All too often we are told that holly was held by druids to symbolize the sun and so taken into dwellings during winter months. Truth be told, there exists little firm knowledge of how the Celtic priests practiced their religion. In fact, judging by such rare observations as Caesar’s Commentaries and archaeological excavations they were a blood thirsty lot prone to torture, slavery and general mayhem, not much different from certain holy practices in later, more modern times, enough to create hagiophobia.
Not until Roman times does traditional holly of the high holidays illuminate the festivities.
Ilex aquifolium was used by Romans as decoration for Saturnalia, their winter equinox celebrations. In Europe holly was used for divination: for example, if you hung holly over your bed, you would have good dreams. In the Arthurian legends of Britain the Green Knight derived from beliefs of the Holly King, a warlike giant who bore a great club made of a thick holly branch. Elsewhere the tree was associated with thunder gods such as Thor. According to medieval legend, holly sprang from places where Christ walked.
While there are some 400 species of
Ilex, English Holly, Common Holly, or European Holly as it is variously designated,
I. aquifolium, is native to Europe, North Africa and Western Asia. Under favourable conditions it can become a large tree, 25 metres in height, it may be reduced to just three to 10 metres as in coastal British Columbia, and in parts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.
Production of the decorative red berries requires trees of both sexes although confusingly some trees bisexual. The berries are technically drupes, each containing two to four seeds. A good crop of them was said to foretell of a severe winter.
Now-notorious sticky bird lime was prepared by boiling holly bark to produce a juice mixed with a third nut oil.
The white wood is tough and was used for veneers, inlays, and a substitute for ebony when dyed, despite a widely held belief that it was unlucky to cut down the tree. Possibly this explains the disappearance of the Holly King.
In post-Roman Britain, inhabitants clung to many of their pre-Christian beliefs despite vigorous efforts of the clergy to eradicate them. Eventually the priests capitulated and brought holly and other heathenish decorations into the church. So we still have that grand old Christmas carol, The Holly and the Ivy, while commercial production of the berried sprigs for seasonal décor is a valued horticultural industry.
Then there is Hollywood, California. Home of a mighty entertainment industry, the very name has come to have near universal implications. So valued is it that at one time, authorities sought to trade mark it – much to the horror and very vocal opposition of similarly named Hollywood, Florida. Despite all this there are differing opinions on origin of name but certainly
Ilex aquifolium never originally grew in that now drought-plagued region.
But let Brit entertainer Benny Hill close things off:
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, oh so happy and jolly
I wonder how they would’ve felt if their fig leaves had been holly?
