A floral tradition

It is, perhaps, rather unsurprising that so many of our spring flowers have a strong history of folklore associated with them. After the long, drab days of winter, the first splash of colour would be especially welcome and it is relatively easy to see how such folklore could develop. The primrose, for example, is widely regarded as a token of spring, its delicate pale yellow flowers used to decorate churches over Easter. Primrose flowers were also picked for use in the preparation of ‘Pasche Eggs’, another tradition associated with Easter. The word ‘Pasche’ is an archaic word for Passover or Easter. The primrose blooms were wrapped around the egg, along with ivy leaves, onion peelings, gorse flowers and the petals of lesser celandine. The egg was then hard-boiled before being eaten on Easter Monday.

Lesser celandine itself, another early bloom, was used in the treatment of haemorrhoids, not because of proven medicinal qualities but because its knobbly tubers actually resembled the haemorrhoids they were used to treat. Early herbalists believed that treatments for particular ailments could be found in the plants or other materials that most resembled the condition, almost as if they carried a visual signpost as to their designated use.

Much of this kind of folklore is of mixed origin, some more ancient than others. Early folklore associated with the primrose has it that the brown marks in the centre of the primrose flower are the rust marks left behind when St. Peter mislaid the keys to heaven. Not all associations were positive, even for the same plant. As a corollary with the fertility associated with spring, the primrose became part of superstitious folklore relating to hens. In Suffolk in particular, it was considered unlucky to bring a posy of less than 13 primrose blooms into the house. Since 13 was considered to be the size of a standard clutch of eggs, bringing in fewer blooms than this was thought to lower the productivity of the family hens. Bringing a single primrose bloom into the house was deemed even unluckier and malicious neighbours would sometimes give a small child a single primrose to take home, hoping this would bring bad fortune onto the child’s family.

A far more recent piece of primrose folklore is ‘Primrose Day’ (19^th April). On this day, primroses are placed on the statue of Disraeli at Westminster Abbey. Disraeli’s favourite flower was the primrose and Queen Victoria often sent bunches to him. Following his death, in 1881, Sir George Birdwood suggested that Disraeli be remembered through a Primrose Day, a tradition that continues. Whatever the associations, I am just glad to see the soft yellow tones of primroses adorning our woods in spring.