13th May: Hawthorn

Today is the 1st day of Huath (Hawthorn) in the Celtic tree Calendar. Here are 10 things you may not know about the hawthorn:

1. Other common names for hawthorn include may, mayblossom, maythorn, quickthorn, whitethorn, motherdie, and haw. It was sometimes called the Bread and Cheese tree, because the young leaves could be eaten in times of hardship.
2. The sayings "Ne'er cast a cloot till may is out" and "gathering nuts in may" come from the hawthorn. The first is a warning not to shed any cloots (clothes) before the may flowers (hawthorn blossoms) are in bloom, and the latter referred to the collection of knots of may blossom rather than nuts.
3. Hawthorn blossoms are associated with May Day and Beltane although they rarely flower these days before the middle of May. In the Scottish Highlands the flowers may be seen as late as the middle of June. However, before Europe adopted the Gregorian calendar, they would have flowered in early May.
4. The oldest tree in France is a hawthorn. It is beside the church at Saint Mars sur la Futaie, Mayenne. It is 9 m (30 feet) tall and has a girth of 265 cm (8'8").There is a plaque beneath it which reads: "This hawthorn is probably the oldest tree in France. Its origin goes back to St Julien (3rd century)." The oldest hawthorn in the United Kingdom is probably The Hethel Old Thorn in the churchyard in the village of Hethel, Norfolk. It is reputed to be more than 700 years old, having been planted in the 13th century. The Glastonbury Thorn is also a hawthorn tree.
5. The ancient Greeks regarded it as a symbol of hope, often carried at weddings.
6. Plucking from a hawthorn tree at any time other than May Day or damaging one is said to be extremely unlucky. Not only would doing so bring sickness and death, but the tree might even scream. Even hanging out your washing on one was a bad idea, as it might cover up the faeries' clothes already hanging on it. It has been suggested that the ill luck of the De Lorean Motor Company was associated with the destruction of a fairy thorn to make way for a production facility.
7. The trees are said to scream and cry on Good Friday, because the tree was the source of Jesus's crown of thorns.
8. Medieval people claimed that hawthorn flowers smelled like death which added to the superstition that it was unlucky to have them in the house. Botanists have more recently discovered that the flowers contain the chemical trimethylamine, which is one of the first chemicals formed in decaying animal tissue, so there may have been some truth in that.
9. Witches supposedly to make their brooms from it, and it was also said to be the best type of wood to make a stake with which to kill a Vampire.
10. The Hawthorn is the state flower of the US state of Missouri.