In ancient Scotland, Wild Carrots were dug up in late September in honour of St Michael, patron saint of the sea. Wild Carrot was also symbolic of fertility. On the Sunday before St Michael’s Day, the women would dig up the carrots, singing special songs. They dug the plants up by removing soil in an equal-sided triangle, the plants were tied with red thread in bundles of three, and then presented to the men. The significance of three probably originated as symbolic of the three stages of a woman’s life – girl-mother-crone (the symbolism later shifted to represent Father, Son and Holy Ghost).
Ian