Rowan tree
The rowan tree, or mountain ash, was planted by houses in Scotland and Ireland as protection against witches and spirits, and cutting one down was taboo in Scotland. Its scarlet berries feed birds in autumn.
What it may mean
A rowan by the gate did its work simply by being there. In Edinburgh, a contributor told a plant-lore archive, rowans grew at a gateway because witches could not pass through, and in rural Ireland two flanked a grandmother's house against any malign influence. The harder moment came when such a tree got in the way. A contributor from Argyll remembered that when a rowan by the family home began interfering with some cables, their mother would let no one in the family cut it and found someone from outside to do the job. Protectors, human or not, can become inconvenient, and removing one carries a weight that has little to do with timber. A tree heavy with berries makes a good occasion to name what stands guard at your own gate.
Depending on how you saw it
Boughs in the cow house
Pennant, quoted by Brand, saw Scottish farmers place boughs of mountain ash and honeysuckle in their cow houses on May 2 to guard the cattle against witchcraft. Which small precaution do you take each year for the ones in your care?
Rowan and juniper at sea
Icelanders held that rowan and juniper were enemies, and that a house keeping both would burn down, though some sailors thought a ship built with rowan would sink unless juniper came aboard too. Which two habits in your life do not belong under one roof?
A tree full of berries
In Scotland, a contributor said, a rowan full of berries means a really cold winter is on its way. Which good season around you do you read as a warning?
Why it happens in nature
Rowan, Sorbus aucuparia, is a slender tree that grows high on Scottish hills and is widely planted in streets and gardens. Clusters of creamy-white flowers become scarlet berries in autumn, an important food for birds, which spread the seeds. Despite the name mountain ash, it is not related to true ash trees.
What folk beliefs say
Scotland and Ireland
Rowan was once widely planted by houses as protection against witches; in Ireland it was planted near houses against spirits, and in Scotland cutting one down was taboo, according to the Woodland Trust.
Source: Woodland Trust, Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), A-Z of British trees (n.d.), www.woodlandtrust.org.uk. View the page
Scotland (Edinburgh)
A contributor in Edinburgh said in 2018 that rowans were planted at a gate because witches could not pass through them.
Source: Roy Vickery (compiler), Rowan (Plant-Lore archive) (n.d.), www.plant-lore.com. View the page
Scotland
In his tour of Scotland, cited by Brand, Pennant described farmers protecting their cattle against witchcraft with boughs of mountain ash and honeysuckle placed in their cow houses on the second of May.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 3 (1849), vol. 3, p. 54. View the page
Iceland
Icelanders, Daniels and Stevans report, believed the mountain ash and the juniper were enemies, so that a house keeping both would burn down; some Icelandic sailors held that a ship with rowan in it would sink unless juniper was put on board too.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 766. View the page
Isle of Man
Manx custom, as an encyclopedia of 1903 describes it, allowed no iron in the fire on Good Friday; a stick of rowan was used instead.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 3 (1903), vol. 3, p. 1527 (file v 3). View the page
To reflect on
What stands guard at your door, and what would it cost you to take it down?