In article , fran
wrote:

Not sure about how it got the name Dogwood, but the history I read
mentioned that the settlers called it "maulwood" because the wood is
so hard, they made mauls out of it. I can attest to the wood being
hard as rocks - when the big dogwood came down in our back yard one
winter, we decided to have it cut up to use in making miniature
dollhouse peices. It was a flaming pain to work with because it was
so hard but, boy, did it make beautiful furniture (including a
miniature Wooten desk!)

The idea of the dogwood flower as symbol of the crucifixion is old in
North America, because the four petals can be imagined as a cross, & the
southern species can be said to be colored with blood. But the specific
story posted here is a modern invention. It was distributed especially in
the 1950s & 1960s through many churches in the form of a post card, and
has within the last five years been reprinted with new designs for further
church use. Similar 1950s church postcards include "Legend of the Sand
Dollar" & "Legend of the Starfish" & "Legend of the Spanish Moss" &
"Legend of the Crucifix Fish (Sail Cat)" -- concocted miniature tales by
the equivalent of anonymous Hallmark Card authors. There is one version
of the postcard that is made out of wood (perhaps out of dogwood; it means
to imply it is at any rate). Other variants were printed for tourist shops
& would be titled "Legend of the Dogwood of Florida" or "Legend of the
Dogwood of North Carolina" depending on where the cards were to be sold.

Postcard collectors can get these old christian church cards through eBay
or Yahoo auctions pretty easily, as even the old ones are very common (for
$1 to $5), & modern reprints can cost as little as 35 cents. The text was
even reworked into a Hallmark style rhyme, very bad doggeral even worse
than the prose vignette, but mainly it is the prose vignette printed
against a dogwood photo or drawing. Here's a typical example, one of many:
http://www.westvirginiasouvenirs.com...ages/WV106.jpg

These cards have had their texts copied into e-mails & onto the web by
easily impressed religious folks. Once this old vignette reached the web,
it began to be copied & copied from website to website, with fewer & fewer
people knowing where it really came from.

Authentic folklore ends up with many variants rather than such simple
uniformity as seen in the postcard-originated minor literary exercise.
Christian symbology of the Passionflower for instance has many variants &
amendments stacked upon it during the four hundred years it has circulated
first among aboriginal converts in Central America. Dogwood legendry is
actually quite rich, a mix of Native American lore fertilized with
European flower lore. Among southern Native Americas it was a symbol of
protection (possibly because the hard wood made good shields & clubs, and
because dogwood was used medicinally). Cherokee believed a miniature
people lived amidst dogwoods who were a divine race sent to teach the
people to live in harmony with the woods. The dogwood people are extremely
kind and take care of the old and infirm, and protect babies. When
Cherokee came to speak English, they began to call the Dogwood People
brownies. Among white imigrants Dogwood symbolized sacrifice because of
the crucifix form of the flower, & the four-petalled flower became a
common tombstone ornament, a symbol of hope (that death was not eternal).

-paghat the ratgirl


On Wed, 23 Jul 2003 23:53:51 -0500, "B & J"
wrote:

I did a Google search and came up with the following information about the
name "dogwood."
I'd give the address of the site, but the computer has suddenly developed a
stomach ache.

The Dogwood Legend
According to legend, the dogwood once grew as tall and mighty as the oak.
For that reason, it was chosen as the tree on which Jesus Christ was
crucified. As the legend goes, the dogwood, forever ashamed of its duty,
begged Jesus for forgiveness. Jesus took pity on the poor tree and decided
that forevermore the dogwood would be slender and twisted so that its wood
could never again be used for a cross. He also shaped the dogwood's blossoms
into the form of a cross. In the center of each bloom is a crown of thorns,
and on each of its petals are nail prints stained with red.

As for how the dogwood got its name, one explanation is that dog owners once
made a tonic from the bark to wash their pets. A more likely derivation
comes from the Old English term doggerwood, meaning "a stick once used to
skewer meats."

I knew about the legend, but does anyone know any other logical explanation
for the name?

John


--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/