Hats Off To The Hawthorn!

This humorous story reveals that both a hawthorn tree and our AST members have a very witty sense of humour. So what do a Hawthorn, the Invisible Man, a dalek, a ghost, Harry Potter and Where's Wally have in common? Read on to find out! Given Christmas is not everyones favourite time of year lets' focus on a bit of silly fun and good cheer.... below is some of the conversation and images posted in the public British branch of the Ancient Sacred Trees public community on Facebook plus a little bit of history at Solstice and Christmas.

Katie Gander

December 10 at 10:42 AMThe hawthorns tried to take my hat 😀

· Yolande How They succeeded 😃

Katie Gander But I got it back 😀§

· Ivan Hicks It could be a Blue Meanie (or perhaps a blue beanie)

· Steve Smith A couple of years ago, I was walking along a path and realised I no longer had my camera with me. A retraced my steps and found it hanging from a branch!

Harry Potter and the Hawthorn

Below another Harry Potter fan like me, made me smile with this one ...

· Sally Birch You are wearing your invisibility cloak while taking a selfie. Neat trick.

· Nick Meers Where's Wally?

Wally, for those of you that don't know, is a child's game in book form where you have to find him in a series of scenes as he goes on his adventures, it keep adults amused for a long time too! There is even an online game you can play as well.

Where's Wally? Or Waldo as he is known in the US!

Can you find Wally?

Meanwhile I had a laugh at this very witty response as well ...

· Margot Boyer Surely there's an ancient, traditional belief about what that means, rendered in a rhyming couplet?

Fairy Mischief Around The Hawthorn

Naturally the Fairy Folk came under suspicion...

· Shell Mulheir Little people bring mischevious

· Penel Eynde LeGrand Tincanknits' design Antler Toque?

· Julie Sinclair Those grabby Huorns! ;-)

· Joy Blencowe It is a lovely hat, can't really blame them! :)

· Shirley Clark At first glance I thought you took a pic of an invisible hiker. Lol

·

· Diane Horsley welcome to my world! 🤣

· Al Edwards Tried it dido

· Lisa Swindells Dreadlocks are a real challenge! I had to be assisted from a hawthorn tree in spring 🤣

· Wynford Thomas Spooky😳

Emma Pedro made me laugh with this one below. Do any of you remember him?

· Emma Pedro Invisible man from the 70s....lol

· Susie Sourwine I got tickled by a cedar today! ❤️

· Karen Brady It’s a nice hat, I can see why they wanted it 😁

· Wendy Jacobs😆

· Kevin Vittle Blair witch

· Fran Head Fey...

Classic illustration of the Fey by artists Brian Froud.

The Hawthorns' Ghost Story For Christmas

· Abid Baig Ghost Story for Christmas...The Hawthorn...!

Christmas Carol Charles Dickens. Scrooge being visited by Marleys ghost

To be honest I struggled with seeing the reference below, but each to their own!

· Sharon Clewes I thought it was a dalek!

· Ariane Sommer I would too, it is a pretty blue :) (referring to the taking of the hat)

· Amanda Earthwren GazidisI think they managed! 😂

· Fiona French What cheek 😮

· Gemma Shaw This is so funny! Hahahahaaa! Way to go hawthorns!

· Phil Berry Where's Noddy?

The classic British children's program Noddy, featuring him in his blue hat and his friend Big Ears.

Hawthorn the Fairy Tree

As many of you probably know the Hawthorn is known as fairy tree so perhaps it was no surprise that many AST members said the fairies had a hand in stealing the hat. As a tree considered sacred to the faeries the hawthorn often stands at the threshold of the Otherworld. In the ballad of Thomas the Rhymer, the Scots poet is taken away by the Queen of Elfland as he sits beneath an ancient thorn known as the Eildon tree. In another old rhyme, the Ballad of Sir Cawline, a lady dares the hero to go to Eldridge Hill where a hawthorn grows, to await the faery king.

Celebrating The Christmas Present, Dickens and the Tradition For Collecting Greenery

A rather magical end to the two hat and tree tales. Given the talk of ghosts I thought we'd end with another illustration from Charles Dickens book the Christmas Carol, here is the Christmas Present. Notice all the greenery decorating the walls and chimney breast in this first edition from 1843. Evergreens were used including various types of pine, holly, and mistletoe. In fact it was in the very collecting of greenery for Solstice/Christmas that led to the other hat story, you can read about another hat tale and the lesson learned here. You can also learn about the healing power of the pine tree here.

I hope that your Christmas present will be full of good cheer. If you struggle at this time of year remember that we will be chatting and posting in our Facebook groups (Britain, Europe, America, Asia and the World) every day, including Christmas Day, so don't be lonely, and of course it is Free to join us here on our website where you get good news news letters full of PositiviTree and more. :-)

Amanda x

PS I do regular updates via the newsletters so be sure to read them and I welcome your news and views too. So wether you want to add a memorial for a loved one in our AncesTree woodland, write a blog article or add an events listing get in touch... it's all Free! :-).

My CommuniTree, our CommuniTree, YOUR CommuniTree!

Blessings

Amanda

As the founder of Ancient and Sacred Trees (community, volunteer tree planting and protection), MA Archaeology student, land/forest guide & healer, I love trees, culture and history and the healing power of Mother Nature.

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"Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat,

Please put a penny in the old man's hat

If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do

If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you!”

(Traditional English rhyme)