imported from Scotland and planted over the last 150 years. This once-native species can be grown on marginal land where other species of tree would not survive. It also matures quicker and produces more versatile wood than broadleaf trees. Our native red squirrel prefers the seeds of this tree than any other.

It is possible to grow pine from seed – the seeds are small with a single wing and fall easily from between the sections of ripe pine cones. Only collect cones in forests if you are sure they are Scots pine – most commercially grown conifers are not native species.

Willows – Saileach

tree-984846_960_720

There are several varieties of willow native to Ireland. All grow in damp soil, have catkins or ‘pussy willows’ that produce seeds, but are most easily grown from cuttings, which root very readily.

The most widespread willow species are the goat willow, the rusty or grey willow (both known as sallies), and the eared willow. While these generally grow on damp ground, the goat willow will also colonise rough and disturbed ground in drier areas. The bay-leaved willow, with glossy green leaves, is found beside small rivers and ditches. Osiers, with long fine leaves, do not develop into large trees. They were often grown and managed by cutting right back to the base to encourage long flexible shoots used for baskets.

Nowadays, this species may be grown for biomass and provide a renewable energy source. All willows are rich in insects, which in turn provides a good food source for insect-eating birds in summer, notably for the willow warbler. Willow establishes easily by windblown seed and can also be propagated by taking cuttings approx. 8 inches long from stems between half an inch and one and a half inches during dormancy, which are simply pushed into the soil to a depth of 4 inches.

The above extract was taken from the Tree Council’s book called “Our Trees – A Guide to Growing Ireland’s Native Trees.” It is published by the People’s Millennium Forest, and you can order it online for €6

About Author

Top