The Hazel in Celtic Folklore

The Hazel in Celtic Folklore	James Parton
	Dec. 15, 2007

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TOPIC: Celtic Folklore concerning the Hazel
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/88ccb9cb251cd96d?hl=en
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== 1 of 7 ==
Date: Sat, Dec 15 2007 8:24 am
From: James Parton

ENTS,

The Celts equated hazelnuts with concentrated wisdom and poetic
inspiration, as is suggested by the similarity between the Gaelic word
for these nuts, cno, and the word for wisdom, cnocach. There are
several variations on an ancient tale that nine hazel trees grew
around a sacred pool, dropping nuts into the water to be eaten by some
salmon (a fish revered by Druids) which thereby absorbed the wisdom.
The number of bright spots on the salmon were said to indicate how
many nuts they had eaten.

In an Irish variation of this legend, one salmon was the recipient of
all these magical nuts. A Druid master, in his bid to become all-
knowing, caught the salmon and instructed his pupil to cook the fish
but not to eat any of it. However in the process, hot juice from the
cooking fish spattered onto the apprentice's thumb, which he
instinctively thrust into his mouth to cool, thereby imbibing the
fish's wisdom. This lad was called Fionn Mac Cumhail and went on to
become one of the most heroic leaders in Irish mythology.

The Gaelic word for hazel is Coll. It appears frequently in placenames
in the west of Scotland, such as the Isle of Coll and Bar Calltuin in
Appin, both in Argyll-shire where the tree and its eponymous
placenames are the most common. It also appears in the name of Clan
Colquhoun whose clan badge is the hazel. The English name for the tree
and its nut is derived from the Anglo-Saxon haesel knut, haesel
meaning cap or hat, thus referring to the cap of leaves on the nut on
the tree.

Hazel trees frequently grow as a clump of slender trunks, and when
they do adopt a one-trunk-and-canopy tree shape, they readily respond
to coppicing, a practice which can actually extend and even double the
lifespan of a hazel. Either way, people have put the young shoots or
whips and the thin trunks to a variety of uses.

Hazel has long been a favourite wood from which to make staffs,
whether for ritual Druidic use, for medieval self defence, as staffs
favoured by pilgrims, or to make shepherds crooks and everyday walking
sticks. In the case of the latter two, the pliancy of the hazel's wood
was used to bend the stems into the required shape, though it was also
customary to bend the hazel shoots when still on the tree to 'grow'
the bend into a crook or walking stick. The wood readily splits
lengthways and bends easily, even right back on itself, which makes it
ideal for weaving wattle hurdles for use as fencing or as medieval
house walls when daubed with mud and lime. Hazel stakes bent to a U-
shape were also used to hold down thatch on roofs. Like willow, young
coppiced hazel shoots were used to weave a variety of baskets and
other containers. Forked twigs of hazel were also favoured by
diviners, especially for finding water. Hazel leaves are usually the
earliest native ones to appear in spring and often the last to fall in
autumn, and were fed to cattle as fodder. There was also a belief that
they could increase a cow's milk yield.

In days gone by hazelnuts would have provided a plentiful and easily
stored source of protein, and they were often ground up and mixed with
flour to be made into nourishing breads. Cultivated hazelnuts called
filberts take their name from St Philibert's Day on 20 August, the
date by which hazelnuts were supposed to start ripening. Holy Cross
Day on 14 September was traditionally given as a school holiday for
children to go nutting, a custom which persisted in England until the
First World War. Various places celebrated Nutcrack Night sometime
during November, when the stored nuts were opened, though apparently
some parishioners were in the habit of taking hazelnuts to church on
the following Sunday to be cracked noisily during the sermon. Today
hazelnuts continue to be eaten, though more frequently in luxury foods
such as chocolate and as hazelnut butter, and as a Christmas delicacy.
Woodland crafts using hazel are also enjoying a resurgence, and hazel
wattle hurdles have even been used as sound screens along motorways.

I love both Salmon & Hazel, though I have rarely seen the tree
planted around here.

James Parton.

== 2 of 7 ==
Date: Sat, Dec 15 2007 8:30 am
From: James Parton

ENTS,

Here is an addition. The Salmon of Knowledge obtained its " Wisdom "
from eating the nuts from the Tree of Knowledge. The Hazel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fionn_mac_Cumhaill

James P.

== 3 of 7 ==
Date: Sat, Dec 15 2007 1:49 pm
From: Lee Frelich

James:

Minnesota has 10 million acres of hazel--its the universal understory in
the southern boreal forests of northern MN. I have chopped down thousands
of hazel just to be able to measure the dbh of trees on my study plots. No
wonder I keep getting dumber as I get older, I am always chopping
concentrated wisdom out of my life. And no wonder the squirrels in MN are
so smart--they harvest all the nuts before I do and fill up on wisdom
before retreating to their nests for the winter.

Lee

== 4 of 7 ==
Date: Sat, Dec 15 2007 1:53 pm
From: dbhguru

James,

Excellent contribution. Very interesting. We hereby appoint you as the communicator of Celtic wisdom. Keep the stories rolling. Love'um.

Bob

== 5 of 7 ==
Date: Sat, Dec 15 2007 8:04 pm
From: James Parton

Bob,

I don't know about being wise but this is defenently different than
the typical tree measuring & forestry posts that are usually here.
ENTS could use some variety.

James Parton

== 6 of 7 ==
Date: Sat, Dec 15 2007 8:08 pm
From: James Parton

Lee,

I never realized Hazel was so common anywhere in the US. That is not
counting Witch Hazel.

James P.

== 7 of 7 ==
Date: Sat, Dec 15 2007 9:02 pm
From: dbhguru

James,

Yes! We need to recapture the spirit that gave rise to ENTS. The forestry posts have their place and the tree measuring is fundamental, but ENTS is much, much more and the Celtic wisdom is weaving its magic spell. And what better time of year than the Christmas season?

Bob

== 2 of 4 ==
Date: Sun, Dec 16 2007 7:40 am
From: James Parton

Lee,

Are the nuts of good quality?

James P.

== 3 of 4 ==
Date: Sun, Dec 16 2007 10:41 am
From: Lee Frelich

James:

Yes, and they are better nuts if the hazel is in a gap and gets more sun,
but the squirrels get them all before people have a chance.

Lee

== 4 of 4 ==
Date: Sun, Dec 16 2007 2:53 pm
From: James Parton

Will, Jess.

Are there any species of Hazel native to the NC Appalachians outside
of Witch Hazel? You two have more familiarity of NCs mountain forests
than anyone I know.

James P.

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