THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Leek

Lisa Karen Miller

          At the investiture of Edward, Prince of Wales in 1911, a misguided attempt to replace the leek (thought to be vulgar by some) with a daffodil as the flower of Wales failed miserably. The leek reaches far back into the history of Wales, where many of our Appalachian mining and farming ancestors were born.

          David is the patron saint of Wales.  Born in Mynyw in the 6^th century, he founded churches and monasteries in Wales and Brittany. The well-known miracle attached to him is that while he was preaching to a crowd, the ground he stood on rose up to form a small hill.

          One waggish scholar commented that he couldn’t conceive of a miracle more superfluous than the creation of yet another hill in Wales.

          Shakespeare dates the significance of the leek back to the Battle of Cressy in 1346, though some claim that it goes back to AD 640, when King Cadwallader distinguished his troops from the enemy Saxons by having them place leeks in their hats.  Another story goes that Welsh archers wore them in their caps at the Battle of Agincourt, fighting with Henry V against the French.

          The leek is now the symbol of the Welsh guards, who are ceremonially presented with one on St. David’s Day, March 1^st.  

          It was said that Welshmen would “beautify their hats with verdant leeks” because of the old custom of each farmer bringing leeks to the communal feast after they had helped each other with ploughing and planting.

Its health-giving properties have long been known:

“If they would eat leeks in March,

And mugworts in May,

So many young maidens

Wouldn’t go to the clay.”

          Burns and insect bites were relieved with cooling leek juice.

          If a Welsh girl walked backwards into the garden on Halloween night, and placed a knife among the leeks, she was rewarded with a vision of her lover.

          In Scotland, Cock-a-Leekie soup is a favorite comfort food, made with chicken, leeks, potatoes or parsnips, herbs, and sometimes prunes. The earliest written recipe dates from 1598, so it is considerably older than that.  

          The belief is that it began in France as chicken and onion soup, but traveled to Scotland with Mary Queen of Scots, who brought her “nasty French ways” with her.

          Leeks must be pulled from the garden at just the right time.  If you give a tug and hear a small squeak, that is the plant protesting that it’s not ready yet.

          Plant some leeks this year. St. David would be proud.

© Copyright 2023 Lisa Karen Miller