Herald of the Summer
The bluebell is a bold harbinger of the Summer months, bursting into flower before the canopy of leaves shut out the sunlight. Their electric splash of deep violet shimmering across the woodland floor in Spring is an undeniably magical sight, all the more vibrant as there is little other colour in the natural world at that time.
Hyacinthoides non-scripta, the native to Britain bluebell is beautiful and delicate with its spray of literal bell shaped blue flowers, yet it is also a tough little customer, capitalising on the Spring sunshine before most other plants get their act together. In fact the bluebell has faded and died down by the time the trees and undergrowth get into full leaf, they get that Spring sunshine all to themselves.
At home in ancient woodland
Bluebells spread when undisturbed over a large area, in fact their presence is often used as an indicator of old and ancient woodland habitats, a carpet of bluebells is a sure sign that the land they are on hasn’t been disturbed for generations. An ancient woodland is defined as woods that have been in existence since 1600 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and 1750 in Scotland. The bluebell takes a long time to establish, up to seven years from a seed to its first flowers. Yet they’re not restricted to woodland, originally they would colonise hedgerows and open land, but modern machinery and pesticides are no friend to that slow lifestyle of the plant. They are a delicate creature as well, they really don’t cope with being trampled and die off immediately, so the undisturbed woodland is their ideal realm.
They like the British habitat so much that around half of the world’s bluebells are in the UK, they are a rare site in the rest of Europe.
It’s not surprising that the bluebell figures in folklore, myth and superstition. They occupy a liminal time between seasons, lifting the mood as a colourful harbinger of warmth and plenty to come – so you would think they would be celebrated and revered in folklore, yet (as so often) the myths and superstitions surrounding them can be a bit ominous.
Myth, magic and bluebells
Superstition results from us trying to find meaning in the world when we are ignorant of what’s really going on, humans have the wonderful gift of imagination that has given us myths, legends, stories, art, religion and so on. We have created a web of beliefs that connects everything around us, both binding us to the here and now and ages past. Folklore and omens can be found around virtually anything, from the pattern in tea leaves to the flight of a crow, every flower, bird and tree has its own hoard of legends and lore surrounding them. In fact there are so many supernatural and mystical stories about virtually every stone, river, plant, animal and tree that you’d never step outside your house if you paid heed to all of them. However they are a fascinating insight into past attitudes and beliefs and it’s no different for the bluebell, it can be a bringer of luck and protection or a fairy entrapment.
Sometimes called ‘fairy flowers’ they were believed to mark the boundary between the human and faerie realms, no doubt this association comes from their liminal position between Spring and Summer. Some tales say that even entering a bluebell wood was asking for trouble with the fairies. Picking them could really land you in trouble and deliver bad luck or being abducted by the pesky things. These stories were probably good ways of keeping kids from roaming too far, and maybe explains why there were so many similar taboos around places or plants.
For whom the bell tolls
They look like a bell so what if they actually ring out? Well you’re really buggered then as vile misfortune or death is foretold by the ringing of the bluebell. In some parts of England and Scotland, bluebells were called dead men’s bells, to just ram home that supernatural connection with death. The association with spirits of the dead wasn’t an unusual motif in the past and seems to be tagged on to most things, it was believed that stepping into a bluebell ring could lead a person to the afterlife. Which, it has to be said, is pretty easy to disprove.
A wonderfully contradictory Scottish belief suggested that if two lovers walked through a bluebell wood together, they would be blessed with loyalty and devotion. Assuming they didn’t get chased away by the dead that is.
Tokens of protection
Assuming you weren’t abducted by fairies or sucked down to the realm of the dead, you could pick a bluebell and dry it to keep as an amulet to guard against getting lost in the woods or fairy trickery. This seems a bit of a catch-22 thing going on, especially as other beliefs said that taking a bluebell into the house was inviting death in. But, if you were really going for it why not pick a bunch of them and hang it by your front door to ward off those nasty supernatural types that want to get in.
There are also a few beliefs connected to truth saying, a garland of them compels the wearer to speak only the truth, and placing a bluebell under your pillow or near your bed could reveal lies in dreams or help uncover deceit in waking life.
Bluebells are magical though…
Who can fail to be entranced by their otherworldy beauty? Their flowering in woodland that already feels ancient and mystical just ramps up the charm, add to that the fact that they are literally a blast of colour in the time of year when there is very little around apart from green and brown, and the bluebell assumes an almost regal position.
Do not disturb
Don’t pick them or dig them up, they are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981), making it illegal to dig them up in the wild and landowners cannot remove them from their land. Trading in wild bulbs and seeds is also an offence. You can buy cultivated bulbs from garden centres or online https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/english-bluebells/p7146TM, make sure you get the native Hyacinthoides non-scripta and not the invasive Spanish bluebell Hyacinthoides hispanica.
