The Passion in Plants

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The Passion in Plants: Palm Sunday - Pussy Willows and the Yew

Palm Sunday - Pussy Willows and the Yew

BBC Radio 4 - The Passion in Plants, Palm Sunday - Pussy Willows and the Yew

Bob Gilbert on wild plants and the Easter Story: Palm Sunday, pussy willows and the yew

Bob Gilbert traces the associations of British wild plants with the Easter Story beginning with Palm Sunday. No palms here, instead people carried fronds of goat willow and yew.

Bob Gilbert, left, and Brother Samuel, inside an ancient hollow yew. Yew branches were used in Palm Sunday processions. 

Over hundreds of years people have used wildflowers as a way of sharing our common stories, including those in the Bible. Just as stained glass windows reminded ordinary people of its characters and events, so did the plants of the hedgerow that they encountered every day. In this way many trees and flowers came to play a part in telling the Easter story. 

In The Passion in Plants, five programmes running through Holy Week, the writer and urban naturalist Bob Gilbert considers the key moments of Christ's Passion and the plants that, in folklore, came to reflect them. With Brother Samuel, a Franciscan friar, Bob searches for these in wild locations ranging from rural woodlands and meadows to the pavements of Poplar in the East End of London. They explore their traditions, how they came about, and their meanings. 

The programmes include readings from writers such as  A. E. Housman, Tennyson, Sylvia Plath and the author of Dream of the Rood, together with song and music.

They begin with Palm Sunday and the triumphal entry to Jerusalem. In the woods at Hilfield friary in Dorset Bob and Brother Sam look for the goat willow or sallow - the pussy willow plant - which was, and still is in some places, cut early in the morning and carried in the Palm Sunday processions. They visit, too, ancient yews at Tandridge and Crowhurst in Surrey. Evergreens were rare and yew branches were also used to represent the palm fronds. Standing inside a huge, hollow yew they consider the significance of these venerable and mysterious trees.   

Presenter: Bob Gilbert
Producer: Julian May

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Religion & Ethics

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Bob Gilbert traces the associations of British wild plants with the Easter Story.

Bob Gilbert traces the associations of British wild plants with the Easter Story. With Brother Samuel, a Franciscan friar, he explores their traditions and their meanings.

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