What does the shamrock mean as a symbol in different beliefs?

What does the shamrock symbolize?

Today, the three-leaf clover is considered the official trade logo of Ireland. Even before the arrival of Christianity in this country, the shamrock was a sacred plant of the Celts.

According to popular belief, the discovery of such a clover in a forest or field promised wealth to the lucky owner. Some Celtic communities believed that the shamrock grew on the site where treasure had previously been buried. They chewed three-leaf clovers with pleasure to make their most cherished dream come true.

Christians also adopted the shamrock for their own needs. The first images of the plant in Northern Ireland with the advent of Christianity date back to 1600.

This clover is also associated with one of the main Irish holidays - St. Patrick's Day. It is the image of the shamrock on houses and clothes, as well as the ubiquitous green color, that indicate the onset of the famous day of general fun.

Catholics preach that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain to his flock the meaning of the Holy Trinity.

The tradition of using green clover as a national symbol united paganism and Christianity, at least briefly reconciling their different concepts with each other. Today, during the celebration of St. Patrick's Day, many Irish people decorate their hair and costumes with clovers, they hold carnivals and holiday services, after which they throw clovers into whiskey and then drink a cocktail for good luck.

Where and how to use the talisman

Some traditions advise eating a magical plant. So success will forever remain with a person, happiness and luck will merge with his body. If you divide a copy between two people, the connection within the couple will last a lifetime.

Esotericists believe that the mystical plant should be carefully picked and brought home. A dried copy can be put in a wallet - then the money in it will not be transferred, the person will achieve prosperity.

Wrapped in a blue handkerchief and kept near the heart, the stem will relieve worries and bring joy and peace.

You can wrap the plant in a white rag or scarf and hide it under the porch. This way life in the house will become harmonious and calm.

If you leave a found specimen under your pillow overnight, you will have a prophetic dream.

They believe that you can attract the favor of your boss if you decorate your workplace with a stem with 4 leaves.

To lure good news home, the found specimen is placed under the entrance carpet.

The magical power of the plant is known throughout the world

Interesting facts about the shamrock

What can you tell us about the three-leaf clover? All those who are seriously interested in Ireland should know the following:

• Prince William wore the three-leaf clover uniform to his wedding;
• In Ireland, a huge number of clubs, companies and teams are decorated with this image;
• For the Celts, the shamrock meant completeness. They had three Gods and three Goddesses, and in general the number “3” was considered sacred;
• Despite the fact that the harp was legally assigned to Ireland, the clover is considered a more recognizable national symbol of the Irish.

The shamrock is a magical sign that has been passed down through the centuries to remind descendants of their history and faith. In addition, the three-leaf clover is a successful trade brand, as well as a symbol of the holiday that occurs in Ireland every year on March 17th.

The meaning of petals and colors

There are 4 elements on the planet, 4 cardinal directions - and 4 petals of a lucky clover. Explanation of meaning:

• 1 sheet – Fire, success, life, energy, fame, popularity;
• Sheet 2 – Water, money, household wealth, inner peace;
• Sheet 3 – Air, hope and sincere feelings;
• 4 sheet – Earth, long life, health, strong family.

Christians see the 4 petals as a symbol of the 4 Gospels.

The plant is a symbol of good luck

In another version of the interpretation, the petals alternately symbolize: hope for the realization of a secret desire, faith in the best, sincere love and good luck in life.

Color meaning:

• White – protection from the evil eye. It has inner strength, protects the house from darkness and evil messages. Hangs above the front door.
• Red is a magnet for love and money. Makes the owner's life happy and successful. Brings positive changes.

Description

The plant belongs to the legume family, subfamily Mothaceae. The genus includes twenty-four plant species, including annuals and perennials with a taproot system.

The stem is straight, low. The leaves are usually trifoliate, occasionally palmate, sometimes quatrefoils are found, the stipules are fused to each other. The flowers are small, collected in heads. Occasionally - with umbrellas or brushes. Usually red or white, occasionally two-colored.

After the quatrefoil blooms, the dried petals do not fall off, but cover the fruit, which contains the seeds. It usually opens very late or does not open at all. Only bees and bumblebees pollinate clover.

The most common types of plants:

1. Creeping trefoil white or white porridge. The most unpretentious, but loves good lighting. Perennial. The stem is creeping, often naked, creeping, takes root at the nodes, the root system is taprooted, branching. The leaves are tripartite. The flowers are round, white, sometimes pink, fragrant. Blooms from May to late autumn. The bean contains three to four seeds.

   
   Creeping white clover

2. Clover red, red meadow trefoil. It is grown almost everywhere. The stem is branched, the leaves are trifoliate, the flowers are red-violet.

