Festive ecology

The plants traditionally associated with Christmas – holly, ivy, mistletoe, common yew – have had special roles in earlier religions and past cultures.

In the 4th and 5th centuries, 25 December was gradually adopted as the date for Christmas in Europe in order to superimpose on the existing mid-winter festivals.

[1] An early reference to the practice occurs in "The Dream of Rhonabwy", a Welsh story from the Mabinogion, a remarkable collection of medieval literature.

The floor of the old black house of Heilyn Goch is described as being covered in the urine and dung of cows together with branches of holly whose tips had been eaten by the cattle.

Branches of evergreen ivy tied to a pole was often used as the "sign of the bush" indicating a place where wine or alcohol was for sale.

According to Pliny, it was believed that mistletoe in a drink would make any barren animal fertile and that it was a remedy for all poisons.

The merging of old and decaying wood with vibrant young shoots has led to the yew being traditionally associated with reincarnation and immortality.

The pageant and the celebrations associated with the tree dressing are evolving in response to those living in the local community as well as to the external recognition now accorded to this unique tradition.

The present black poplar grew from a rooted cutting taken from the old tree which was said to be at least 300 years old when it collapsed in 1995 and had been repeatedly pollarded.

Black poplars are associated with alluvial soils in river valleys and floodplains generally south of a line from the River Mersey to the estuary of the Humber with particular concentrations across the Midlands from the Welsh Marches to East Anglia and notably in the Vale of Aylesbury (Aylesbury Vale).

Growing to a height of some 30 metres, the bark of the black poplar is distinctively ridged and furrowed and has characteristic large burrs or bosses.