Leechcrafts

Love this time of years when the primroses are blooming on the ditches. Every country road you go on, you’ll find a bunch. Took this snap a few minutes ago and was reminded of how I heard these called May Flowers in parts of Mayo. We have a different flower here which we called May Flowers, no right or wrong just a difference.

It was custom (and still is) in some parts of the country to sprinkle primroses on the door steps on May Eve to keep the fairies out. The story goes that ‘the boys’ weren’t a fan of yellow and that’s why the furze was also chosen for the May Bush around the country too - likewise the rowan and the whitethorn.

This sprinkling of the May flowers is still done in pockets around the country from rural South Down to rural North Wexford and it is very strong still, all over Mayo, Sligo and Donegal.

Regardless of the folklore and keeping the fairies/bad luck out, the sight of these growing on our ditches is enough to keep me happy.

Text: Michael Fortune

NEW ESSAY — “Picturing Pregnancy in Early Modern Europe” — https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/picturing-pregnancy-in-early-modern-europe

When the womb began to appear in printed images during the 16th century, it was understood through analogy: a garden, uroscopy flask, or microcosm of the universe. Rebecca Whiteley explores early modern birth figures, which picture the foetus in utero, and discovers an iconic form imbued with multiple kinds of knowledge: from midwifery know-how to alchemical secrets, astrological systems to new anatomical findings.