Rowan and Red Thread: A Scottish Protective Charm

"Rowan tree and red thread / Hold the witches all in dread": this Scottish rhyme, in one of its common forms, sums up one of the most widely recorded protective charms of northern Britain. On May Eve, when witches and fairies were believed to be especially active, households made small equal-armed crosses of rowan twigs, bound them with red thread, and placed them over doors, in byres and among the rafters. The charm is easy to make and remains a living custom for many.

How to do it§

1. Find a rowan. The rowan or mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia) is a slender tree with feathery leaves and, in late summer, bright red berries. Some recorded customs say the twigs should come from a tree you have not seen before, or be broken by hand rather than cut with a knife; others are less strict.
2. Take two twigs. Ask, in your own words, for the tree's leave, and take two short twigs of roughly equal length from a healthy branch, without damaging the main stem.
3. Make the cross. Lay one twig across the other to form an equal-armed cross.
4. Bind it. Wind red thread around the centre, crossing diagonally in both directions until the twigs are held firm. Tie off and leave a loop for hanging. As you wind, say the rhyme, or a simple line such as: "Rowan and red, keep harm from this house."
5. Hang it. Place it over the main door, above a window, in a shed or stable, or over a baby's cot out of reach. Farmers also tied a sprig with red thread in a cow's tail or on the churn.
6. Leave it until next May. On the following May Eve take down the old cross, burn it in the hearth or a fire-proof dish, and hang a new one.

Origins and history§

Rowan's protective reputation is attested across Scotland, Ireland, northern England, Wales and Scandinavia. Its red berries, the colour long associated with protection against the evil eye and witchcraft, and its tiny five-pointed "star" at the base of each berry, are often given as the reasons, though these are folk explanations rather than documented history. The wood was used to make churn-staffs, cradles, whip-handles and pegs for the byre door, to stop butter and milk being "taken" by witches.

Travellers' accounts and folklorists from the seventeenth century onward describe rowan placed over doors and in cattle sheds at Beltane (May Eve) and Hallowe'en, the two great hinges of the Gaelic year. Collections such as John Gregorson Campbell's Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (1902) record rowan alongside red thread as standard defences. The rhyme quoted above circulated in several forms in Scotland and northern England in the nineteenth century; an older Scots version says rowan and red thread make the witches "tyne their speed" — lose their power.

Red thread has its own long and wide history. In Scotland it was tied around cattle's tails or children's necks; in Ireland and the Isle of Man it was worn against fairies; elsewhere in Europe and the Mediterranean red string is worn against the evil eye, and in Jewish custom a red thread, often associated with Rachel's tomb, is worn for protection. Ronald Hutton's The Stations of the Sun gives the seasonal context for these May Eve protections. See protective magic and the witch's garden.

Variations§

• Rowan over the byre: a larger branch nailed above stable or cow-shed doors on May Eve.
• Rowan in the pocket: a small piece of rowan wood carried as an amulet, sometimes with a knot of red thread.
• Churn-staff of rowan: so that butter would "come" and not be spoiled.
• Red thread alone: a red thread bracelet or tie as the simplest form of the charm, found across many cultures.

Safety and good sense§

• Rowan berries should not be eaten raw; they contain parasorbic acid and can upset the stomach. Keep berries away from small children and pets.
• Take only small twigs, from trees on land where you have permission; do not damage young trees.
• Hang anything near a cot well out of a baby's reach; loose threads and small objects are a choking and strangulation hazard.
• Burn old crosses only in a hearth or fire-proof dish, never unattended.
• A charm is no replacement for good locks, vets for animals, or doctors for people.

Sources and further reading§

• Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland — John Gregorson Campbell, 1902
• The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain — Ronald Hutton, 1996
• Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations — Alexander Carmichael, 1900
• Magical House Protection: The Archaeology of Counter-Witchcraft — Brian Hoggard, 2019
• Popular Magic: Cunning-Folk in English History — Owen Davies, 2003