Onn – Common Ash – Fuinseóg
May 16 – June 12 = 8th month (Fraxinus Excelsior/Common or Tall Ash)

 

 

 

In Ireland, the ash tree is often found in hedges; it is Ireland’s most common and tallest tree. It can grow up to 40 meters/43 yards tall, but is usually around 20 meters/21 yards tall.
Initially, the tree’s bark is smooth, later developing deep cracks. Ash trees stand straight, without branches on the lower trunk; these branches fall off as the tree grows. The wood has many uses; it is strong yet flexible. It is well suited for furniture and tool handles, and in Ireland, it is used for the famous wooden bats for the special sport of hurling.

For economic and ecological reasons, there was government-supported planting.

 

The ash tree is sick

 

The ash tree is so influential in the Irish landscape that we cannot imagine it without these trees. But the ash trees are dying. In 2006, a fungus arrived in Cork and Tipperary with young seedlings from Holland, and is now widespread.

Research is trying to breed resistant trees. It’s progressing slowly; one in a hundred trees is disease-tolerant. A second option is to use resistant trees from Asia and Eastern Russia; there are attempts to transfer genetic resistance to Irish trees.

The ash tree, with its strong, flexible wood and delicate leaves, is a symbol of new growth, associated with fertility and healing. A tall, mature ash tree is a symbol of the prosperity of the land itself.

 

 

Folk Beliefs and Customs

 

There are many folk beliefs about the ash tree. For example, there is an English proverb: “Avoid an ash tree/it woos lightning.”
In Ireland, it is said that burning ash wood can drive away the devil. If you want to drive cattle and protect them from harm, an ash staff is excellent. And holding a winged ash seed in your hand protects against witchcraft.
In the Scottish Highlands, a midwife would place one end of a green ash stick in the fire. A kind of sap would then flow from the other end. This sap is given to the child as the first drop of liquid, thus giving the child the strength of the ash and protecting it from witches and goblins.

Norse mythology tells of Ygdrasil, the tree at the center of the world. It is an ash tree.
The ash tree is also said to keep away snakes, which do not exist in Ireland. The Roman naturalist Pliny said: “The virtues of this tree are so great that no snake will ever lie in the shade it casts.”

The ash, like the hazel, is always associated with holy water. It is estimated that of the 210 trees that grow at sacred springs, 75 are ash trees, surpassed only by hawthorn. Why is this? In folklore, there are countless connections between sacred rituals and ash trees, especially ash trees, springs, and water. Some stories even tell of water coming from the ash tree itself.

One story tells of a man named Deeley Corker in County Galway. He felled some ash trees near a spring. When he woke up the next day, his lower lip was swollen and drooping. Saliva constantly ran from his mouth, and it remained that way for the rest of his life.

In Greek myths, the ash tree was considered sacred to the sea god Poseidon. For example, people in Ireland believed that the sacred ash tree protected against drowning. Emigrants often carried pieces of ash wood with them.

 

Legend and Mythology

 

In Ireland, Queen Maeve is often associated with the ash tree. I’ll write more about her in another blog. Yggdrasil, the ash tree from which Odin hanged himself for nine days and nights to gain knowledge of the world, is seen as a timeless guardian tree, standing at the axis and center of the cosmos. Its roots reach into the lowest world, and its branches reach beyond the sky.
In Ireland, there are five great trees, three of which are ash trees. These three stand in a triangle centrally located in the middle of the country. Thus, the ash tree is again a symbol of the protection of the goddess, the landscape, and her territory, and thus of fertility.

 

 

The most famous of these three ash trees, Tortan, is said to have been a mighty tree, according to a long poem, over 220 m / 240 yd thick and over 1,300 m / 1,420 yd high. It was so large that all the men of Tortu could gather safely beneath it. During a long period of great storms and cruel weather, the tree fell, and the inhabitants of the area lost much of their wealth because they had lost its protection. The poem states that one day a new tree will grow from the roots of the old tree. The roots of the old tree are clearly a symbol of Gaelic Ireland and a symbol of the protection of the goddess’s sovereignty.

 

Seasonal Placement

 

The ash tree, with its association with water, fertility, and growth, fits in late spring, early summer.

 

Uses

 

The precious wood of the ash tree is and has been used for hurleys, spears, and a wide variety of other purposes: house building, fences, furniture, and boat building. The bark can be used for tanning.