Off work for a few days now and the weather is super over here. I usually go for a good walk in the Phoenix Park which is close by. I have run there for all my marathons over the years and it is quite enjoyable to have time walking and exploring this park which is the biggest walled garden in Europe.
A discovery I made recently, may be of interest to some of you out there......regarding the Hawthorn tree. This beautiful low growing tree is in bloom about now and has a rather delicate white flower growing on its gnarled spiked branches...not to be mixed up with Blackthorn, which flowers earlier in the late Spring. The flower on the Hawthorn is quite pungent and many on smelling it find it rather offensive....

Here in Ireland...this tree is steeped in folklore of the little people or leprechauns of ancient times, ancient folklore like King Arthur, which may have some shred of truth in the mysts of time. The Hawthorn had a bad reputation with the local population and many believed the tree marked an entry/exit spot for the Spirit world of the unseen. Magical, mystical tradition still pervades the countryside over here. So much so...that you will often see The Hawthorn tree solitary growing in the middle of a crop field. These trees will have been left undisturbed for centuries as they tend to drop seeds close by. In the Phoenix Park ther is a cluster of them in ground that is left alone by the grounds staff..

Of interest for its bad omen in Irish folklore is the belief that the pungent smell associated with the flower was similar to rotten flesh! Interestingly enough, the Irish wake centuries ago, often involved the body lieing in the house for a week or more owing to the distances family and clan members had to travel back then. Mostly on foot. By the end of the week the body had begun to decompose and the smell was said to be similar to the Hawthorn flower. Even more interesting a fact about that, is that the flower has a unique chemical that attracts mainly carrion insects, such as flies, to help the Hawthorn tree in pollination. A rose by any other name I guess.

I for one believe that there was a lot of wisdom lost from our ancestors through a loss of transmission value placed on the oral transmission. We have lost a lot of knowledge because of this...but some stories still never really go away...they are permanently etched into our subconscious mind... One final note.....I actually like the smell of the flower...so next time you pass one have a closer look. Mind you...be quick, there isn't much time left for the flower in bloom....