Trees in mythology

Trees are significant in many of the world's mythologies and religions, and have
been given deep and sacred meanings throughout the ages. Human beings, observing
the growth and death of trees, and the annual death and revival of their foliage,[1][2]
have often seen them as powerful symbols of growth, death and rebirth. Evergreen
trees, which largely stay green throughout these cycles, are sometimes considered
symbols of the eternal, immortality or fertility. The image of the Tree of life or
world tree occurs in many mythologies.[3]

Sacred or symbolic trees include the banyan and the sacred fig (Ficus religiosa) in
Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil of
Judaism and Christianity. In folk religion and folklore, trees are often said to be the
homes of tree spirits. Germanic mythology as well as Celtic polytheism both appear
to have involved cultic practice in sacred groves, especially grove of oak.[4] The
term druid itself possibly derives from the Celtic word for oak. The Egyptian Book
of the Dead mentions sycamores as part of the scenery where the soul of the
deceased finds blissful repose.[5]

Trees are an attribute of the archetypicallocus amoenus.[6]

The Bodhi Tree of Bodh Gaya is
believed to be the Ficus religiosa
under which Gautama Buddha
Contents attained enlightenment. It is
worshipped by Buddhists. The
Wishing trees sacred fig is also venerated in
World tree Hinduism and Jainism.

Religion and folklore

Sacred trees
Europe
South Asia
Southeast Asia
Iran
Sacred groves
In literature
In film and TV
See also
References
Bibliography
External links

Wishing trees
In many parts of the world travelers have observed the custom of hanging objects upon trees in order to establish some sort of a
relationship between themselves and the tree. Throughout Europe, trees are known as sites of pilgrimages, ritual ambulation, and the
recital of (Christian) prayers. Wreaths, ribbons or rags are suspended to win favor for sick humans or livestock, or merely for good
[1]
luck. Popular belief associates the sites with healing, bewitching, or mere wishing.
In South America, Darwin recorded a tree honored by numerous offerings (rags, meat, cigars, etc.); libations were made to it, and
horses were sacrificed.[1][7]

World tree
The world tree, with its branches reaching up into the sky, and roots deep into the
earth, can be seen to dwell in three worlds - a link between heaven, the earth, and the
underworld, uniting above and below. This great tree acts as an Axis mundi,
supporting or holding up the cosmos, and providing a link between the heavens,
earth, and underworld. In European mythology, the best-known example is the tree
Yggdrasil from Norse mythology.[8]

Religion and folklore

Numerous popular stories throughout the world reflect a firmly-rooted belief in an
intimate connection between ahuman being and a tree, plant or flower. Sometimes a
man's life depends upon the tree and suffers when it withers or is injured, and we
encounter the idea of the external soul, already found in theAncient Egyptian Tale of
Two Brothers from at least 3000 years ago. Here one of the brothers leaves his heart
on the top of the flower of the acacia and falls dead when it is cut down. Sometimes, Yggdrasil, the World Ash of Norse
however, the tree is a mysterious token which shows its sympathy with an absent mythology
hero by weakening or dying, as the man becomes ill or loses his life. These two
features very easily combine, and they agree in representing to us mysterious
sympathy between tree and human life.[1]

Sometimes the new-born child is associated with a newly planted tree with which its life is supposed to be bound up; or, on
ceremonial occasions (betrothal, marriage, ascent to the throne), a personal relationship of this kind is instituted by planting trees,
upon the fortunes of which the career of the individual depends. Sometimes, boughs or plants are selected and the individual draws
omens of life and death. Again, a person will put themselves into relationship with a tree by depositing upon it something which has
[1]
been in close contact with them, such as hair or clothing.

Often a tree will be associated withoracles. The oak of Dodona was tended by priests who slept on the ground. Forms of the tall oaks
of the old Prussians were inhabited by gods who gave responses, and so numerous are the examples that the old Hebrew terebinth of
the teacher, and the terebinth of the diviners may reasonably be placed in this category. Important sacred trees are also the object of
pilgrimage, one of the most noteworthy being the branch of the Bo tree at Sri Lanka brought thither before the Christian era. The tree
spirits will hold sway over the surrounding forest or district, and the animals in the locality are often sacred and must not be
harmed.[1]

The custom of transferring disease or sickness from men to trees is well known. Sometimes the hair, nails, clothing, etc. of a sickly
person are fixed to a tree, or they are forcibly inserted in a hole in the trunk, or the tree is split and the patient passes through the
aperture. Where the tree has been thus injured, its recovery and that of the patient are often associated. Different explanations may be
ferent forms among peoples in different grades.[1]
found of such customs which naturally take rather dif

In Arab folklore, sacred trees are haunted by jinn; sacrifices are made, and the sick who sleep beneath them receive prescriptions in
their dreams. Here, as frequently elsewhere, it is dangerous to pull a bough. This dread of damaging special trees is familiar: Cato
instructed the woodman to sacrifice to the male or female deity before thinning a grove, while in the Homeric poem to Aphrodite the
[1]
tree nymph is wounded when the tree is injured, and dies when the trunk falls.

Early Buddhism held that trees had neither mind nor feeling and might lawfully be cut; but it recognized that certain spirits might
reside in them, such as Nang Takian in Thailand. Propitiation is made before the axe is laid to the holy trees; loss of life or of wealth
and the failure of rain are feared should they be wantonly cut; there are even trees which it is dangerous to climb. The Talein of
Burma prays to the tree before he cuts it down, and the African woodman will place a fresh sprig upon the tree.[1] Some Ancient
Indian tree deities, such as Puliyidaivalaiyamman, the Tamil deity of the tamarind tree, or Kadambariyamman, associated with the
fers her blessings by giving fruits in abundance.[9]
kadamba tree were seen as manifestations of a goddess who of

Sacred trees
Trees were often regarded as sacred in the ancient world, throughout Europe and
Asia.[11] Christianity and Islam treated the worship of trees as idolatry and this led to
their destruction in Europe and most of West Asia.

