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Blackberry Bush

Blackberry Day

Sep 12

Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day

Today's Musings, History & Folklore

"My berries cluster black and thick
For rich and poor alike to pick.
I’ll tear your dress, and cling, and tease,
And scratch your hands and arms and knees.
I’ll stain your fingers and your face,
And then I’ll laugh at your disgrace.
But when the bramble-jelly’s made,
You’ll find your trouble well repaid."

~ The Blackberry Fairy, Cicely Mary Barker, 1927

September 12th marks Blackberry Day, a traditional berry-picking celebration, tied to the time when blackberries typically reach their peak ripeness in the English Midlands. Modern varieties of blackberries, including many delicious hybrids, add even more flavors to the mix. One such example is the Tayberry, a Scottish cross between a blackberry and a red raspberry. In the U.S., tasty offshoots include the Ollalieberry—a blend of the Black Logan blackberry and the Youngberry (itself a combination of blackberry, raspberry, and dewberry)—and the Marionberry, a cross between the California blackberry, loganberry, and Ollalieberry. According to British folklore, it’s important to gather your blackberries before Old Michaelmas Day, also known as "Devil's Spit Day," on October 10th, the traditional last day for blackberry picking before they’re said to be spoiled by evil spirits! However, this namesake reel with traditional figures, danced to the namesake tune will never spoil! Bring a basket of berries or blackberry pie to your next dance class, wear your favorite purples or purple tartan, and mind the purple berry stains! 💜 🖤 🍓 🍓 🍓 🧚‍♀️

Blackberry Bush

Blackberry, Bramble, Bumble-Kite, Bramble-Kite, Bly,  Brummel, Brameberry, Scaldhead, and Brambleberry ... whatever name you use for these delicious berries, September 12th is Blackberry Day, a traditional berry picking day.

 

The name of this dance comes from the traditional tune of the same name. 

The Tayberry (see photo below) is a cross between a blackberry and a red raspberry, patented in 1979 by Derek L. Jennings of Dundee, Scotland,  and named after the river Tay.

The fruit is sweeter, much larger, and more aromatic than that of the loganberry, itself a blackberry and red raspberry cross. The tayberry is grown for its edible fruits which can be eaten raw or cooked, but the fruit do not pick easily by hand and cannot be machine harvested, so they have not become a commercially grown berry crop.

Tayberries have a naturally high level of pectin, so they're perfect for jam and pie fillings. 

So if you are harvesting your blackberries today (or before Devil's Spit Day, reckoned on either Michaelmas (September 29th) or Old Michaelmas (October 10th), when blackberries are no longer deemed to be safe, having been fouled by the Devil), and are looking for recipes, try the perfect late summer desert, Michaelmas Blackberry Dumplings, from Lavender & Lovage. 

Folklore in the British Isles suggests that Michaelmas day (or old Michaelmas Day, October 10th or 11th) is the last day that blackberries can be picked. It is said that when St. Michael expelled Lucifer, the devil, from heaven, he fell from the skies and landed in a prickly blackberry bush. Satan cursed the fruit, scorched them with his fiery breath, and stamped and spat on them (or worse), so that they would be unfit for eating. As it is considered ill-advised to eat them after 29 September, a Michaelmas pie is made from the last of the season.

Click the photo below for the recipe.

Blackberry Bush

Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!

Blackberry Bush

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