Highland Guiding · Nature and Folklore · Part 1 of 2
Myths, legends and lore The Wonderful Folklore
of Scottish Trees
In this article
I often tell people that being a hiking guide is about much more than just leading a walk from A to B. What we really love to do is to bring the experience alive with local knowledge, interpreting the landscape around us to reveal the hidden connections, and keeping the ancient wisdom and stories alive that have been handed down from time immemorial.
What this really means is that I'm a huge tree nerd and I love to share that interest with people I walk with. I'm deeply fascinated by the stories and knowledge I read and hear about the plants around us here in the Highlands, and amazed by the way the natural landscape has affected us - from culture and language, to history and even economics.
After learning just a little of this lore, it really changes the way that I see the land around me. Place names suddenly make more sense, and the landscape becomes a more subtle mix of characters. A lonely Rowan on a boulder becomes a story rather than a mere curiosity. Woods become places full of dynamic relationships - not just places with more trees.
The Rowan holds a particularly special place in ancient folklore, as one of the most magical and powerful trees of the forest. Right across Europe, all ancient cultures from the Greeks to the Norse venerated the Rowan. Fertility, femininity, strength and protection are common attributes represented and conferred by the presence of the Rowan.
The Norse believed that the first woman was created from a Rowan (and the first man from an Ash); Greeks believed that Rowans were created from the enchanted falling blood droplets of a wounded eagle that flew across the land; Romans believed that the Rowan was sacred to Venus as the red berries carried her mark of a five pointed star. Indeed, the berries seem to be of particular significance in many tales and beliefs, with a strong correlation to the colour of blood and the life it represents.
In Scotland the Rowan tree was said to protect against witchcraft and the evil eye. Small charms and amulets were often made from the twigs and berries for travellers to wear, or tied to the tails of livestock. In the Speyside area of the Highlands, local people would form large hoops of Rowan branches during the celebration of Beltane (the Celtic May-Day festival of fire) and drive the livestock through the hoops to bless and protect them for the coming year. Cutting a Rowan with a knife was said to be taboo, as it would surely bring evil upon the one who did it, and even today many folk are superstitious about trimming a Rowan in the garden.
Did you know
Rowans can grow from almost nothing - a crack in a stone, a nook in another tree's bark. The ancient Celts revered this quality, seeing the Rowan as a tree that brought life even to barren places. This ability to pioneer where nothing else can survive was a key reason it was revered as a symbol of fertility.
Find them in the wild
Rowans can be easily found all over Scotland. Being a pioneer species means they spread easily. Great examples are often found growing alone on rocky crags or boulders in Highland glens, but my personal favourite is the one in the photo above. This magnificent specimen is found on the Isle of Skye. Its knobbled and gnarly trunk suggests it's very old.
Birch is probably the most common tree species in Scotland, yet its abundance certainly does not make it unremarkable in folklore. Quite the opposite in fact, since the Birch tree's ability to grow quickly and abundantly that makes it successful, and associates the tree deeply with the rebirth of nature.
The Celts associated the Birch with the element of water and believed it had cleansing properties. Its presence was thought to purify both the body and spirit, which is why birch wood was often used in rituals of purification and healing. At the festival of Samhain (modern Halloween) the Celts would use birch twigs to symbolically beat out old spirits and purify the world around them for the new year. The birch was also seen as a protector of the home and its inhabitants, keeping negative energies at bay.
The Birch was also an extremely useful tree from a practical point of view. The bark, which peels easily, was an ideal material for fire lighting, and the wood itself burnt quickly and with a bright flame. The wood is well suited to turning, and useful for making all sorts of tool handles.
Did you know
Birch is the first letter of the ancient Ogham alphabet, the tree script of the Celtic world, placing it literally at the beginning of written language in these islands. Birch trees can also be tapped in spring to extract the sap, which is rich and nutritious and can be drunk straight from the tree.
Find them in the wild
Birches are found everywhere in the Highlands, and are the most common tree we have. They're often mixed with other species, but birch woods where they dominate are stunningly beautiful. My favourites are the woods around the Craigellachie Nature Reserve beside Aviemore. In autumn they look particularly incredible - if you want to read more about autumn in the Scottish Highlands, we've written about it in detail. The birch woods of the Creag Meagaidh National Nature Reserve are also an absolute treasure.
The Scots Pine holds a prominent place in folklore, just as it holds a prominent place in the landscape of the Highlands. Scots Pines, when young, live the early stages of their life as a simple christmas tree shape, familiar to conifers of all sorts. But, as they age, they later become highly individual in shape and character, growing artistically twisted branches and a magnificent spreading canopy of needles.
This uniqueness, and the impressive size of the eldest examples (known as 'Granny Pines') made them very handy as landmarks, and many carried names. One example is Craobh Tillidh (The Tree of Return) in the Cairngorms, which stood far up a remote glen. During summer when local farmers would take their cattle to high ground for the summer, it marked the point where the farmers would turn for home, leaving the cows to continue the journey as they knew the way.
