“Rowan-tree, and red thread” — a line from a Scottish rhyme listing the things people kept against witches.
Record, Folk and Modern are kept apart, and each one carries its source. Spotted a better source? Tell us.
Robert Chambers printed the rhyme in Popular Rhymes of Scotland (first edition 1826; the exact edition is To verify): “Black luggie, lammer bead, / Rowan-tree, and red thread, / Put the witches to their speed!”
A black wooden cup, an amber bead, rowan and red thread were kept against witches, according to the rhyme as the Scots Language Centre presents it.
We make a rowan sprig — one leaf, a cluster of berries — and hang it on red silk thread. The red thread also appears elsewhere in our atlas, in the East Asian story of Yue Lao.
It opens with the pencil construction, then follows the record, how people used it, and the piece we make today. Every fact in it comes from the sources on this page.
Sterling, gold-plated silver with lab-created stones, and a fully handmade atelier piece. Every tier keeps the symbol whole and true to its source.
925 sterling rowan sprig, satin finish: one leaf and a cluster of berries, on a red silk thread.
Gold-plated 925 sterling silver (vermeil) — rowan leaf; each berry a lab-created red stone. On red silk thread.
Handmade gold-plated 925 sterling silver sprig; berries set with lab-created red stones; red silk thread. Made to order.