A prickly little number at Christmas
Wrapped up in centuries of folk-law, holly forms an integral part of traditional Christmas decorations;
Far more so than the modern festive ‘holiday season’ invader the poinsettia a plant which I hate with a passion.
Holly is a male symbol (apparently) must be brought in to the house by a man, known as the plant of lightning, and symbolising eternal life, it is the supreme witch deterrent, and was decking the halls long before the Christ was put in to Christmas.
And the buying and selling holly has traditionally had much mystery and intrigue as the supernatural; when I worked in flower shops in more urban areas, much of the holly we used in our products was bought from the wholesale flower market (these institutions are now a rare breed) it always had that ‘fell off the back of a lorry’ aura about it, often ‘acquired’ by traveling folk, bought into the city markets and deals done, cash only, it was sold by weight, and inevitably when you got it back to the workroom and cut the bundle open their would be a fair sized log at its centre, strategically placed to up the weight.
The black economy has traditional had a big part to play in the manufacture of holly wreaths, and before any one starts shouting at me, I know lots of farmers have done as they have been told and ‘diversified’ but I am talking about the folk who are less than scrupulous about where there base materials come from and have never clapped eyes on a self assessment tax form.
When I had a business in Scotland one of my colleagues, who had a small market garden, used to have to take all his florist wires and wreath frames home with him each evening, as inevitably, in the run up to Christmas his premises would be broken into and the sundries needed for wreath making would be stolen. I have even known wreaths that have been placed in the church yard to be stolen and resold, (one of my ‘competitors’ was caught red-handed nicking Christmas trees, from the side of local bypass; when he was spotted by the council workmen who had planted them!)
Most flower shops do not make their own wreaths, it is a miserable, tedious time consuming job, and offers a poor profit margin; in comparison to focusing your skills into making product that provides higher returns, it’s a no hoper, instead they may well buy in the pre-prepped wreaths bases and ‘top them off’ according to the market they serve.
Glossy style magazines will tell you how to make, a Christmas wreath for your front door, usually with a contemporary twist, of a cluster of apples or nuts, if you have ever tried following the instructions, you may well have found it is more difficult than it sounds, and opened your front door to a compost heap on your door step and a wire wreath ring hung on your door knocker; so tomorrow, I’ll post the cheats way to easier door decorations.
If you would like to read more about the traditional holly and mistletoe markets, read about the one in Tenbury, and this link tells you all you need to know, its very interesting.
