Scottish Gaelic Tree Alphabet Series - Single #9 of 13

Please note: This is track #13 on the new album THE WOODS - the full 21 track album will be released on 20th March (the Spring Equinox) and is available now for pre-order.

In the Scottish Gaelic alphabet 'L' is represented by the rowan, while 'N' is for the ash.

L is for LUIS [Loosh], rowan, caorann, rodden, ridden-tree, rantree, Mountain ash, Sorbus aucuparia.

N is for NUIN [Noo-iñ], ash, uinnseann, foinnseag, esch, Fraxinus excelsior.

Here is an elegant jig for the magic rowan tree followed by an extravagant polka for the dazzling ash tree. The name rowan is from Norse ‘raun’, meaning ‘charm’. In 1777, John Lightfoot in his ‘Flora Scotica’ wrote that Highlanders “believe that any small part of this tree, carried about with them, will prove a sovereign charm against all the dire effects of enchantment or witchcraft. Their cattle also, as well as themselves, are supposed to be preserved by it from evil, for the dairymaid will not forget to drive them to the shielings or summer pastures with a rod of this tree...In Strathspey they make, for the same purpose, on the first day of May, a hoop of rowan wood, and in the morning and evening cause all the sheep and lambs to pass through it.” You often find old rowans planted beside ruined Highland crofts. This hardy wee tree can be found at high altitudes, particularly in sheltered gullies. Rowan bark is silvery, smooth and elegant and its leaves are compound, small and feathery. Every year in Autumn, large flocks of redwings come to Strathspey from Scandinavia and strip the rowans of their red berries.

Like rowan, ash trees have compound leaflets, but the leaves are bigger and the branches appear to stretch gracefully upwards to the sky befitting the title ‘Venus of the Woods’. Like the oak and ash is susceptible to lightning strikes, hence the saying “avoid an ash, for it courts a flash!” Ash trees can grow for over 40 years to become noble giants 30m tall, but are also often encountered in groves of small thin trees in sheltered, rocky, damp areas. If coppiced well, an ash can last for a millennia. The wood is very hard, and was used by Highlanders for making spears, tool handles, furniture and ploughs. The Latin ‘Fraxinus’ means ‘firelight’ as ash makes the very best of firewood. The Viking 'Tree of Life’ was an ash called Yggdrasil (the sacred Norse World Tree), and the warriors referred to themselves as ‘Aesling’ [Men of Ash].