   
   Clover red

3. Field clover. Annual plant. Height from five to eighteen centimeters. The stem is straight, branched, the leaves are wedge-shaped. The flowers are yellow or purple.

   
   Field clover

4. Arable clover. Annual. Height from five to thirty centimeters. The stem is straight, branched. The leaves are trifoliate, bluish-green. Flowers with a small pale pink corolla change shape - from round at the beginning of flowering to cylindrical. The flowering period is from June to September.

   
   Arable clover

5. Clover is medium . Perennial (lives five to seven years) with a stem from twenty to eighty centimeters high and a long branched root. It grows in bushes, meadows, forest edges, light forests, sometimes in crops and fallow lands in the forest, less often in the steppe zone, in the mountains up to the upper belt. The leaves are trifoliate. The heads are single, red, the bean is single-seeded. It blooms in May–June, the seeds ripen in August. One of the most valuable fodder.
6. Hairy clover . Annual. The stem is straight, from ten to forty centimeters high, simple or branched, densely covered with leaves. The inflorescence head is pink or red. Blooms in May.

Use in cooking

Fresh sprouts, which contain important vitamins and microelements, are most often eaten. Magnesium, calcium, potassium, vitamins B1, B3, C are present in large quantities.

The sprouts, which are suitable for many dishes, have a pleasant, mild taste, with a subtle nutty note. They are used similarly to watercress.

Sprouts are easy to grow in special devices for sprouting seeds. After 5-8 days they are ready for consumption.

Crushed young leaves of flowers are added to green cottage cheese, soups, salads, and sandwich mixtures.

They harmonize perfectly with parsley. In spring, smoothies are prepared from nutrient-rich greens. Flowers with a mild taste are suitable for the same purposes, but they are rarely eaten. Sometimes they decorate dishes.

Clover sprouts used in cooking

Clover leaves for use in salads

Crispbread

Collect two full handfuls of inflorescences. Crush them in a mortar and mix with one tablespoon of flour, a teaspoon of olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Place the resulting dough in a thin layer on a baking sheet covered with baking paper and bake the loaves at low temperature (150°C) for about 15 minutes.

Use in folk medicine

Red clover has long been known as a valuable medicinal plant. Flowers, which contain many beneficial active substances, including tannins and isoflavones, are used as a healing agent. They have the following properties:

• antioxidant;
• cholesterol-lowering;
• anti-inflammatory;
• blood purifying;
• estrogen-like;
• cytostatic;
• anti-carcinogenic.

In ancient herbalists, the flowers are mentioned as a remedy for intestinal diseases and menstrual pain. Externally, plant preparations were used for ulcers and bumps.

The Italian herbalist, physician Pietro Mattioli (16th century) advised infusing clover inflorescences along with seeds in honey water or wine and drinking the resulting drink. In the Middle Ages, it was also recommended to consume plants entirely.

In modern conventional and folk medicine, clover is used to prevent cardiovascular diseases and for such health problems as:

• wounds;
• menstrual pain;
• liver diseases;
• cough;
• menopausal syndrome;
• intestinal inflammation;
• diarrhea;
• helminthic infestations;
• rheumatism;
• gout;
• vasculitis;
• atherosclerosis;
• vitiligo;
• various inflammatory diseases of the mucous membranes;
• bronchitis, bronchial asthma, tuberculosis, pneumonia.

Clover is used in the treatment of many diseases.
Since the flowers are rich in isoflavones (primarily pratensin, formononetin, biochanin A), products prepared from them (lat. Trifolii pratensis flos) alleviate menopausal symptoms in women.

These substances bind to estrogen receptors and have estrogen-like effects, which is why they are called phytoestrogens.

The possible use of the herb for the prevention and treatment of cancer is discussed. First of all, clover is of interest as a remedy for the treatment of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and various types of lymphomas. It is believed that it inhibits the division of tumor cells and prevents the formation of new blood vessels.

Scientists are finding out whether eating young shoots has a healing effect on the body.

They are already known to contain a high percentage of formononetin.

Now the medicinal plant is used for medicinal purposes in the form of capsules, teas, and infusions.

Clover has an antitumor effect

Making tea

Take 2-3 tsp. dried flowers, pour 250 ml of boiling hot water and leave for 12 -15 minutes. Then strain. If necessary, sweeten the tea with a little honey. Drink no more than three cups of drink per day. The maximum duration of treatment is 5-6 weeks.

Infusion recipe

Pour 25-50 g of fresh inflorescences with 750 ml of boiling water. Cover and leave for several hours (preferably overnight) to infuse. Strain the infusion through a strainer.

Drink in several doses until the end of the day.

For menopausal syndrome, use it for 3-4 weeks. The herb should be brewed every day.

