#oak leaves
Platinum Jubilee Silk Scarf, Westminster Abbey Shop, 2022
Designed with artist Rory Hutton, to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee.
The coronation chair forms the centre of the scarf’s design, as the starting point of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. The martlets and oak leaves which originally decorated the coronation chair represent strength and nobility.
Surrounding the central motif are traditional symbols which are repeated throughout the architecture of Westminster Abbey - including the heraldic lion, the crown, the fleur-de-lis, the Tudor rose, the English rose, the Irish shamrock and the Scottish thistle. (No Welsh leek that I can see though!)
This panel for The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire was a lot of fun to create. All about the oak trees in the Manchester Cedar Swamp, and some of the critters that enjoy them.
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Medieval Gold ‘Think of me, Love’ Heart-Shaped Ring Brooch, 13th-14th Century AD
A gold ring brooch with loop formed as acorns and oak leaves, the tongue tapered with acorn finial to the hinge; to the reverse, blackletter inscription ’+pence de moy amor’ which translates to 'Think of me, Love’, with rosettes and leaves. 6.67 grams, 27mm (1").
See it on video
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Obscurity & Oak Leaves(on Instagram) by Marisa Renee
I find myself unmistakably drawn to oak trees and their leaves. This image from 2019 was the first time I’d seen native gamble oak in Colorado. We camped under these low sprawling trees tucked in behind the Uncompahgre River in Ridgway and I don’t think I’ll ever forget that obscurely magical trip.
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I should have posted these oak blossoms and tiny leaves with that poem.
Do you know why the oak tree is associated with supernatural powers? The fact that the oak tends to be struck by lightning as much as, if not more often than, other trees has promoted its association with supernatural powers and made it sacred to the thunder-wielding Norse god Thor. A southern English rhyme sensibly warns, “Beware the oak, it draws smoke.”
Elsewhere, somewhat perversely, the tree is actually recommended as a suitable shelter in the event of a thunderstorm. Keeping boughs of oak (particularly if taken from a tree that has been struck by a lightning bolt) or a few acorns in the house is reputed to protect the house from lightning. Standing beneath an oak or wearing oak leaves is further said to furnish protection from evil spirits and from witchcraft.
In Cornwall, superstition advises that hammering a nail into an oak tree will relieve the pain of a toothache, while in Wales, rubbing sores with a piece of oak bark on Midsummer Day will help them to heal. Embracing an oak tree, meanwhile, is enough to cure hernias and to promote fertility of couples unable to have children. Oak trees planted at crossroads are considered to have the most effective healing powers.
The oak acquired a reputation as a royal tree in the 17th century after the future Charles II hid in one to escape his Parliamentarian pursuers after the battle of Worcester. In honor of this event, loyal subjects took to wearing oak leaves to proclaim their Royalist sympathies on what became Royal Oak Day after restoration of the monarchy in 1660. Anyone failing to comply was beaten with stinging nettles.
Back in the more brutal times, in pagan Germany, any man who harmed an oak was punished by having his navel hacked out and nailed to the tree. He was then forced to walk around the trunk, with the result that his intestines were slowly pulled from his body.
Even today, in our modern world, the oak tree is still honored. The choice of clusters of oak leaves as a military decoration hails back to ancient Rome, when soldiers who had performed some act of bravery or selflessness were honored with the presentation of an oak leaf crown. An oak leaf cluster or oak leaves is a common device which is placed on U.S. military awards and decorations for “exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service, heroic deeds, or valorous actions”.
Source: http://historicalhussies.blogspot.com/2009/01/around-ye-ole-oak-tree.html
