Hawthorn Song

The Hawthorn tree has gifts in every season and this song is an appreciation to the Hawthorn tree. The tender young leaves in Spring are edible and can be added to salads and sandwiches.  In May, the white blossoms fill the tree, traditionally at Beltane people were married with blossoms in their hair and the May Poles were decorated with the blossoms.  Those flowers become the berries into Autumn, fairies’ apples with their pip inside and star at the base, and these red berries are edible and carry great medicine for the heart.  In the Winter with their bare and twisted bark they have been known in Ireland as the Whitethorn and are revered as the fairy tree.  They can be a portal to other worlds…

This song forms part of a collection of tree and plant songs that Anna has been gathering as part of a quest to invite songs from the land to honour and appreciate the different species we are in connection with. They are also of course, a great way to remember the qualities and medicines of these plants and trees.