The Holly and the . . . Holy

holly

Some interesting pieces of folklore, legend and superstitions about the prickly holly bush, are presented in our third look back at Christmas items from the Stamford Mercury in December, 1927.

“Holly Lore.

Holly is a fine crop and beautifully berried this year. That is often the case after a wet summer, and the theory that this means a severe winter has even less to its credit than the tradition that a green Christmas spells a fat churchyard. Nevertheless, these popular sayings of the countryside should not be dismissed too dogmatically, for a spice of truth generally flavours the most grosteque delusions. Not a little legend surrounds this beautiful plant. One of the tales is that holly first sprang up under the feet of Christ when He trod our earth, and, as an addendum to this idea, we are assured that animals remember what man has forgotten, and thus they never harm the holly.

Ancient Superstitions.

An early classical writer attributed to holly wood the stange power of compelling any animal to return the thrower of a staff of holly, it the latter so disired it, and to lie down by the staff. A rather weird variation, this, on the familiar return of the Australian native’s boomerang, which returns to the thrower. Holly used to play an important part in West Country affaires. For instance, the oath on mining questions in the Forest of Dean was sworn on the holly-stick instead of the Bible. We used to export birdlime made from holly bark, they say, and, apart from alleged medical properties of the berry, the tree has had many other uses. There is no more lovely wood, when worked up and polished, than holly.

The Stamford Mercury, 23rd December, 1927.