5 January: Glastonbury Thorn Day

5^th January: Glastonbury Thorn Day

10 things you may not know about the Glastonbury Thorn.

1. According to legend the thorn originated when St Joseph of Arimathea stuck his staff in the ground and it sprouted
2. It is also said that Joseph buried the Holy Grail under the roots of the original tree.
3. The Glastonbury Thorn is a form of Common Hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna (biflora).
4. Biflora means that it flowers twice a year, once in winter and once in spring.
5. This variety of Hawthorn is found in the Middle East.
6. The trees can live for up to 100 years.
7. One of the trees was cut down and burned by Cromwell's troops as a relic of superstition. Local people cultivated cuttings in secret, until such time as it was safe to publicly replant them.
8. Another legend says that as it was felled, a thorn blinded the man who held the axe in one eye.
9. The thorn would always flower on Christmas Day, and so when the calendar changed in 1753, crowds came to Glastonbury to observe whether it would change its blossoming day to conform to the new calendar. It didn't. It bloomed on January 5^th – hence today being Glastonbury Thorn Day.
10. A flowering sprig is sent to the Queen every Christmas. This tradition dates back to the reign of James I. The oldest pupil of St John's School cuts the sprig, which ends up on the Queen's breakfast table.