I wanted to celebrate spring and St Patrick's Day and combining my Spring Tartan with four leaf clovers seemed like a good idea. The shamrock has been used as s symbol of Ireland since the days of St Patrick because he used one to explain the holy trinity and had one in one hand and a cross in the other when he drove the snakes from Ireland. The leaves also came to represent faith, hope and love and if there is a fourth leaf it represents luck and a fifth leaf represents wealth.
On St Patrick's Day, people would wear clovers and sometimes eat them to give sweet breathe. There was also a tradition of toasting the memory of St Patrick or drowning the shamrock. The shamrock that had been worn would be added to the drink and when the drink was finished, the clover would be thrown over the left shoulder. Some also believed wearing clover would allow people to see evil spirits or fairies, giving them a chance to run away.
As well as being a symbol used extensively for St Patrick's Day, when many across the world celebrate with much drinking, it is a symbol of Ireland now, due to it's connection to St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. This began in the 18th Century when a regiment of volunteers used it as their symbol while protecting against invasion by the French and Spanish.
Shamrock is Irish for young clover and clovers belong to the family Trifolium and are also called Trefoils because they generally have three leaves. Very occasionally a rare four leaf clover will be found amongst the three leaf clovers. Even more rare, clovers with even more leaves are found and the record is held by a 56 leaf clover discovered by Shigeo Obara. Shigeo was a farmer who studied clover and ways to increase the number of leaves on clover and he held the previous record of 21 leaves as well. His record was recognised following his death at 85.
It's not clear why the four leaf clover and it might just be because it's rare or it's apparent ability to allow the wearer to avoid fairies and evil spirits. There is a legend that as Adam and Eve were leaving the Garden of Eden, Eve picked a four leaf clover as a souvenir.
Clover is often added to pastures as it is nutritious for livestock and grows well. It also fixes Nitrogen in the soil which reduces the need for fertilizers for other plants. It's often found naturally in fields, hedgerows and gardens. It's also very bee friendly and pollinated mostly by bumblebees, but also honeybees. Pollination increases reseeding making clover more abundant so beekeepers are often employed by farmers with clover pastures.
Red Clover has edible flowers that can be used as a garnish. It is also often used as a herbal medicine for the menopause and asthma amongst other things but little research has been carried out in to this. The flowers are commonly used to make a tea. The leaves can be added to salads but I am not sure exactly which species is edible!
Clover is such a common symbol, it's in a lot of art and jewellery but surprisingly for it's widespread use, it doesn't seem to have been used as a theme in sculpture, street art or art installations that I could find. It's almost like it's too common and widespread as a symbol, too particular in it's use, to have inspired many artists.... The only thing I found was some marketing by McDonald's and it doesn't even really feature a shamrock.... Because of the clover, green is associated with Ireland and St Patrick's Day and many St Patrick's Day celebrations feature green with green beer being the most common. The Chicago River has been dyed green every St Patrick's Day since the 70s. A green Shamrock Shake was invented in the 70s and is sold by McDonald's for St Patrick's Day in some places. In 2010, McDonald's placed a giant Shamrock Shake by the Chicago River, tipped over so it looks like the Shamrock Shake is responsible for the river being green....
If you want to have a look at my pinterest board, it's here!
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