Thorn Family

A cut to bring to mind the hardy blackthrorn tree. Its black boughs and sturdy thorn lattices holds a vivid presence in the Irish psyche. We see it sanctified at Christian holy wells, sometimes with offerings tied to it. These rag trees offer the hope that as the tied offering disintegrates, so too will the ailment or worry it was placed there to represent. Known too as faery trees, associated with those unseen beings from the other world. They are believed to mark the places where the faeries, after dark, would assemble and play sweet ethereal music, ready to abduct any beautiful human who took their fancy.