As a prominent evergreen, the Scots Pine represented endurance and strength, and is linked to the ancient Celtic belief in the interconnectedness of all life. Its long life span and towering presence were seen as embodying wisdom and the continuity of the natural world. Certain trees were believed to house spirits or deities, thought to be home to the sidhe, the fairy folk. One, near Aberfoyle, is said to harbour the spirit of a minister who was said to be abducted by the sidhe in 1692.
Did you know
As trees became scarce in the Highlands, some clan chiefs and landlords forbade the cutting of pine entirely, it was so valuable. Whenever crofters moved to a new home they often took their pine roof rafters with them, as they were too precious to leave behind and could not be replaced.
Find them in the wild
Another tree that can be found all over Scotland, but the pine-dominated woodlands of the ancient Caledonian Forest are the best. The biggest and best parts can be found in the Cairngorms, both in Speyside and Deeside. Some western glens like Torridon and Glen Affric also have abundant and gorgeous pine woods. My personal favourite specimens are found on remote hillsides among the woods of Rothiemurchus.
The Aspen has some of the most fascinating and significant folklore of all Scottish trees. Like all others, much of this folklore is derived from the physical characteristics of the tree, and in this respect the Aspen is unique for the way in which its leaves flutter in just the slightest breeze. Seeing and hearing these leaves flutter in seemingly still air, people believed that they were animated by spirits and the voices of their ancestors; and that the Aspen was a sort of bridge between this world and the Otherworld, where fae spirits and mystical beings dwelled. Because of this, the aspen was often seen as a tree that could communicate with the unseen, its quivering leaves serving as a form of conversation with the spiritual realm.
It was also believed that placing an Aspen leaf under your tongue may gift you with eloquence and poetry, which was very important to a culture that depended on oral tradition to pass on stories and knowledge to the next generation. There is even a cheeky folk name for the Aspen related to the fact that the leaves are never still - Old Wive's Tongue!
The wood of Aspen trees is very light when dried, yet retains its strength if properly looked after. For this reason, it was the preferred wood of choice to make shields, so that a warrior would not be tired out too quickly by its weight. The association with the Otherworld was also believed to convey magical protection on the bearer.
Did you know
Aspen have a special connection to the beaver. Aspen rarely flower on their own, but when a beaver strips the bark for winter food it stresses the tree into flowering. When felled, Aspen also reproduce by sending up new suckers from the same root system. The rarity of Aspen in the Highlands today may partly be due to the centuries-long absence of beavers helping them reproduce.
Find them in the wild
Aspen is the trickiest to find on this list, as it's the rarest and it also blends in very well with birch trees. My personal favourite is the one in the image above, which grows in a stunning location on the Isle of Skye. They are easier to find in the Cairngorms and central Highlands though, particularly in the woods just north of Aviemore.
The oak holds a special place in the heart of people the length and breadth of the UK - so much so that it's one of the few trees that really live in the national consciousness. 'Heart of Oak' is the official march of the Royal Navy, but they are far from being the only ones to adopt the oak as a symbol, either in modern or ancient times. Considered the 'King of Trees', oaks are often closely linked to whichever local deity is considered the chief of the pantheon.
In pre-Roman and pre-Christian times Druids nurtured and practised their religious rites in oak groves, and even into early Christian times people still remained reluctant to fell these. In Scotland ancient trees were often thought to be inhabited and protected by the 'fair folk' - the daoine sidhe - and it was considered deeply unwise to risk angering them.
It's probably no coincidence that oak trees are deeply venerated and deeply significant to biodiversity. Research has shown that oaks can support over 2000 other species that live on oaks - from insects to lichens, birds to mammals. Around 300 of those only live on oak. This is more than any other tree in Scotland, making them a crucial habitat. The best places to find oak today in Scotland are the ancient Atlantic Oakwoods - known as the Celtic Forest - fragments of which still line the shores of quiet west coast lochs and rugged hillsides.
Did you know
The word "Druid" is thought to derive from the Proto-Celtic word for oak. The Irish name Darragh carries the same root - it means oak in Irish Gaelic, a reminder of how deeply the tree was woven into Celtic culture and identity.
Find them in the wild
Oak woods are sadly not that common in much of the Highlands, but wonderful examples are still to be found. The finest oak woods in the Highlands line the shores of west coast lochs - the ancient Atlantic Oakwoods of the Celtic Forest. My favourites in particular are found along the shores of Loch Sunart and the nearby Ariundle Oakwood Nature Reserve.
These five trees are just a beginning. The Highland landscape is full of this kind of layered knowledge - stories that explain place names, traditions that encode practical wisdom, beliefs that make a hillside into something more than scenery. Part of what I love about guiding is that every walk is an opportunity to pass some of this on. Not as a lecture, but as it naturally arises - a lone Rowan on a crag, a stand of ancient Pines, a grove of Aspens shivering in a still afternoon. The landscape offers these moments constantly. You just need someone to point them out.
Part 2 of this series will cover Alder, Ash, Hazel, Cherry and Hawthorn - five more trees with stories just as rich. It will follow soon.
All images by David Russell
Highland Guiding Newsletter
More stories from the Highlands
New tour dates, seasonal highlights, folklore, natural history and stories from the hill. No spam, just Scotland.
We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe at any time.
