May Eve: yarrow under the pillow

May Day, the first of May, was the old start of summer in Ireland and Britain. In Irish it is called Bealtaine, and the night before it, May Eve, was a favorite time for charms. In Ireland the plant of the night was yarrow, a common wildflower with flat white heads and feathery leaves. Picked on May Eve with a rhyme and laid under the pillow, it was meant to bring a dream of a future sweetheart. Schoolchildren who collected local lore in the late 1930s wrote it down in several counties, and in East Donegal it was still widely kept.

Yarrow charms in Ireland

Midnight in Donegal

In East Donegal, at twelve o'clock on May Eve, young women went out to the fields to pick yarrow. They greeted the plant with a rhyme: by this time tomorrow, it said, I'll know who my true love will be, the color of his hair and the clothes he will wear. Each one carried her bunch home without another word, put it under her pillow and hoped to dream of her future husband. In the morning she spoke to no one at home. The first young stranger she talked with on the road was said to be the man she would marry.

Nine stalks in Limerick

Around Tervoe in County Limerick, young people each pulled ten stalks of yarrow on May Eve and said a verse over every one. The verse wished the plant "good morrow," or good morning, three times and asked it to show a true love before the same time the next day. Nine stalks went under the pillow that night and the tenth was thrown away. Both young men and young women did this, hoping to dream of a future wife or husband.

Eight pieces in Sligo

In Dromard, County Sligo, the custom belonged to girls who had not received a marriage offer during the previous Shrovetide, the traditional time for matches before Lent. They went out after sunset on May Eve, gathered a bunch of yarrow and divided it into nine parts. Eight went under the pillow. Any man they dreamed of that night was said to be their future husband. A local story tells of a girl who dreamed of a man that night and met him at the races in Cloonacool two years later.

A stocking full of yarrow in Dublin

In 1869 a contributor to the London journal "Notes and Queries" passed on charms learned from a woman in Dublin. On May Day, or the night before, women filled a stocking with yarrow, put it under the pillow and said a longer rhyme. It asked to see the lover by morning, with the color of his hair and the clothes he wore. If he was the right one, his face would be turned toward the dreamer. If not, he would show only his back.

May charms in North America

Folklorists in the United States recorded May charms too. Some were meant to bring a dream, while others worked overnight as the girl slept.

Spreading the covers in North Carolina

In Caldwell County, North Carolina, a woman told collectors about a charm for the night of May 1. The girl spread the covers on her bed three times, each time saying a verse about the four corners of her bed. The verse asked for a little trouble in the night, so that the man she would marry could come to the rescue. Then, it was believed, she would dream of her future husband.

A snail on a plate

In Illinois, a girl might set a snail on a plate of meal under her bed on the night before May Day. By morning, its trail was supposed to show the first letter of her future husband's name. In North Carolina, the snail was found early on May morning and put on a plate of meal in the same way.

A handkerchief on the wheat

Also in North Carolina, a girl laid a handkerchief over growing wheat on the last afternoon of April. She went back before sunrise on May Day, hoping to find her lover's name written on it in dew.

Other May Eve customs

Not every May custom was about love. In East Donegal, families decorated a rowan branch with May flowers and primroses and stuck it into the manure heap, to welcome the "fairy of good luck" who was said to pass by at dawn on May Day. In North Carolina and elsewhere, girls washed their faces in May dew before sunrise, a custom said to make them beautiful. Others looked into a well at noon on the first of May, hoping to glimpse a future sweetheart in the water.

Today

Today, April 30 is an ordinary spring evening for most people. If you'd like to mark it, pick a few wildflowers, put them in a glass by the bed and write down your dream in the morning. It won't name a future love, but it can show what's growing in your mind as summer comes.

Related symbols

Sources

Dream interpretations are for entertainment.