The Hawthorn (Huath to the Celts) with its beautiful white spring blossoms and unpleasant smell is a study in contrast. It has beautiful blossoms and seems delicate from a distance, but anyone trying to pass through a Hawthorn thicket knows its thorns are far from delicate. The Celts used the Hawthorn for medicinal purposes but also felt it was a bad omen to bring the plant indoors (some say the blossoms smell like decaying flesh). Thus, the bush is a symbol of duality (life/death).
In Ireland, it is considered to be a Fairy Tree and thought to be very bad luck to cut one down. They even reroute highways to avoid disturbing a Fairy Tree!
In Ogham writing the Hawthorn (Huath) translates as the letter “H”. The Ogham symbol for Huath is in the accompanying illustration.
