Trí bannaí a cheangal dúinn le saol onórach:
An banna an cairdeas
an banna an teaghlaigh
an banna an fine.
Three bonds that tie us to an honorable life:
The bond of friendship,
the bond of family,
the bond of the clan.
~Written by Giolla Íosa Mór Mac Fhirbhisigh, from the Leabhar Buidhe Leacáin
Botanical names: Fraxinus excelsior, local American species Fraxinus americana
Family: Oleaceae
Ogham: Nuin
Scots Gaelic: Uinnseann
Irish Gaelic: Fuinseog
Welsh: Ynn
Message: Our strength is in our bonds to one another.
When the ash tree leafs out, I know that summer is finally on its way. Ash is the tree that children play under on May afternoons. The tree weavers once set their looms hanging from the ash to take advantage of the shade, chatting as they twisted warp and weft together. It was the ash bark that dyed their cloth blue and green, the shade of the leaves that encouraged steady work and seamless talk. Because of its resilience, ash was in fact the favorite wood for making into the looms that would weave the baby’s blanket, the bride’s dress and the grandmother’s shroud. (1)
In the summer, it’s the tree people gather beneath to sit and talk. In the winter, it’s the ash logs that will burn long enough for many stories by the fire, for it burns longest and warmest. (2) In all its forms, the ash is the tree that convinces us to sit down for the long, leisurely conversations that weave us into one another’s lives. The topic of the conversation rarely matters. It’s the conversation that draws us close.
When we find the right people to sit with in the leafy shade and while away the hours, we feel an overwhelming sense of wellbeing. We are among our people, our tribe, and we are connected. This connection is vital to our survival. When we are in healthy social situations, studies have shown that we think faster, have elevated levels of the ‘feel good’ chemicals in our brains, and are healthier overall. (3) It has been proven that people suffering from loneliness actually die at a higher rate. (4)
Why? Because cooperating was what let our most ancient ancestors survive. Other creatures grew great teeth, claws, horns, or legs with staggering speed. Humans? We grew connections to one another. Together, a clan could achieve what no one person could. So we banded together, and the more we cooperated, the more complex our brains became. (5) The more social we were, the stronger we grew. Alone, we suffered.
The truth of connection is enshrined even in laws dating back as far as the art of writing takes us. Under Brehon law, all householders had some obligation to provide hospitality. To refuse was to pay a heavy social price: loss both of property and of honor. (6) In a small agricultural community, ‘honor’ was not a nebulous thing. It was, in effect, your social credit. Prove that you served poor fare at your table, and you’d have no one sitting there to help you bring your harvests in. Prove that you were untrustworthy, and you would be left out of all social contracts. To lose your honor among the clan was to suffer.
In story, it was a staff of ash wood that embodied this spirit of social obligation, both good and ill. In the Yellow Book of Lecan, we’re told the story of “The Ash Staff” held in the hand of the Dagda, wisest among the Tuatha Dé Danann. (7)
When his young son had fallen in battle and the Dagda was in mourning, he wandered the island in a daze, carrying the body in search of a way to restore his boy. Alone and in sorrow on the road, the boy’s body a shrouded hump upon his back, the great man met three brothers arranged around their fire.
“What is the news?” he asked, politely gesturing in request for a seat by the fire, but one of the brothers held up a threatening staff. The other two clutched the things they held close.
“We are three sons of one father and one mother,” the eldest snapped rudely, “and the treasures of our father are shared among us.”
“What have you there?” the Dagda asked, maintaining his good manners as best he could.
“The great staff that you see,” said the eldest, “a smooth tip and a rough tip it has. A gentle end here and a violent end there it has. One end kills the living, and the other end restores to life the dead.”
“What of the shirt and shield,” said the Dagda, “what are their values?”
“He that takes on himself the cloak, his choice of shape, and his choice of coloring, while it is on him. The shirt then, he’ll have no grief, nor any sickness, while it is on him. Now get away with you.” And the brothers turned the guest from their fire with sneers.
Now, the Dagda might have grabbed the shirt, and shed his grief. But instead, he snatched the staff of bright ash wood, and touched each of the three brothers with its rough end. Dead, they fell to the earth. Then the Dagda unwrapped his son and touched him with the smooth and shining tip, and he started to life.
“Who are the three dead here before me?” said Cermad.
“Three who I met,” said the Dagda, “and the treasures of their father were with them for dividing. They gave the loan of the staff to me, and I killed them with the second end, and restored you to life with the other end.”
“Misfortune in doing that,” said Cermad, “when that which restored me to life did not restore them to life as well.”
And the Dagda knew his son was wiser than he. The men had paid the price for breaking the law of hospitality, which is death. But Cermad had seen it fit to offer kindness to strangers, which is to offer life.
Together, father and son touched the three men with the smooth tip of the ash staff, and they lived again.
When we stop offering kindness to one another, we lose our humanity. When we cease communicating as equals and as part of a community, we lose an integral part of ourselves.
When we sit under the ash tree, she bends her branches over us and whispers:
“Every one of you is a bright thread. But the cloth is stronger when the weave is tight.
Talk to one another.
Listen to one another.
Help one another.
This is how the fabric of life is woven.”
- Whispers from the Woods: The Lore & Magic Of Trees, Kynes, Sandra, Llewellyn Books, 2005
- A Druid’s Herbal of Sacred Tree Medicine, Hopman, Ellen, Destiny Books, 1994
- “Why Other People Are the Key to Our Happiness”, Markman, Art, Psychology Today, Jul 22, 2014
- “Cooperation and the Evolution of Intelligence”, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, McNally, L, Brown, S.P., Jackson, A.L., DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.0206, 2012
- “Myeloid differentiation architecture of leukocyte transcriptome dynamics in perceived social isolation”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States vol. 112 no. 49, Cole, Steven W., et al.
- “Development of Brehon Law”, Florida State Board of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, http://www.aohflorida.org/development-of-brehon-law/
- Auraicept na n-éces : the scholars’ primer; being the texts of the Ogham tract from the Book of Ballymote and the Yellow book of Lecan, and the text of the Trefhocul from the Book of Leinster, Calder, George, 1859-1941; Virgilius Maro, Grammaticus, 7th cent; Isidore, of Seville, Saint, d. 636. Published 1917, Public domain