Is removing a Rowan considered bad luck??

[Stubby]

No no no!

It's Hawthorn that's bad luck.

 

I think we need to bring in Village Idiot on this one . A couple of divining rods made from hazel and a bit of conjuring will sort it

[biggarlogs]

Yes it is ....no Forrester will ever tell a Rowan tree..a friend of mine felled three trees in his garden after I refused to do it ....his wife ran off with another,his buisiness went bust,and his son was in a car crash ...coincidence or bad luck????

[Stubby]

Yes it is ....no Forrester will ever tell a Rowan tree..a friend of mine felled three trees in his garden after I refused to do it ....his wife ran off with another,his buisiness went bust,and his son was in a car crash ...coincidence or bad luck????

 

What is it you wont tell a Rowen ?

[biggarlogs]

Oops fell

[spiral]

Like all beliefs including Christianity & Islamism, in the world we live in today, it only matter if you or those around you believe, otherwise it wont effect you...

 

Historically though to cut Rowan, Hawthorn, Holly, Yew & elder trees was considered bad luck by country folk.

 

Interestingly they all bear berries {food for humans & animals} & historically often grew in windswepet & harsh places, in Denmark I was told by a special forces type that if caught snow drifts in the country look for a holly to crawl under to be still alive in the morning. Both for shelter & ease of getting a fire going with green & dead leaves & twigs from underneath it{It was relevant as night before id been carried back in to a party from lying face down in a snow drift a couple of hundred yards away. {I was 16 & had to much frozen schnapps with the smoked eels, & the snow felt very refreshing face down... }

 

I guess in British urban areas leylandi would almost do!

 

So I wonder if the origins of this was there more valuable as trees than many in rough, barren windswept areas?

 

spiral

[One Buck]

I know that in North Yorkshire cottage door posts were often made out of 'witch wood' as it was believed that witches could not pass it and enter the house.

 

Plus I have a very old book which has 3 pages on the folklore of Rowan wood. It seems that its properties for banishing bad spirits have been revered from the Hebrides to eastern Europe for many centuries.

 

The only reference that I can find to cutting a tree down is, "in the north of Scotland , it was held that herdsman should cut Rowan wood on Maunday Thursday, and fix the pieces of wood or leaves to a stave. The stave should be kept until next May Day, when, fixed over the doors of the sheep cots, they would preserve the sheep from disease until the following may."

 

Hope this helps!

[eggsarascal]

No no no!

It's Hawthorn that's bad luck.

 

Rubbish! Everyone knows it's hornbeam thats bad luck.

[skc101fc]

Does anyone know what the "witch wood" is? - Got a few old crones in the area I could do with keeping away. Will it also keep away the light-fingerred bogeyman?

[timbernut]

You shouldn't cut elder cos it brings bad luck but you should have a branch of it above your door to ward off evil spirits. Damned if you do damned if you don't!😃

[JimM]

Was asked to fell an old multi-stemmed grotty Rowan a year ago. The farmer tenant refused to touch it. Superstitious. Rowans keep witches away and it's bad luck to cut down the last Rowan on your ground.

Cutting through near the base found a horse-shoe with the chain. Must have come of a Clydesdale. Dug around and got it out and changed the destroyed chain.

Started again. Found another horseshoe that had been grown around. The third chain found a stone that had been swallowed up.

Walked away out of pocket.

Cut loads down since, but that one wasn't supposed to come down I think.