Author: Robert Bevan-Jones
Publisher:
Published: 2016-10-31
Total Pages: 216
ISBN-13: 1911188143
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The gnarled, immutable yew tree is one of the most evocative sights in the British and Irish language, an evergreen impression of immortality, the tree that provides a living botanical link between our own landscapes and those of the distant past. This book tells the extraordinary story of the yew’s role in the landscape through the millennia, and makes a convincing case for the origins of many of the oldest trees, as markers of the holy places founded by Celtic saints in the early medieval ‘Dark Ages’. With wonderful photographic portraits of ancient yews and a gazetteer (with locations) of the oldest yew trees in Britain, the book brings together for the first time all the evidence about the dating, history, archaeology and cultural connections of the yew. Robert Bevan-Jones discusses its history, biology, the origins of its name, the yew berry and its toxicity, its distribution across Britain, means of dating examples, and their association with folklore, with churchyards, abbeys, springs, pre-Reformation wells and as landscape markers. This third edition has an updated introduction with new photographs and corrections to the main text.
Author: Ceri Houlbrook
Publisher: Springer
Published: 2018-04-23
Total Pages: 307
ISBN-13: 331975517X
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This book traces the history of ritual landscapes in the British Isles, and the transition from religious practice to recreation, by focusing on a highly understudied exemplar: the coin-tree. These are trees imbued with magical properties into which coins have been ritually embedded. This is a contemporary custom which can be traced back in the literature to the 1700s, when it was practiced for folk-medical and dedicatory purposes. Today, the custom is widespread, with over 200 coin-trees distributed across the British Isles, but is more akin to the casual deposition of coins in a wishing-well: coins are deposited in the tree in exchange for wishes, good luck, or future fortune. Ceri Houlbrook contributes to the debate on the historic relationships between religion, ritual, and popular magic in British contexts from 1700 to the present.
Author: D.C. Watts
Publisher: Elsevier
Published: 2007-05-02
Total Pages: 482
ISBN-13: 0080546021
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Knowledge of plant names can give insight into largely forgotten beliefs. For example, the common red poppy is known as "Blind Man" due to an old superstitious belief that if the poppy were put to the eyes it would cause blindness. Many plant names derived from superstition, folk lore, or primal beliefs. Other names are purely descriptive and can serve to explain the meaning of the botanical name. For example, Beauty-Berry is the name given to the American shrub that belongs to the genus Callicarpa. Callicarpa is Greek for beautiful fruit. Still other names come from literary sources providing rich detail of the transmission of words through the ages.Conceived as part of the author's wider interest in plant and tree lore and ethnobotanical studies, this fully revised edition of Elsevier's Dictionary of Plant Names and Their Origins contains over 30,000 vernacular and literary English names of plants. Wild and cultivated plants alike are identified by the botanical name. Further detail provides a brief account of the meaning of the name and detailed commentary on common usage. * Includes color images * Inclusive of all Latin terms with vernacular derivatives * The most comprehensive guide for plant scientists, linguists, botanists, and historians
Author: Jack Hunter
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2023-03-16
Total Pages: 249
ISBN-13: 1000847675
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Folklore, People and Place is a contribution towards better understanding the complex interconnectivity of folklore, people and place, across a range of different cultural and geographical contexts. The book showcases a range of international case studies from different cultural and ecological contexts showing how folklore can and does mediate human relationships with people and place. Folklore has traditionally been connected to place, telling tales of the land and the real and imaginary beings that inhabit storied places. These storytelling traditions and practices have endured in a contemporary world, yet the role and value of folklore to people and places has changed. The book explores a broad range of international perspectives and considers how the relationship between folklore, people, and place has evolved for tourists and indigenous communities. It will showcase a range of international case studies from different cultural and ecological contexts showing how folklore can and does mediate human relationships with people and place. By exploring folklore in the context of tourism, this book engages in a critical discussion of the opportunities and challenges of using storied places in destination development. The case studies in the book provide an international perspective on the contemporary value of folklore to people and places engendering reflection on the role of folklore in sustainable tourism strategies. This book will be of interest to students, academics, researchers in fields such as anthropology, folklore, tourism, religious studies, human geography and related disciplines. It will also be of interest to scholars and practitioners of traditional ecological knowledge.
Author: Colin Murray
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 1988-10-15
Total Pages: 132
ISBN-13: 9780312020323
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Within this box lies the secret language of the Celts. To life the lid is to discover an ancient method of communication-and a means of divination. In the Celtic Ogham or tree alphabet, each letter embodies the spirit of a tree or plant, here represented on a richly decorated card. Whatever your question, doubt or worry, the 2,000-year-old wisdom of The Tree Oracle provides remarkable guidance and insight for Twentieth Century men and women. Contents: -25 beautiful tree cards -Illustrated book of explanation -Record sheet and pad
Author: Lauren Horn Griffin
Publisher: BRILL
Published: 2023-09-14
Total Pages: 243
ISBN-13: 9004514368
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This book argues that in order to understand nationalisms, we need a clearer understanding of the types of cultural myths, symbols, and traditions that legitimate them. Myths of origin and election, memories of a greater and purer past, and narratives of persecution and mission are required for the production and maintenance of powerful national sentiments. Through an investigation of how early modern Catholics and Protestants reimagined, reinterpreted, and rewrote the lives of the founder-saints who spread Christianity in England, this book offers a theoretical framework for the study of origin narratives. Analyzing the discursive construction of time and place, the invocation of forces beyond the human to naturalize and authorize, and the role of visual and ritual culture in fabrications of the past, this book provides a case study for how to approach claims about founding figures. Serving as a timely example of the dependence of national identity on key religious resources, Griffin shows how origin narratives – particularly the founding figures that anchor them – function as uniquely powerful rhetorical tools for the cultural production of regional and national identity.
Author: Bodfan Gruffydd
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 1994
Total Pages: 259
ISBN-13: 0419196102
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This book details, succinctly, the visual and physiological characteristics of some 300 trees. Trees being the dominant feature in most landscapes, the landscape architect needs to select them with particular care. In this unique book all this information and more is presented in clear, easy-to-use tables.
Author: Ian D. Rotherham
Publisher: Lulu.com
Published: 2013-07-05
Total Pages: 308
ISBN-13: 1904098509
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Trees Beyond the Wood was written for a conference organised to celebrate twenty years of work since the first major conference on the theme of ancient trees and woodlands held in Sheffield, UK. It was held almost ten years after the landmark 2003 Working and Walking in the Footsteps of Ghosts event which started to raise issues and challenge assumptions about what is 'ancient' or 'natural' and what is meant by the terms 'wood' or 'woodland'. Since then on-going work in a range of disciplines across ecology, biology, landscape history, archaeology, forestry and nature conservation has continued the process of research and evaluation across the subject area. The collection of papers by contributors from across Europe reflects this broad range of interests and disciplines.