She Sells Slip Shells
When the summer’s glare softens a group of knobbly-knuckled dyers - mainly women and children - set off from Alder Copse in the direction of Slip Shell Woods,
a nine-mile stretch across the high moorland. So propelled by purpose and song are they, that their progress is scarcely hindered when wild gusts intermittently whistle in and around them like invisible dervishes.
There’s yield a-plenty across the moss-soaked bog
that draws us nutters from all around
we pick and hatch and ground and weigh
- yours for just 6d a pound!
They file into the darkness of Slip Shell Woods where their journey ends. They rest a while - drink from the lively stream and feast on nuts and berries - under the dense canopy of copper, bronze and gold. Once revived they get to work, filling their large empty willow baskets with leaves, twigs, bark and heaps of hazelnuts which will - they pray to Lugh - see them through the dark season ahead.
There’s yield a-plenty across the moss-soaked bog
that draws us nutters from all around
we pick and hatch and ground and weigh
- yours for just 6d a pound!
Some everyday uses of hazel nuts and hazel wood:
red, yellow, brown, and black dye
agricultural fodder
fuel
food
divining rods
magic wands
fencing
jam stirrers
good luck charms
toothache deterrent
druid staffs
adder bite salve
warding tool against evil spirits
ideal offering to placate the ancestors of the Otherworld
A tip courtesy of the dyers:
At first light on May Day cut a hazel wand and draw a circle around yourself. This will protect you against evil spirits and adder bites over the year ahead.
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