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Apple Blossom Days

"I am the ancient Apple Queen,
As once I was so am I now.
For evermore a hope unseen,
Betwixt the blossom and the bough.

Ah, where's the river's hidden Gold!
And where the windy grave of Troy?
Yet come I as I came of old,
From out the heart of summer's joy."

~ Pomona, Poems by the Way, William Morris, 1896

Apple blossom buds are one of spring's most welcoming signs, with their delicate white, pink, and reddish petals, and evocative scents of wild rose, jasmine, water lily and honey. Apples are one of the magical trees which form part of the Celtic Ogham tree alphabet, its Ogham name being Quert, representing the letter 'Q'. Native crab apples were found in the remains of bronze-age burials. And cultivated varieties were brought with the Roman ships to the rest of Europe, hybridizing and becoming the many apples familiar to the kitchens and apothecaries of medieval Britain. In Victorian flower language, the beautiful apple blossom represents a variety of meanings including peace, fertility, sensuality, hope, and good fortune. 🍎🌸

One of the harbingers of spring, the budding and blooming of apple blossoms makes for a delicate sign of warmer days to come.


In Celtic folkloric traditions, the other world of Avalon was also known as the Avallach, the Isle of Apples, ruled by Fairy Queen, Morgan le Fay.  Avalon was believed to be the land of both the fairies and the dead, and was where King Arthur was taken after being wounded in a major battle to be healed by his sister, Morgan. 


The Celts attributed the power of healing, youth, and rebirth, to apples, and designated apples as one of the magical trees which form part of the Celtic Ogham tree alphabet, its Ogham name being Quert.

 

This tartan, by Carol A.L. Martin, was designed  "in keeping with my thoughts of spring ... I started thinking of apple blossoms."