Folklore of berries

The Northeast Native American tribes revered blueberries, and much folklore developed around them.

The blossom end of each berry, the calyx, forms the shape of a perfect five-pointed star; the elders of the tribe would tell of how the Great Spirit sent ‘star berries’ to relieve the children’s hunger during a famine.

Blueberry juice was used for ‘old coughs’ and tea made from Wild Blueberry leaves was believed to be a good tonic to help purify the blood.

Bilberry

Bilberry also called the whortleberry or mulberry, was significant calendar marker in Ireland up to the present.

Festivals celebrating the Celtic summer feast of Lughnasa included climbing hills to gather bilberries who were eaten on the spot or saved to make pies and wine; after Lughnasa, the berries were said to lose their flavor.

Blackberries, which were scared to the goddess Bridgit, ripen in late summer and early fall and blackberry wines were made and dedicated to her.

In Ireland there was and still is, a folk taboo against eating blackberries after the autumnal equinox, but all berries made into wines for the goddess were permissible to use.
Folklore of berries