Covid Journal, Day 365: Lettuce Not Be Afraid

“Seeds, and roots, and stones of fruits, Swollen with sap put forth their shoots; Curled-headed ferns sprout in the lane; Birds sing and pair again.” -Christina Rossetti

A friend posted this bit of a Christina Rossetti poem the other day, and I thought how well it speaks to what is happening in the natural world right now. I am thankful that the temperatures are staying on the cool side and keeping the fruit trees from bursting into bloom, but everywhere the spring bulbs and wildflowers are pushing up so fast it's almost as if we can see them grow as we watch. 

2012 garden photo from this blog

Lettuce, for example. Plant it one day, and within just a couple days the seeds have already sprouted. There is such hope in that, isn't there? Here we are, at the exact spot where one year ago Larry and I were finally stocked up and ready to lock down for as long as it took for the virus to be contained. Who knew then that a year later things would finally begin to look up? That we would be planting lettuce again before we felt safe enough to visit with friends, and do a little traveling? That we would see so many friends, even those taking precautions asrequired, still be stricken with the dreaded disease? 

But still, here we are, and it is Spring, and the world is beginning to be born again. What an amazing thing.

And in my usual wandering way of thinking about all of this, I wondered, are there any superstitions about lettuce, the earliest harbinger of all in the veggie garden? Did people attach some mystical beliefs to Bibb and Black-Seeded Simpson? So I went looking, and here is what I learned.

First, if you happen to be of child-bearing age, you might not want to eat lettuce, according to an old British belief of the 18th century--and if you were a man, it could supposedly make you sterile. So, there's that. But then, another superstition allowed that eating lettuce would arouse feelings of love. Perhaps that bit of green stuck on your teeth made you oh so appealing? And then yet another herbal of long ago suggested that a young woman who ate lettuce, and fed some to her husband would be much more likely to have children. Seems that the sages of the time did not agree, which must have been most confusing all around.

Another nice trait of lettuce is that it could dampen the effects of a bit too much wine. So salad and a glass of wine might be just the thing. The Romans thought so, apparently, and served lettuce for that purpose. The Romans also used lettuce frequently in love potions and love charms. I wonder if this was because lettuce seemed to symbolize freshness and simplicity?

From the webiste NationsOnline comes this Chinese superstition about lettuce: 

Lettuce (生菜; shēngcài) - prosperity

lettuce roll, food being rolled into lettuce - having a child soon

And there is the thing about having babies again. China and Britain, both having a similar superstition is certainly interesting.

I found this belief fascinating. I had no idea that cyclists had many rituals, like baseball players and others into sports. But lettuce? From the website Bicycling: "...once upon a time, teams wouldn’t let their riders eat salad, because they thought it made them too sleepy. It took Shelley years to find out the source of the Old Wives’ Tale: chickens. Apparently farmers noticed that chickens get lethargic when fed lettuce, an observation that trickled into the sport via farm-raised mechanics, soigneurs, and directors. So to keep the riders sharp and at their best, teams spent decades preventing them from eating salads before a race or training ride.

"...Believe it or not, there’s actually some science to support this one. Lettuce contains a sedative-like chemical called lactucin. It has a mild calming and pain-relieving effect that’s similar to some opioids. That said, it’s not enough for you to worry about. Feel free to eat your greens—even before a ride."  

From New Orleans comes this advice: don't plant your lettuce on Good Friday. It won't grow.

Farms.com has this to say about planting: "Farmers should seed lettuce, spinach and cabbage when lilacs show their first leaves or daffodils begin to bloom." 

And this from the Iowa Extension Services: "the best lettuce you will harvest is the crop that is planted before the last snow fall. In this case when to plant is strictly a guessing game." Some of my neighbors told me that clover should be sown on top of the last snow, so that the melting snow will carry the seed into the ground. And that the snow supposedly had nitrogen in it, which was good for the seed too. Have you ever heard this? Perhaps that is the same thinking applied to planting lettuce?

Image from https://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/weedguide/single_weed.php?id=63 

Ancient, and some current, herbalists also used wild lettuce to treat insomnia and headaches, among other minor ailments.

Some Sources:

The Encyclopedia of Superstitions by Edwin Radford, Mona Augusta Radford

Bicycling.com

Farms.com

Ohio Weedguide

and bits and pieces from here and there.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.