Robin Thomson

In the ancient Scottish ballad “The Wife of Usher’s Well” a mother grieves for the loss of her three sons (who were sent overseas, perhaps in a war?) and who appear to her as ghostly revenants, wearing hats made of birch bark.

In celtic mythology the birch tree is a symbol of renewal, protection and motherhood. The tree has also long been associated with the spirits of the dead. In sympathy with the mourning; “‘weeps the birch of silver bark with long dishevell’d hair’.”