Trí duirn ata dech for bith:
dorn degṡáir,
dorn degmná,
dorn deggobann
Three hands that are best in the world:
the hand of a good carpenter,
the hand of a skilled woman,
the hand of a good smith
~ From The Book Of Ballymote
Botanical name: Illex aquifolium
Family: Aquifoliaceae
Ogham: Tinne
Scots Gaelic: Cuileann
Irish Gaelic: Cuileann
Welsh: Celyn
French: Houx
Message: Kindle your fire. Pick up the tools of your trade and begin the work.
The land is white. The sky is grey. Warmth is the distant dream of a fool.
And then your eyes catch red fire. The berries shine like hot coals fallen in the snow. The color of the leaves makes eyes that have seen gloom too long come alive again.
Wandering in the dead of winter, you have found the holly tree.
However bitter the cold grows, holly is the fire that still burns bright. In the darkest times, it recalls us to life. It’s no wonder that it was held in high esteem throughout the lands of northern Europe. Even today we remember this in our Yuletide songs; don’t we still sing:
Deck the halls with boughs of Holly (1)
And even more tellingly,
Of all the trees that are in the wood, the Holly bears the Crown (2)
In the Ogham, the fid of holly is Tinne, and it shares a root word with ‘tine’, the modern Irish word for fire. Other names for this fid include tinne iarn, an ingot or bar of iron, and trian ni-airm, one third of a tool. (3) Like so many things in the ancient landscape, the tree earned these names through deeds, and holly earned hers in the forge.
To the ancient Irish blacksmith at his work, the holly was the best of all woods. In the Silva Gadelica it is written:
cuilenn loisc a úr. cuilenn loisc a críon í
gach crann ar bith becht cuilenn as dech díob!
Holly, burn it green; holly, burn it dry;
Of all trees the most esteemed is holly! (4)
These lines refer to traits inherent in the holly’s morphology and the qualities it imparts. A tough shrub or small tree of thirty feet in the wild, holly was an excellent source of fine grained hardwood that created excellent charcoal without the need for lengthy seasoning. Though it contains saponins, it neither produces noxious smoke nor bursts due to high moisture content when dropped fresh into the fire. (5) This made it invaluable to a smith, especially one who might need fresh wood in a hurry should a battle come up and many new weapons be needed. Holly charcoal was specifically valued for the long, sustained heat required to create and repair iron and steel tools. The wood of the female holly was preferred, for her bright red berries were seen as a source of vitality. It was seen as so valuable that in one law tract, it was required that every landowner keep holly charcoal by for the repair of weapons. (6) Holly wood came to the smith’s hand as they created weapons and tools as well: its tough, springy wood was perfect for the axles of chariots, the spokes of wheels, and the shafts of axes and spears. Hence, it earned the name trian ni-airm, for it made one third of a tool, the center or the shaft. Sitting at the right hand of the smith, holly became linked to the art of the forge and the fire of creation.
In the smith’s forge, matter is transformed with hard work and skill from one state to another. Ore becomes metal. Pig iron becomes steel. Some people call this magic, but magic in the English language implies an easy wave of hands and things coming with no effort. Better to use the Irish way of speaking of these changes: as an art. An art is not quick nor easy. An art takes great time and great effort to master. The artists craft themselves as much as they craft their work, fighting to gain skills, making mistakes and learning, working every day to become something better than they were.
The work is daunting. But the fruits of the labor are worth the effort.
In today’s world, we’ve separated the body of an art or a craft from the soul. We separate the work of the world into work for artists, whom we see as flighty creatures with flamboyant dreams, and work for hard-headed people who do the dirty work. But in older times, there was an art to all things. There was an art to making tools. There was an art to making weapons, an art to war, an art to building a wall. That did not mean it was not hot, heavy, dirty and difficult work. It was. But here’s the key: to the people doing it, the work was seen as a form of art. The people who saw the world in this way created tools for daily life that were both functional and beautiful, both strong and pleasing. And the ‘artist’ was no more or less valuable than the ‘warrior’ when trouble came calling.
When true sorrow came over the land of Ireland in the days of the legends, it was craftsmen, not warriors, who were the midwives of victory.
The Book of Invasions tells us that the darkest days to come upon Ireland were not during the first great battle, between the blessed children of Danú and their terrible foes, the Formorii, for the soul of the land. It was in the time between the first battle and the second, when a false king sat on the throne at Tara. The renowned leader, Nuada, had lost his throne in the first battle of Mag Turied by losing his hand, for the law held that only a man whole in body could sit on the throne of the high king and embody the health of the land. Bres, who took his throne, might have been whole in body, but he was hollow of spirit, and the land grew sorry and sour under his reign. He was cast from his throne by the curse of a bard and good riddance to him, but Nuada was yet denied the throne by his wound, though his folk needed his guidance.
In his forge, the smith Goibniu, greatest in his trade, decided to make all well. He fetched a man of equal rank in his own art, the great healer Dian Cécht. Together they worked seven days and seven nights, and at the end of it, Nuada bore a shining silver hand that worked as well as the one he was born with. Whole again, the high king regained his rightful place. In time, his people were strong enough to face the Formorii again.
On that great day, Nuada named Lugh the All Crafted as his battle leader. As his men gathered, Lugh asked each of them what power they wielded. When Goibniu was asked what his strength in battle would be, this was his answer:
“For every spear that separates from its shaft or sword that breaks in battle, I will provide a new weapon in its place. No spear point which my hand forges will make a missing cast. No skin which it pierces will taste life afterward.” (8)
In the smith’s words there is a lesson: The world needs great warriors and leaders, but just as dearly it needs craftsmen who work their art with passion and skill. Do not count your art as less valuable than another’s because it is of a different kind. Without Goibniu at his forge, the De Danann warrior in the fray is dead. Give equal glory to the fighter and the healer, to those who craft and those who rule. Without the artist’s skill and the craftsman’s dedication, the king would not sit upon his throne.
The tools of your art could be anything. A pen. A fiddle. A keyboard. A shovel. A knife. Holly doesn’t care what the shape of the tool is. She only urges that you pick it up and get to work crafting yourself and your arts.
The world needs your skill, holly insists, poking at you with prickly leaves.
“So, go on.” she whispers, “Kindle the fire. Pick up the tools. Get to work.”
- Talhaiarn; Thomas Oliphant Welsh melodies: with Welsh and English poetry, Thomas, John, London: Addison, Hollier and Lucas, 1862
- Pagan Christmas: The Plants, Spirits, and Rituals at the Origins of Yuletide, Rätsch, Christian, Müller-Ebeling, Claudia, Simon and Schuster, 2003
- Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom, Laurie, Erynn Rowan, Megalithica Books, 2007
- Silva gadelica (I.-XXXI.): a collection of tales in Irish with extracts illustrating persons and places, O’Grady, Standish Hayes, Williams and Norgate, 1892
- “Ilex aquifolium L”, Journal of Ecology, Peterken, G. F., Lloyd, P. S., November, 1967
- A Druid’s Herbal of Sacred Tree Medicine, Hopman, Ellen, Destiny Books, 1994
- Trees in early Ireland, Irish Forestry, Kelly, Fergus, http://www.forestryfocus.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Trees-in-Early-Ireland.pdf, 1999
- Cath Maige Tuired: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired, Gray, Elizabeth A., translator, Irish Texts Society, 1982