ElizabethanHerbSong

Plantmeagardentohealthebody

Betony,yarrowanddaisiestomend Sageforthebloodandcomfreyforbones

Foxgloveandhyssopthesicktotend.

Plantmeagardentohealtheheart, Balmforjoy,andthesweetviolet Cowslips,pansiesandchamomile ToeasethepainIwanttoforget.

Plantmeagardentohealthesoul, Agardenofpeaceandtranquility, Soothedwiththescentoflavender Andtheheavenlyblueofchicory.

When you think about the problems of life on the Home Front during WW2, then probably the first thing that comes to mind is food rationing, but many other normally taken-for-granted items of daily life were also rationed or in short supply. Restrictions on clothing were just as severe as the curbs on the use of food and fuel.

The British government needed to reduce production and consumption of civilian clothes to safeguard raw materials and release workers and factory space for war production. The imposition of clothes rationing was announced on 1 June 1941. Making the announcement just before a Bank Holiday allowed the Board of Trade time to brief retailers before the shops reopened. The news came as a complete surprise to most people.

As with food rationing, which had been in place since 1940, one of the other reasons for introducing civilian clothes rationing was to ensure fairness. Rationing sought to ensure a more equal distribution of clothing and improve the availability of garments in the shops.

The maximum allowance for adults was 61 coupons in a 12 month period - the equivalent of one new outfit a year. This allowance was later cut to 48 coupons, then 36 and eventually just 20 coupons per annum for adults.

Children and babies were treated differently and families who were bombed out could receive coupons for up to two years’ worth of clothing, assuming that is, that they could afford to buy the clothes.

ThoseDarlingBudsof May…

The old Celtic calendar is divided into two parts - the light and the dark. Beltane, celebrated on 1 May, marks the end of the dark winter season and the beginning of the light-filled days of summer, sitting as it does at the halfway point between the spring equinox and summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. This moment has been celebrated with joy and festivity since ancient times - marking the end of the winter months and looking forward to balmy summer days to come.

In a northern country like ours, it isn’t surprising that the coming of spring and summer was such a cause of joy and celebration. As early as 1883 the folklorist Charlotte Burne was writing that:

Early on May Day morning is the traditional time to go out into the countryside and gather greenery and blossoms with which to decorate our homes. It is wonderful to be able to bring nature indoors after the cold dark days of winter, and to step outside into warmth and brightness once again. The hawthorn (pictured right) begins to bloom at this time of year and is a key symbol of the May celebrations, holding associations of fertility and the supernatural world. The traditional rhyme “here we go gathering nuts in May” would originally have meant “knots” of May, that is to say, sprigs of hawthorn blossom. In Ireland May, or hawthorn, is often called whitethorn due to its creamy white flowers and HE Bates poetically referred to the hawthorn blossom as “the risen cream of all the milkiness of May-time.”

The beautiful blossom of the hawthorn is inextricably linked with the month of May, to the extent that it is often called “May blossom.” Before the calendar changes of 1752 when May Day fell on what is now May 12, the hawthorn would have been in full flower on May Day and its blossoms used for decorations, garlands and superstitious rites. Early in the morning people would go “a-maying,” returning laden with may blossom to decorate their churches and houses, traditionally hanging a garland over their front doors.