Talking Trees Books

We have recently returned from a folklore collecting ‘holiday’ in the northern isles of Orkney & Shetland. These very wild and wonderful places leached the stories, superstitions and traditions in landscapes that had been inhabited by Picts, Nordic and Scottish peoples resulting in an often unique and wonderful folklore. As we are approaching Hallowe’en we noticed how much more emphasis was placed on this tradition than in our home county of Shropshire in England. We all kno

August 1st is known as Lammas Day or as the Gaelic festival period of Lughnasadh. Lammas origins lie in the Christian liturgical calendar, it’s name deriving from the Anglo-Saxon hlaf-mas meaning loaf-mass. It marked a time when the agricultural year and the Christian calendar came together. From Mediaeval times it marked the end of the hay harvest and the beginning of the grain. We have certainly seen that here at Talking Trees ‘headquarters’ as the hot spell in July result

Once again we reach the great turning point as our Sun has reached its full power and will begin to dwindle soon. But for a few days we stay in a limbo of solstice which is derived from the Latin sol ("sun") and sistere ("to stand still"). It seems synonymous with how we have all been living these last few months. However we know that things will change both in the daylight hours we have and in our lives. These changes may come slowly but gradually the accumulative affect is

Today is Mayday or Beltane - a day that has been celebrated for so long. Beltane’s origins lie in Gaelic/Celtic cultures and in Ireland,Scotland , Isle of Man and Cornwall it has been a long held tradition to mark the day with bonfires, gatherings, blessings and fairs. Today marks the latter part of springtime and the coming of summer. The Greenman has once more walked amongst us and brought with him the greening of our earth. Here at Talking Trees we have honoured our ‘green

‘And know the best season to laugh and sing, Is summer, is winter, is autumn, is spring’ We would like to wish you all a very happy New Year and hope you enjoy the 2020 Country Wisdom & Folklore Diary and thank you for helping us keep alive the old ways and celebrating the year together. May your diary be a good companion to you throughout the coming year. And remember .... no doing laundry on New Years Day lest you wash your good fortune away ! #diary #newyear #2020 #folkl

The Autumn Equinox marks balance followed by change which can often feel a little disruptive. However; as we gather the fruit harvest filling our basket with berries, apples and hips for delicious jams, crumbles and remedies, collect hops to bring calm and restfulness as we drape them over bedsteads and collect the wonderful seed heads to adorn our window ledges whilst preserving their precious contents for sowing next year, it can also feel rather satisfying. We put things

Today we were at a wonderful celebration of a very old mid- winter tradition found in Wales and the borders. The Mari (mare) is a horse skull that was carried from door to door with a Mary Llwyd group who went into houses singing and challenging families to rhyming insults in Welsh. It was a battle of wits. Followed by good spirits and refreshment. After more banter the Mari would bless the house and then move on to the next. At Chepstow they have created a lovely festival th

We loved the sentiment carved into this standing stone that is part of the recently situated sculpture at Corgarff in the Cairngorms sitting 637m above sea level and on the 'snow route'. An indicator of how 2019 should be spent- we could think of no finer New years Resolution. The rest of the sculptural scene was 'The Watchers' by John Kennedy, four sculptural iron seats that look out over the Cairngorms and give shelter from the whipping winds as you sit in awe of the stunni

And relax ...... On this the longest night we light fires, candles and switch on the fairy- lights as we remind the sun to return once more as we truly enter the season of winter. We have to wait a further three days before the sun begins to make progress and we gain an extra minute of sunlight day by day until it reaches it's zenith at summer solstice. But for now we are in the dark days of winter and long nights and so perhaps its time to reflect, snuggle up and keep a slow

Stir- Up Sunday is the Sunday before Advent and so named because Christmas Puddings would traditionally be made then, with all the family involved in the stirring process. But it's name derived from the church’s collect for that day which began, ’Stir up, we beseech thee oh lord.’ This migrated to sayings such as, ’Stir-Up the pud we beseech thee, the pudding is in the pot.’ The tradition of families gathering together in the kitchen to mix and steam Christmas pudding on Stir

The summer solstice is always a significant event in Talking Trees household as we celebrate that we have reached the zenith of the year of the longest day but begin to look towards the daylight shortening after midsummer’s day on 24th June. Solstice means to ‘stand still’ and for 4 days that is what happens in terms of our daylight hours. We like to use these four days as productively as possible, making’ hay while the sun shines’, so to speak. We began by witnessing day br