Rushes

Botanical lore and the beginning of a new project

  

Rushes

Luachra

Juncus effusus

Rushes are ubiquitous in Ireland. Favouring damp, boggy soil. They are most closely associated with Brigid’s Day which we are fast approaching at the start of February. Crosses are traditionally woven from rushes in her honour and hung in the home to bless the house for the year.

Rushes were also strewn on the doorstep to welcome Brigid into the home. This seems to have been a custom for all visitors at some point but the practice has vanished leaving only the saying ‘If I knew you were coming, I’d put green rushes under your feet’, now mostly uttered to those who haven’t been seen in a long time.

Given their abundance it is unsurprising that our ancestors found many uses for rushes from using them to weave mats, ropes and hats to thatching a house with them and breaking them into strips to be used as candle wicks.

Green rushes were thought to protect from the fairies; breaking their spells on milk (perhaps linked to their use at Brigid’s day celebrations) and dispelling the fairy wind.

In mythology many a hero rests on a healing bed of green rushes, and indeed they were traditionally used for bedding.

A tale from the life of St. Patrick tells that he had a boy keep watch whilst he slept. In his sleep Patrick cursed Ireland and the boys’ quick thinking and sharp tongue moved the curse instantly to the tops of the rushes. That is why they are always brown.

I’ll write more on Brigid’s crosses closer to her day but on this January new moon I want to begin a project, an experiment, a practice. New moons are traditionally the time to plant seeds; all of life begins in darkness and so the dark of the moon mirrors the soil or the womb in which life gestates. And so, each new moon I want to bring you a piece of writing seeded from botanical folklore. I’ll bring you the botanical image and folk beliefs as I have for years on my social media but then I’ll take that lore and run with it, with ink across the page.