Page 43 - Winter2020

The Wise Traditions Pantry

THE RETURN OF THE BRIEFLY FORGOTTEN ELDER
By John Moody

Every late summer into fall, it happens years in the United States and in other parts of Some say the
without fail. Text messages, social media mes- the world? elder is “that
sages, emails, phone calls. . . . “Is this an elder-
berry?” Sometimes it is, but many times it is a A PLANT WITH MANY USES plant of God
poke or a Joe Pye or some other plant. Most Americans’ experience with elder- that heals
Now you might say, why is this noteworthy? berry is as a supplement, usually with some everything it
After all, plant identification isn’t easy. But the type of “sambu” in the name. This goes back
elder isn’t just any plant. Historically it is the to the elder’s earliest uses, when the plant was touches.”
plant above all others—the plant with uses so known as the Sambucus. However, the elder also
deep and wide that it earned the moniker, “the provided an excellent wood for making all sorts
people’s medicine chest.” Some say it is “that of useful tools and musical instruments. Sambu
plant of God that heals everything it touches.” means “wind” or “fire,” and the elder was (and
The elder is found in the works of everyone from still is) used across the world for both.
Hippocrates to Shakespeare, in medical and The usefulness of the wood also extended
pharmaceutical texts and children’s fairy tales, to children’s toys. Historians attest to children
and in a thousand other works across almost searching for pieces of elder thousands of years
every continent and country in human history. ago to engage in the time-honored tradition of
This plant’s importance was so well known, harassing siblings, with references to elder-en-
in fact, that from Greco-Roman times to just abled spitball fights in the days of ancient Rome.
a hundred years ago, books on plant use and In American history, many books describe use-
identification did not even bother to describe it! ful toys made from elder wood. Some varieties

Why? Because for two thousand years, everyone of the plant also provided wood for making
could easily identify the elder. arrow shafts and bows for hunting, both in the
What happened to the elder? And why has U.S. and elsewhere.
it made such a tremendous comeback in recent The plant’s historical usefulness extended

THE ELDER: AN OLD-FASHIONED REMEDY

WINTER 2020 Wise Traditions 41