Fern: Come Away Human Child

Fern or more specifically, the Shield fern (Dryopteris dilatata), Bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum), Lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina), Ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) and Maidenhair fern (Adiantum capillus-veneris) are all affectionately called fiddlehead ferns in the spring. These would be any type of fern that produce edible fiddleheads, or the unfurled fronds when they’re approximately still the size of a quarter. They’re called raith, fearn or raithneach in Gaeilge and raith, guisean or froineach in Scots Gaelic. The common names all relate to their appearance such as the Ostrich Fern having more fluffy and upright leaves lending to an appearance of an ostrich tail. I’ve found over the years, my love for ferns has deepened immensely. I’ve come to appreciate their soft nature and the slow, deliberate unfurling of their pleasing and spiraling fronds. I enjoy tuning into their seasonal energy; the cyclical nature by which they exist, coming into their own in the spring and summer, then softly receding into beautiful brown and red shades in the autumn and finally, fading back into the earth in winter to preserve their being.  

Ferns have played a magical and powerful role both from a medicinal as well as Otherworldly perspective and were somewhat of a ‘heal all’. Dioscorides mentioned ferns being used to treat wounds, ulcers, worms, inflammation and as an abortifacient. In Ireland, ferns were used to treat fevers, colic, stomach complaints, arthritis¹, neck and back pain², flu³, toothaches, headaches⁴, kidney complaints, whooping cough⁵, burns⁶, worms⁷, cuts and blood poisonings⁸ just to name a few things but the list goes on. At times, there was specific stipulation between using a male or female fern. For example, female ferns were good for stomach ailments and burns while the male ferns were good for worms and poisons. However, more often than not, the sex nor the species are stipulated at all in folk records. 

In some instances, it seems to have been somewhat of a plant oracle. One folk ritual called to use the male fern to “…foretell the result of a disease known as blast. It should be pulled by someone other than the inmates of the house. It should then be boiled in the house of the patient without the patient seeing it. If the patient was going to die, the water would blacken. If he was going to recover, the water would turn green.”⁹ The fern was included in many lovely recipes. One of the most well known was called ‘fern salve’ where finely chopped fern leaves were added into boiled butter and cooled with the butter squeezed through a fine cloth and applied to burns or cuts.¹⁰ In addition to being medicinal for people, there is frequent mention of using ferns to treat farm animals, particularly worms, sores, poisoning or kidney disease in cattle, sheep, horses and pigs. Ferns may have also been used for animal bedding at one time as well as made into a dye from the ashes.^11,12 Fern leaves were also used to prevent caterpillars from laying eggs on cabbage heads. Possibly a long lost means to protect plants in our gardens without the use of pesticides.¹³ 

Fairies were often said to have traveled by fern roots or cabbage stalks that were cut into the shape of real horses and fern seed, thought to be the spores. They were collected on Summer Solstice evening and kept on your person was said to render you invisible, invulnerable or all powerful. The roots cut after specific incantations could also reveal a young woman’s true love.¹⁴ Another Summer Solstice tradition and method to catch the mysterious and magical fern seed was to stand inside a circle of carefully placed ferns. You were to stay inside the circle from exactly 12 to 1 o’clock am holding three plates. The plates were to be silver on the bottom, copper in the middle and a pewter on top. While waiting inside for this lucky hour, the person was lured by the ‘good people’ or fairies to leave the circle and offered many various temptations to do so. However, if the person succeeded in staying in the center, the seeds would gently come floating to the top plate and the person was deemed as powerful as the good people the rest of their life.¹⁵ Interestingly, the belief in magical fern seeds and collecting them near the Summer Solstice is a somewhat unanimous one and a practice that reached as far as France, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland among many other places and people.¹⁶ 

Another local folktale regarding ferns took place in Longford County regarding a leprechaun hiding under a fern which was a common and well known hiding place of leprechauns. Upon hearing a rustling, the farmer snatched him up, ordering him to tell him where his golden coins were hidden. The leprechaun gave quick instructions of where to find his gold filled crock near a local tree. However, when the farmer dug up the crock, all it contained was a piece of paper that said “Don’t believe that you can get gold without earning it.”¹⁷ 

