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Broom / Giesta



The tradition on 1st May is to put twigs of broom on your door. Cytisus scoparius protects against evil, or celebrates the abundance of late spring, or both at once. The long thin twigs are put on front doors, on car doors, on garage doors, on any living space. Sometimes they have the saffron yellow flowers, sometimes just the stubby clusters of leaves.

On the edge of town we took a wrong turn; the road ended in a sandy track with oak trees. There was a small house with a high lorry parked in front that put it in the shade. The lorry had its sprig of broom too, jutting out from the radiator grille. 

It was a shock to see the broom up there, above head height, its symbolic powers placed just ahead of the mighty engine; like the shock of a door opening right beside you and the past rushing through it with sudden force.

A tradição no dia 1 de maio é colocar ramos de giesta na porta. Protege contra o mal, ou celebra a abundância do final da primavera, ou ambos ao mesmo tempo. Os ramos longos e finos são colocados na porta de casa, na portas do carro, na porta da garagem; qualquer espaço onde vivamos. Às vezes os ramos têm flores amarelo e às vezes apenas folhas.

Nos limites da cidade, pegamos a rua errado; a rua terminava num caminho de baixo de carvalhos. Há uma casa com um caminhão alto estacionado em frente. O caminhão também tinha seu ramo de giesta saindo da grade do radiador.

Foi um choque ver a vassoura ali em cima, à altura da cabeça, com os seus poderes simbólicos colocados mesmo à frente do poderoso motor; como o choque de uma porta que se abre mesmo ao nosso lado e o passado a atravessá-la com uma força súbita.




 

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