Tea with clover

Clover-based infusion

Diseases and pests

Clover is quite susceptible to the development of various pathologies. Thus, different varieties of trefoil can acquire pathologies such as:

• fusarium;
• rust;
• anthracnose;
• brown spot;
• cancer.

If symptoms of pathology appear on a crop, it is necessary to quickly eliminate the affected parts of the grass. To prevent diseases, plants are sprayed annually with fungicidal solutions. The development of some diseases can be prevented if you carry out weeding in a timely manner and follow basic rules of crop care. Viral pathologies that affect the plant are almost impossible to eliminate. Therefore, such shamrocks are dug up and burned. Neighboring crops are treated with fertilizers.

Among the pests that often affect various varieties of clover are moths, phytomonas, weevils and seed eaters. Such plants suck the juice from parts of the grass and damage the above-ground parts of the crop. The crop is not highly resistant, so to eliminate pests, preventive spraying with insecticides is carried out.

Risks, side effects and contraindications

Despite all the beneficial properties of clover, there are contraindications to its use:

1. Short-term side effects are rare when used correctly. Basically, this is intolerance or an allergic reaction to individual active substances contained in the plant.
2. Disagreement among scientists exists regarding the long-term effects. Hormone replacement drugs are suspected of causing the development of certain types of cancer, especially breast cancer. This is explained by the fact that an excessive amount of estrogen causes certain reactions in the body that stimulate the formation of malignant cells. However, according to the results of laboratory experiments at individual scientific institutions, the isoflavone biochanin A, on the contrary, counteracts the formation of cancerous tumors.

Some studies have shown that long-term use may cause headaches and nausea. But a cause-and-effect relationship has not yet been proven.

1. To avoid trouble, you should not use clover preparations if you are pregnant or have breast cancer caused by the hormone estrogen.
2. All green parts are poisonous depending on the time of year and weather conditions. This is due to changes in secondary metabolism. The amount of grass consumed also matters. However, cases of poisoning are rare.

Clover has contraindications and side effects

Four leaf clover tattoo

Tattoos with this symbol are ubiquitous. Masters advise choosing colored drawings; do not paint the pattern in black. If you already have some tattoos, first check their compatibility with floral patterns.

• It is known that a horseshoe makes clover stronger and doubles luck.
• Clover and rose are a combination associated with endless, boundless love.
• The pattern connecting the quatrefoil with the violet encodes grief and sadness.

Tattoos are allowed to be applied to any part of the body. Most often this is how the neck, limbs, and back are decorated. You can combine the pattern with a picture of a cross - this means love for life and faith in divine powers.

Meaning for men

It is believed that a tattoo brings success, luck and luck in any endeavor to a man’s life. The pattern is placed on the calves and back, along the spine.

Red clover for sale

Red or red clover is sold in capsule, tea and tincture form. Many manufacturers offer seeds. Finding fresh plants and sprouts on sale is almost impossible. You can purchase dried red clover inflorescences in pharmacies and online platforms.

It is most convenient to use tea in bags, since in this case it is easier to accurately follow the dosage.

There is a whole range of biologically active food additives (BAA) based on Trifolium pratense on the market. Among them are products from the American company NSP and the Russian one. The effectiveness of dietary supplements has not yet been sufficiently studied by scientists.

To assess their effectiveness, data provided by specialized treatment and preventive institutions is used.

There are different medications available that are designed for women going through menopause. Most are available in capsule form. There are reviews about them on the Internet. Packages often claim effectiveness against typical symptoms of menopause, including hot flashes. When choosing, it is recommended to compare not the number of capsules, but the number of grams of active substance.

Clover-based capsules

Notes

1. The harp and shamrock designs have been registered as international trademarks by the Irish government. Read more: Recording of a meeting of the Enterprise and Small Business Committee of the Irish Parliament, March 26, 2003 Archived copy dated November 23, 2007 on the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 10, 2008.
2. According to the classification of the Oxford English Dictionary
3. Did St. Patrick Use a Shamrock to Illustrate the Holy Trinity
   on De-fact-o.com
4. College of Arms Newsletter, August 2004
5. Marushevsky Vladimir Vladimirovich, “Whites in Arkhangelsk”, https://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/marushevsky_vv/index.html

How to use?

There is an opinion that the shamrock has powerful magical properties. Since ancient times, an illustration or image in some interpretation has been considered an effective amulet that promotes good luck and luck. The three-leaf clover is the ideal of harmony between nature and the external environment. The smooth lines of the equilateral contours of the plant became the basis of the spiritual theorem about the existence of God's providence. Modern humanity uses the trefoil pentagram as a protective attribute. Numerous talismans and amulets are made with the image of a plant representative of magic, which have strong protective properties. This could be jewelry that imitates a plant, decorative objects, or a body tattoo.