Herbal Lore

	Herbal Folklore

Columba and St John’s Wort

In the Highlands and Islands, St John’s wort (see photograph above) was especially associated with St Columba. Not only was it Columba's favourite herb, but he used it to heal people with nervous afflictions. It was known by many names, some pre-Christian, some attached to Mary (Mhoire) and Columba (Chaluim-chille). Hypericum pulchrum, of northern Scotland, is known in Gaelic as Lus Chaluim Chille (St Columba’s plant), while H. perforatum, of southern Scotland, is called Beachnuadh Boireann, where the first element is obscure, but the second means female (Scott, 2000: 192, 66). Other names include:

“achlasan Chaluim-chille (armpit package of Columba),

caod Chaluim-chille (hail Columba),

seun Chaluim-chille (charm of Columba),

seud Chaluim-chille (jewel of Columba),

allus Chaluim-chille (glory of Columba),

alla Mhoire (noble plant of Mary),

alla-bhi, alla bhidhe (noble yellow plant)”

(Carmichael, 1994: 611; see also Milliken & Bridgewater, 2004: 150).

In Wales, sprigs of St John’s wort were placed on the door on St John’s Eve, while on the same night maidens of Lower Saxony would have sprigs on the bed heads; in Germany and France the herb was gathered ceremoniously on the saint’s day, and kept in the house as “a preservative against storms, thunder and evil spirits” (Barton & Castle, 1877: 367).

Similarly in Scotland on St John’s Eve, the herb was hung on the house and farm outbuildings, to protect against evil spirits and thunder (Milliken & Bridgewater, 2004). On the same eve in Aberdeenshire, the herb placed under the pillow was thought to summon St Columba in a dream, thus “securing his blessing and a guarantee that death would not strike in the coming year” (Milliken & Bridgewater, 2004: 150-51). Lightfoot in his Flora Scotica of 1777 (quoted in Milliken & Bridgewater, 2004: 65) relates that the superstitious among the Scots carried the herb with them “as a charm against the dire effects of witchcraft and enchantment”.

Darwin (1996) reports the association of Hypericum species with St Peter, in Orkney, and with the Virgin Mary (allas Muire--image of Mary, lus na Maighdinn Muire--Virgin Mary’s herb); she notes further that the herb was thought to be St Columba’s special plant because of its association with the Virgin Mary and with Columba’s favourite saint, John the Evangelist. For this reason, she says, the plant had strong protective powers; she continues:

“This may represent the adoption by Christianity of an ancient belief: St John’s wort is thought to have been used to light sacred Beltane (May 1) bonfires in Pagan times, chosen perhaps for its flame-like buds--and it was on 6 May that Christians honoured St John the Evangelist (the patron saint of Scotland before St Andrew) until his feast day was changed to 27 December in the Middle Ages. Pagan beliefs also survived in the use of St John’s wort for Midsummer’s Eve divination rites, and preventing fairies from spiriting people away while they slept” (96).

Carmichael (1994) reports on the other hand that the herb was associated with Columba in tradition because the saint carried it about with him in veneration for John the Baptist, for whom the plant was named (612). Carmichael (1994) wrote in 1900 that St John’s wort was

“one of the few plants still cherished by the people [of the Highlands and Islands] to ward away second-sight, enchantment, witchcraft, evil eye, and death, and to ensure peace and plenty in the house, increase and prosperity in the fold, and growth and fruition in the field” (611).

St John’s wort was favoured especially for kine, as this incantation of finding reveals:

“Saint John’s wort, Saint John’s wort,

Happy those who have thee,

Whoso gets thee in the herd’s fold,

Shall never be without kine” (Carmichael, 1994: 611-12).

Carmichael relates further that the plant was believed to be effective only when it was found accidentally--at which “the joy of the finder is great, and gratefully expressed:

‘St John’s wort, St John’s wort,

Without search, without seeking!

Please God and Christ Jesu

This year I shall not die.’” (611).

The plant was worn under the left armpit, secretly secured “in the bodices of the women and in the vests of the men” (611). The writer Martin Martin, who stayed on the Isle of Lewis in the latter part of the 17th century, is reported to have met someone “who was said to have been cured of second sight--a disturbing tendency to foresee deaths and other disasters-- by wearing a piece of slender St John’s wort [H. pulchrum] in his armpit” (Milliken & Bridgewater, 2004: 150-51).

Carmichael (1994) relates a Gaelic incantation said over St John’s wort:

“I will cull my plantlet,

As a prayer to my king,

To quiet the wrath of men of blood,

To check the wiles of wanton women.

“I will cull my plantlet,

As a prayer to my king,

That mine may be its power

Over all I see.

“I will cull my plantlet,

As a prayer to the Three

Beneath the shade of the Triune of grace

And of Mary the Mother of Jesu”

(Carmichael, 1994: 152-3).

References

Barton, B & Castle, T (1877) The British Flora Medica ed JR Jackson London: Chatto & Windus

Carmichael, A (1994) Carmina Gadelica: Charms of the Gaels: Hymns and Incantations Edinburgh: Floris Books

Darwin, T (1996) The Scots Herbal Edinburgh: Mercat Press

Milliken, W & Bridgewater, S (2004) Flora Celtica Edinburgh: Birlinn Ltd

Scott, M (2000) Scottish Wild Flowers Glasgow: Collins

Excerpt from (2006) St Columba and St John's wort: Lus Chaluim Chillle: traditional spiritual use and modern herbal practice