Faery spirits were believed to dwell in Hawthorn hedges, which were planted as protective shrubs around fields, houses and churchyards.
The Hawthorn was once thought to offer psychic protection to the traveler. The twigs would frequently be used as a curative for depression and the powdered seeds used to cure gallstones. Often used for walking sticks and to make fires, the Hawthorn also formed the Maypole around which the Celts would dance at Beltrane...the onset of Summer.
The Hawthorn was associated with both the sacred and the unlucky (some holding the belief that it was from the Hawthorn that the crown of thorns used at the Crucifixion of Christ was made, for example). To destroy this tree was to incur great peril to the individual who was responsble for such an act.
The Hawthorn was embodied in the character of the chief giant Yspaddaden in a Welsh romance of Kulhwch and Olwen. As a guardian figure who attempts to protect the virginity of Olwen, he is felled and the blooms of Summer soon open. Thus, the Hawthorn symbolized the advance of Summer and the defeat of Winter. In ancient times, young girls would rise at dawn in order to bathe in dew gathered from Hawthorn flowers, thus ensuring their beauty for the coming year. The blossoms, especially the white variety, were also used to decorate halls and worn as crowns by maidens in wedding ceremonies. The Celts believed the Hawthorn could assist in releasing negative and/or blocked energy held within...read more>>>...