Whitethorn in bloom, near Clonbur, western Ireland

Much Irish superstition exists around the Whitethorn tree. There is a reticence associated that the late poet Eavan Boland called the "superstitious aura of hawthorn". This may be a remnant of the ancient Irish regard for sacred trees that was part of the prehistoric pagan worship of nature. Later, trees in Ireland were associated with the development of the Ogham alphabet, and tellingly, the letter associated with hawthorn within that is hUath, thought to mean "fear". Often, we see single hawthorn trees standing alone in fields, or on old ring forts, untouched by farmers. Variously known as gentry thorn, lone bushes or skeaghs, there are tens of thousands of them across Ireland. They look gnarled, weathered and otherly throughout the winter months without the green clothing of their leaves.

These trees that grew of their own accord, unplanted by human hands, are those most regarded with fear and superstition. These are thought of as faery trees, associated with those unseen beings from the other world. They are believed to mark the places where the faeries, after dark, would assemble and play sweet ethereal music, ready to abduct any beautiful human who took their fancy. Faeries could potentially destroy the crops, livestock, health, fortune or luck of anyone they took a dislike to, or anyone who had somehow wronged them. Thus, anything associated with faery activity in Ireland was traditionally avoided by the people who used many rituals to appease them.

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