Hypnogoria: THE OLDTIME YULETIDE ADVENT CALENDAR

Welcome dear friends back to the Hypnogoria Old-time Yuletide Advent Calendar! It is time to open Door 8 and find what H awaits us. Well, I can now reveal H stands for Holly, that most festive plant.

Holly is probably the plant we most associate with Christmas, rivalling only the Christmas Tree itself in the iconography of the season. However the decorated fir tree is a mere whippersnapper, being only a few centuries old, whereas holly - ilex aquifolium for any botanists or Latin scholars out there - has been around since time immemorial. Certainly the use of holly as decorations probably predates Christianity, for we know it was an important plant in both ancient Scandinavian and Celtic traditions. The Romans too favoured this favourite prickly bush, with the ancient scholar Pliny stating that a holly tree near a house would drive away evil spirits, and protect the house from lightning strikes. Furthermore Pliny claimed that sprigs of holly provided good protection against witches too.

And thanks to Pliny’s continued influence after the fall of Rome, holly retained this belief in its protective powers into later centuries. For example in mediaeval times it was thought a good protection against goblins and mischievous spirits such as Robin Goodfellow. And this belief lingered on into even modern times ,with the notion that it was very bad luck to cut down a holly bush or tree.

With regards to Christianity, its evergreen properties symbolised eternal life, while the prickly leaves could represent the crown of thorns, and the red berries, the blood of Christ. Some mediaeval legends went further, claiming variously that the crown of thorns had been made from holly, and that the wood that the cross was made of came from a holly tree. Indeed so strong were these associations that it has been claimed that “holly” is a shortening of “holy tree”. However in fact the name would appear to come from the ancient Celtic name for this festive favourite.

And indeed there is much lore associated with this plant. To begin with it comes in both male and female varieties, and one must have both if you want your holly to produce those vivid red berries. A common folk belief related to the berries states that the more plentiful the berries in autumn, the harder and colder the winter will be.

Another old superstition in the British Isles relates to the two sexes of the plant. This folk belief held that whichever sort of holly was first brought into the house at Christmas time would determine who would rule the roost in the coming year. If it was male, the master, or if it was female, the mistress.

Now speaking of bringing holly into the house, traditionally the day for putting up the decorations was Christmas Eve, however when they came down was another matter. While now we tend to favour Twelfth Night, in previous centuries the greenery stayed in place until Candlemas - February 2nd. However, whatever day the halls ceased to be decked with boughs of holly, folklore is unanimous on one point - the holly and other greenery must be burnt, lest ill luck and attacks by evil spirits result.

Of course, in the iconography of Christmas, holly is usually paired with ivy… And we will learn about the folklore of the holly tree’s long-time companion tomorrow!