Hello friends,
I hope you're doing great today,
And if you're not doing great today,
I hope you're doing great soon.
Today's berry is not as well known as some of the other ones I have previously covered,
For it grows in the very most northern parts of the world.
Today we are going to talk about cloudberry.
If someone is not familiar with cloudberries,
They are little orange berries.
They look similar to raspberries,
But the taste is very different.
Cloudberries are usually orange,
Yellow,
They have this beautiful amber color.
I live in southern Finland.
Cloudberries don't grow here.
One needs to go up,
Up,
Up north of Finland or even to Lapland to find them.
And it's the same with other Nordic countries.
Cloudberries also grow in Alaska,
In Canada,
In some of the more remote parts,
And also in northern Russia.
So not a very common berry,
But absolutely delicious berry.
I had these memories from when I was younger.
Spent time at my aunt's home.
And my aunt,
She lived up,
Up,
Up in the north.
There was a woman who loved picking berries.
She often made cloudberry pies and we ate that with ice cream.
Is there mythology and witchcraft associations with cloudberries?
And yes,
There is.
The common demeanors about the cloudberry in all the folktales is that cloudberries are seen as gifts from the gods,
Gifts from the nature spirits,
Gifts from the forest and in Nordic countries cloudberries have been called as the gold of Lapland,
The gold of the forest,
Referring to the berries color but also being a delicacy as well.
Cloudberries they can usually be found from marshlands,
From swamps and from the bogs.
This is why picking them can be a little challenging for some people do have a bit of a fear towards bogs and marshes.
When it comes to mythology cloudberries are seen as plants of the other world,
Berries of the other world,
Because they grow in the bog and bog is a liminal space.
It is a mysterious place.
Maybe some of you have been walking on a bog when there is mist in the bog and it is a little eerie.
In Sámi mythology cloudberry represents that liminal space between the human world and the other world,
Because the cloudberry Cloudberry grows in a bog,
And bog was usually haunted by different types of spirits.
Bog is a borderland.
It's an eerie place,
And it's not always safe for humans,
Depending on the bog.
One can get lost in the bog,
One can fall down into a bog if they are not careful.
So there is this supernatural,
Mysterious element when it comes to the cloudberry,
Because it grows on a bog.
Northeastern parts of Finland and Russia.
Back in the days the Scots some used to storage cloudberries and then they would eat them throughout the winter to survive and get some vitamin C when the sun was not around.
Here in Finland in the mythology cloudberries are also associated with the box.
In Finnish cloudberry has two names.
It's called a lakka and hilla.
In Finnish mythology there are couple stories about I'm not sure.
One is that in Finnish animism,
The väki of the swamp,
They were called suonväki,
Suo meaning the swamp,
And also as a lakkaväki.
Those would be spirits that resided in the swamp,
Various nature spirits,
Forest spirits.
They were called a lakkaväki.
The cloudberry väki refers to Finnish animism,
The spirit that resides in every living and non-living thing.
Was a Lakkaväki.
And there is a really lovely Finnish myth about the way the cats were created.
And in Finnish mythology cats were created in the sauna by an elf.
Of course.
And what the elf did,
He threw different ingredients into the stove in the sauna.
The elf wanted to have a companion when he was doing the medley rounds around the farm.
And who is better suited for that?
It's the cat.
Cat is the spirit of the home.
So what the elf did,
He started to sing these words and from the steam of the sauna,
Cats were formed.
From the teats of a snake,
Whiskers of a mouse became whiskers of a cat.
Fool's body became cat's body.
Girl's nose became a nose of a cat.
Hill and cloudberries became the paws of a cat.
So the next time when you play with your feline companion and you touch those little paws,
They're really cloudberries.
But maybe some of these myths were inspirational for you in some ways.
How do we use cloudberries in witchcraft?
In herbalism and folk magic,
Cloudberries have been used to lower down fever,
To heal skin conditions.
In witchcraft,
We can use cloudberries,
Especially when we want to work with the otherworldly spirits,
With the spirits of the swamp,
With the spirits of the forest.
And it was believed that if you,
For example,
Picked the cloudberries around summer solstice or just before the harvest time,
Then those berries were especially charged for magic.
Cloudberry is not a sweet berry,
It is a little sour,
So it can be used in things like green divination,
Protecting one against harm,
For creativity,
For getting to know oneself,
Self-love,
Deeper understanding.
It has a little bit of a mysterious nature,
So it is fitting for those who have a little bit of a mysterious nature as well.
You can have cloudberries in your altar or cloudberry leaves for protection,
To protect your home,
To protect your spirit.
Thank you so much for watching,
Guys.
I will see you next time.
