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Elder Mother

en.wikipedia.org

57 pointsbenbreen14 comments

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The wiki page originally cited some sources that were since removed. I think they're more interesting than the wiki.

https://www.rollrightstones.co.uk/articles/category/folklore...

https://hedgerowmobile.com/elder.html

http://www.whitedragon.org.uk/articles/respect.htm

> The Elder Mother is thought to be the guardian of the elder trees, a

Must be something with old Indo-European roots (or even older than that), because we have something very similar in Romanian folklore, it's called Muma Pădurii (literally translated as Forrest Mother). From wikipedia [1] (very rough translation by me):

> Muma Pădurii is a Romanian mythology character which is often present in Romanian fairy-tales. According to Romanian folk tradition she is an ugly witch, who lives alone, deep in the forrest and she scares people. It looks like she is also present in the Slav folk-tales under the name of Baba Yaga

As that wiki quote says, the Slavic people have something similar under the name of Baba Yaga [2]

[1] https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muma_P%C4%83durii

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Yaga

Interesting, that one does sound more similar to "Skogsrået"[1]. With the possible exception that Skogsrået was very beautiful, as long as you didn't see her from behind. Apparently there were many different creatures watching over the forest in Scandinavia and the rest of Europe.

[1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skogsr%C3%A5

The creatures are still there, it is only that we have closed our eyes, ears, hearts and minds to them. And so we destroy their homes because we no longer hear, see, love or understand them.

I'm sad that the article doesn't even begin to suggest a period of time where this belief was current. Nonetheless, it gives me a great idea for an inscription on musical instruments I make from elder wood.

Given that these beliefs are very similar over large swathes of northern Europe, they must have been around for a very long time to have propagated so far through population migrations.

Reminds me of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Man

Is elder wood unusually sappy, knotty, or hard to cut? I can easily imagine people blaming the supernatural when a woodcutter's axe sometimes gets stuck or a whittler's knife slips in his hands.

The elder trees I grew up with were more like a slow-growing bamboo, a thin 1mm to 2mm surface wood around a pith centre. In fact, wiki's page on pith uses elder as it's example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pith#/media/File:Elder_pith.jp...

AFAIK it's very low grade weak stuff. Barely wood at all.

(edit: But elderflower cordial diluted with fizzy water is stunningly good IMO)

Elder wood does have some uses, it is perfect for creating homemade turntable unipivot tonearms, since it grows straight, has a hollow core and is very stiff when dry.

Huh! And light weight. Actually makes sense too.

The things you learn here...

Incidentally, reminded me, I'd heard opuntia spines (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opuntia AKA prickly pear) were used for the needles waaaay back. Can't find a ref but heard it on a TV program. FYI.

Edit: can't play this but see if this is informative https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxuPDTlIofY "Making Phonograph Needles from a Cactus"

I know the flavor of elderberry. I was just surprised by there existing folklore for collecting elder wood. In my experience, elderberries grow on a bush that isn't much good for anything other than being a garden plant.

My understanding is that elderberry is not really the elder referred to in European folk stories.

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