THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Barley                                                         

Lisa Karen Miller

          Here it is October again, and that can mean only one thing.

           Beer.

          An old tale says that St. Dunstan gathered a quantity of barley for brewing beer.  Now the devil knew how anxious Dunstan would be to sell it at a good price, so he offered to stunt the growth of the apple trees (this meant there would be a dearth of cider, thus less competition) in exchange for his soul.

          Unusually for a saint, Dunstan accepted this offer, and stipulated that the trees should be blighted on the 17^th, 18^th, and 19^th of May.  To this day, killing frosts on these dates call forth the name of Dunstan – along with a few other choice words.

          Eastern and Northern Kentucky have more people of German descent than other areas, and one thing they know is beer. If you’ve never experienced Oktoberfest or Strassenfest in Louisville or Cincinnati, do yourself a favor.

          In a time when most water was undrinkable – rivers and streams were used as communal toilets and trash dumps – beer and ale were the safer alternatives.  They also provided many of the carbohydrates medieval peasants needed to get through their 12-16 hour working day. 

          It was the housewife’s duty to make ale, bread, butter, and cheese for her family.  Some made more than they needed and sold to others in the village and at markets. This is when specialties began to develop, and cottage industries to form: “Mrs. Brown makes the best ale, but you must get your bread from Mrs. Smith – she sieves the weevils out of her flour.”

          During an 1854 outbreak of cholera in Soho, London, physician John Snow noticed that no local brewery workers got sick, only those who drank water from the town pump.  This led to the discovery that cholera was water borne.

          Instead of plastering Soho with flyers warning residents (who were mostly illiterate, anyway) of the danger, Snow had a simpler solution.

          He removed the handle of the pump.

          Barley, like so many crops, had to be planted on a certain day to get the best harvest: “Upon Saint David’s day (March 1), put oats and barley in the clay.”

          In Gloucestershire, anything that takes a long time is “as long in coming as Cotswold barley.”

          In Poland, barley was one of the grains showered upon a bride’s door on her wedding day.  If she did her duty by her husband, she would never want for any of them.          

Now, then: “Oans, zwoa, drei, g’suffa!” (One, two, three, drink!).

© Copyright 2023 Lisa Karen Miller