Continuing last week’s tree theme, today we’re talking about the cherry tree.
I’ve been thinking about cherries lately because I’m doing some edits on Beauty and the Alchemist — not to mention writing some short character histories, too! — and cherry trees are integral to the story. Actually, my characters are always going on about “sweet-cherry” trees, which in the real world aren’t a thing. When a person in the real world says “sweet cherry,” they’re usually just talking about varieties of cherries that are nice to eat.
So, I made up some of the magical associations of the “sweet-cherry.” 🙂 But what about real cherry trees?
The strongest associations with cherry trees today are love and divination. If you look in old (or new) books of magic and home remedies, cherry pits are common ingredients in love spells. The trees themselves can be magical, too: one spell I found suggested running around a living cherry tree and then giving it a hard shake. According to the book, however many cherries fall to the ground is the number of years you have left to live!
In Japan, the cherry — or sakura — symbolizes beauty, inner peace, and rebirth. It’s also considered very good luck and an important part of the Hanami Festival each April. And here in the U.S., we have a Cherry Blossom Festival every year in Washington DC celebrating trees which came — surprise! — as a gift from the people of Japan back in the early 1900s.
It’s a bit early this year for cherry blossoms (or for thoughts of love potions, if you celebrate Valentine’s Day!). But surely it’s never the wrong time for appreciating the beauty around us, or wishing for a little luck! 😉
Selected Resources
If you’re dying to know about types of sweet cherries, there’s a list here!
Spells and magical associations came from Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs, as always.
There’s a nice overview of the Hanami Festival on this site.
And check out the Park Service’s neat timeline and overview of the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC!
