THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Heather

Lisa Karen Miller

“Will ye go, lassie, go?

And we’ll all go together

To pluck wild mountain thyme

All around the blooming heather

Will ye go, lassie, go?”

Robert Tannahill, “Wild Mountain Thyme”

          Anyone who has heard this lively Scottish tune knows it immediately calls up visions of mountains filled with stags, rocky outcrops, wild thyme, and heather.  Heather is as firmly rooted in Scotland as bluegrass is in Kentucky.

          The Picts made heather ale, a drink that has been traced back 3,000 years on Neolithic sites. British ale has long been made with malt or hops to begin the fermenting process, but this was made only with heather, and relied on the nectar and blooms for fermentation.

          A tea made from the flowers and leaves soothes coughs and eases nerves.  It was often called Moorland Tea. An ointment was made from the flowers’ oil to treat arthritis. Heather steeped in a hot bath disinfects minor wounds and promotes healing.

          Queen Victoria fell in love with Scotland, especially the Highlands, after she first visited with Prince Albert in 1842.   After Balmoral became her official summer home, she became more Scottish than the Scots, decorating it in plaids and even making her daughters wear identical local dress. 

          White heather (a rare genetic mutation, like our white squirrels) is associated with good luck. Gypsies (who are now called Travelers or the Traveling Community) used to sell it door to door. An old superstition says that white heather grows only on ground where no blood has been shed, or on the grave of a fairy.

          Victoria is remembered for giving a sprig of white heather to Alexandra upon her engagement to the Prince of Wales – a sure sign of Mamma’s approval. After this gesture, the wearing of heather became a fad among Britons.

          Her infatuation with the Highlands may have been the impetus of her eventual and unfortunate infatuation with John Brown, who became her much beloved Highland servant after her husband’s death.

          Beloved by her, that is.  Her children and staff found him rude, pushy, stubborn, habitually hammered, and always autocratic. The Prince of Wales (later to become King Edward VII) had a particular dislike for him.

          St. Andrew’s Day, Scotland’s national holiday, is November 30^th. If you’ve any drop of Scottish blood in you, free your inner heathen.

© Copyright 2023 Lisa Karen Miller