Various childhood games were played with ferns reminiscent of picking the petals off of flowers, where once you got to the last leaf, one thing was decided over another whether it was to do with a suitor or if you were going to heaven or hell.¹⁸ One of the more darker customs related to the holiday of Samhain where two brave men were to venture out and collect fern seeds. They would then gather ten pewter plates, four white sheets and four candles. They stacked the plates together and placed all the seeds on the very top plate. The sheets were laid in squares around the plates with the hope for the seeds to mysteriously pass through the plates landing on the tenth plate. If this occurred, the devil was said to appear and grant them wishes.¹⁹ 

In the Irish tale of Echtra Nerai or Expedition of Nera, which is a preliminary tale to the Táin bó Cuailnge, the main character was given certain herbs to prove his presence among the sídhe… 

“Nera followed after them until he came to their king in a palace of the Tuatha De Danann, seemingly in the cavern or elsewhere underground; where he remained and was married to one of the fairy women. She it was who revealed to Nera the secret hiding-place, in a mysterious well, of the king’s golden crown, and then betrayed her whole people by reporting to Nera the plan they had for attacking Ailill’s court on the Halloween to come. Moreover, Nera was permitted by his fairy wife to depart from the síd; and he in taking leave of her asked: ‘How will it be believed of me that I have gone into the síd?’ ‘Take fruits of summer with thee,’ said the woman. ‘Then he took wild garlic with him and primrose and golden fern.”²⁰

In the Lebor Gablar Vol. 3, there is a reference to ‘fern-ale’ and it was said that the ruler Malaliach was the first to brew this drink as well as having invented oblation, adoration and sortilege. It was said he had three Druids, Tath, Fis and Fochmare (“Consolidation, Knowledge, Enquiry”).²¹ In the Ogham tract, fern or broom were representative of GG/NG and nGétal and most definitely had Otherworld or magical connotations as well as relating with physicians and healing. It was said that the plant was ‘a physician’s strength’ which again, alludes to the plant being somewhat of a heal all.²² Fern was considered a bramble tree in the Brehon Law tracts and the ‘dire’ fine for destroying one on someone else’s property was a sheep. In truth, there are countless references in folktales, poetry, place names as well as graves associated with ferns in Ireland such as the famous ecclesiastical center in Ferns, County Wexford. 

In Scotland, ferns were equally magical, particularly the seeds, thought to keep witches away and again, most oftenly collected on the evening of the Summer Solstice.²³ On the Isle of Skye, an old highland remedy to treat tuberculosis was boiled hart’s tongue and maiden-hair ferns in unfermented beer. A poultice of yellow fern and egg whites mixed with flax was laid on inflamed or blood shot eyes. Additionally, bog myrtle tea was taken along with the powdered roots of shield ferns to expel worms.²⁴ Ferns were mentioned in much Scottish poetry as well. ²⁵

In England and Wales, fern was used to treat burns, inflammations, hemorrhoids²⁶, worms, stomach complaints, wounds, ulcers and also as an abortifacient.²⁷ The homes in ancient Britain were often described by Latin writers as beehive huts and roofed with fern or thatch and at the approach of an enemy, the inhabitants would retreat to their nearest dún or fort.²⁸ There was a famous seasonal story in Wales, in which a battle ensued in spring between winter and summer. The winter side flung straw and dry wood at their opponents while summer threw birch, willow and young ferns in which they ultimately came out of the ordeal victorious.²⁹ The Fern is mentioned in the Welsh Book of Taliesin VIII in the Battle of the Trees as “I have plundered the fern, through all secrets I spy.” likely meaning having uncovered the information the fern was concealing as it was famous to do so. 

The edible ferns listed here are in various plant families including Dryopteridaceae (Shield fern), Dennstaedtiaceae (Bracken fern), Athyriaceae (Lady fern), Onocleaceae (Ostrich fern) and Pteridaceae (Maidenhair fern). They’re native to Europe, Asia and North America. Ferns have elongated fronds that contain individual leaflets along their flexible stems. The fiddlehead fronds are typically harvested from mid spring through midsummer and may have been associated with the Spring Equinox or Bealtaine. However, the fern roots were also harvested in Autumn and have a place in many varied folk stories and traditions and could arguably also be associated with the Summer Solstice as well as Samhain. 

They’re perennials hardy in zones 4 through 8, grow up to 60 cm or 2 ft tall and do well in part sunlight to full shade and moist soil. Fern’s energy is hot and dry. The young fiddleheads are edible but must be cooked first. They’re most commonly used as a whole food and poultice. Use caution with ferns as it’s incredibly hard to tell between some species, many are toxic and the safe dosage of root or leaves is unknown. The only known ‘dosage’ at this time is that fiddleheads (of most species) are safe to eat in moderate quantities and when cooked. 

Benefits

anti-inflammatory, anthelmintic, nutritive

Recipe

Sautéed Fiddleheads

Ingredients: 8 to10 fiddleheads, olive oil or oil of your preference, parsley, garlic

Instructions: Drizzle a pan with your oil and add your fiddleheads. Season with garlic, parsley or other herbs of your preference. Stir and flip your fiddleheads for approximately 5 minutes or until they are gently browned on each side. 

References

1. O’ Cuinn, Tadhg, Irish Materia Medica, Ireland, 1415.
2. Irish Folk Duchas, School Collection – Volume 758, Page 419
3. Irish Folk Duchas, School Collection – Volume 297, Page 068
4. Irish Folk Duchas, School Collection – Volume 908, Page 134
5. Irish Folk Duchas, School Collection – Volume 610, Page 346
6. Irish Folk Duchas, School Collection – Volume 165, Page 145
7. Irish Folk Duchas, School Collection – Volume 780, Page 126
8. Irish Folk Duchas, School Collection – Volume 525, Page 126
9. Irish Folk Duchas, School Collection – Volume 317, Page 128
10. Irish Folk Duchas, School Collection – Volume 956, Page 104
11. Irish Folk Duchas, School Collection – Volume 1054B, Page 11_047
12. Irish Folk Duchas, School Collection – Volume 903, Page 590
13. Irish Folk Duchas, School Collection – Volume 483, Page 370
14. Wood-Martin, W.G., Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland, Vol. 2, Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1902, pg. 166 and 179.
15. Irish Folk Duchas, School Collection – Volume 1019, Page 190
16. Frazer, James George, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, New York, The Macmillan Company, 1925, pg. 705. 
17. Irish Folk Duchas, School Collection – Volume 752, Page 286
18. Irish Folk Duchas, School Collection – Volume 538, Page 113
19. Irish Folk Duchas, School Collection – Volume 713, Page 314
20. Evans-Wentz, W.Y., The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries, 1911, pg. 323.
21. Macalister, Robert Alexander Stewart, Lebor gabála Érenn : The book of the taking of Ireland, Vol. 3, 1940, pg. 9.
22. Calder, George, Auraicept na n-éces : the scholars’ primer, J. Grant, Edinburgh, 1917, Pg. 92. 
23. McNeill, F. Marian, The Silver Bough, Vol. 1, Glasgow, 1957-68. 
24. Mackenzie, Alexander, The Celtic Magazine, Vol. 9, A & W Mackenzie, Inverness, 1880, pg. 333, 334, 355.
25. Carmichael, Alexander, Carmina Gadelica Vol. 2, Scotland, 1900, pg. 39. 
26. Myddvai, Meddygon, Pughe, John and Williams, John, The Physicians of Myddvai, Wales, 1861.
27. Culpeper, Nicholas, The Complete Herbal, London, 1653, pg. 138.
28. Squire, Charles, Celtic Myth and Legend: Poetry and Romance, Gresham Publishing, London, 1910, pg. 29. 
29. Trevelyan, Marie, Folk‐lore and Folk‐stories of Wales, London, 1909.