Europe
The Glastonbury Thorn in Glastonbury, England is a small Crataegus monogyna
regarded as sacred by many Christians. It is said to have sprouted miraculously from
the staff of the early Christian figure Joseph of Arimathea. Of further religious
significance and indeed scientific interest, the tree displays a rare phenomenon for its
species, blooming not once but twice per year. The second bloom occurs around the
holiday of Christmas.[1]

South Asia
Sacred trees remain common in India. They are found in villages, in the countryside Stephen of Perm takes an axe to a
and the heart of some temples (e.g. Jain temples). Shripad Vaidya of Nagpur, birch hung with pelts and cloths
that is sacred to the Komi of Great
Maharashtra has been dubbed an "eco-worship center" N
( akshatravan). It is the first in
Perm in the years after 1383[10]
the world and is known for worship of the environment through plants. The Indian
shastras and panchang mention several ways of doing so, one of them being
to offer prayers to various trees. There is even a belief in yakshas or yakshis,
or nature spirits, who may dwell in trees or other natural places. By
worshipping trees in which yakshas may inhabit, people seek to placate the
spirits and bring health and prosperity into their lives. This is often done by
placing incense and candles at the root of the tree or performing "tree puja".
Sometimes the statues of deities and nāgas may be nestled in between the
roots since the tree grants the deity'smurti shade and protection.[12]

In both India and Sri Lanka, Buddhists venerate the Bodhi Tree[13] of Bodh
Gaya. It is said to have protected Gautama Buddha when he was meditating Honoring a sacred tree during Paush
to attain enlightenment. The Bodhi Tree symbolizes enlightenment and Purnima, Kumbh Mela, Allahabad (India)
wisdom and people may continue to meditate under it in order to obtain
buddhahood.

Southeast Asia
Besides the sacred Bodhi trees of Buddhism the veneration of certain spirits related to trees, known generically as Nang Mai, is
common in Thai folklore. The most well-known of these tree spirits is Nang Ta-khian which according to Thai oral tradition[14]
inhabits Hopea odorata trees and may appear as a beautiful woman wearing traditional Thai attire.[15] Trees, logs, beams or keels of
wooden boats where the spirit is deemed to reside are an object of pilgrimage and have lengths of colored silk tied as an offering.[16]
In present times Nang Ta-Khian is usually propitiated in order to be lucky in thelottery.[17]

Iran
In the Avestan literature and Iranian mythology, there is several sacred vegetal icons related to life, eternality and cure, like: Amesha
Spenta Amordad (guardian of plants, goddess of trees and immortality), Gaokerena (or white Haoma, a tree that its vivacity would
certify continuance of life in universe), Bas tokhmak (a tree with remedial attribute, retentive of all herbal seeds, and destroyer of
sorrow), Mashyа and Mashyane (parents of the human race in Iranian myths), Barsom (copped offshoots of pomegranate, gaz or
Haoma that Zoroastrians use in their rituals),Haoma (a plant, unknown today, that was source of sacred potable), etc.[18]

Sacred groves
Many of the world's ancient belief systems also include the belief of sacred groves,
where trees are revered and respected and there are priests and priestesses attending
to them who also serve as guardians, preventing those who wish to tear down the
[1]
trees by means of ancient magic and elaborate protection rituals.

From ancient Norse, Baltic and Celtic mythologies, to the Nigerian, Indian and
Mongolian cosmological thought, extending far east in the ancient Shinto faith of
Japan and the special habits of the 19 tribes of the forest peoples of Malaysia,[19]
sacred groves provide relief and shelter from the mundane aspects of life and are Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, Nigeria
considered living temples. A place of meeting where ancient rituals are performed, it
.[1]
is also a place of refuge for many in times of danger

In literature
In literature, a mythology was developed byJ. R. R. Tolkien, his Two
Trees of Valinor playing a central role in hismythopoeic cosmogony.
Tolkien's 1964 Tree and Leaf combines the allegorical taleLeaf by
Niggle and his essay On Fairy-Stories. In The Lord of the Rings, the
White Tree of Gondor stands as a symbol of Gondor in the Court of the
Fountain in Minas Tirith.
W. B. Yeats describes a "holy tree" in his poem "The T wo Trees" (1893).
In George R.R. Martin'sA Song of Ice and Fire series, one of the main
religions, that of "the old gods" or "the gods of the North", involves
sacred groves of trees ("godswoods") with a white tree with red leaves A temple in India with the sacred
at the center known as the "heart tree". banyan Tree

In film and TV
In the sixth (third chronologically)Star Wars film, Return of the Jedi, the
Ewoks worship trees on the forest moon of Endor.
In the fictional universe of the film Avatar, the Pandoran biosphere
habitates trees, which are of fundamental importance for theNa'vi
people, like the Hometrees, the Tree of Souls and the Tree of Voices as
well as Woodsprites.
In the TV series Teen Wolf, an element of the plot is the Nemeton, a
sacred tree from which druids draw power through human sacrifices,
and which later acts as a beacon, drawing supernatural entities to the
nearby town of Beacon Hills. Tree worship at Kannur in India

See also
Axis mundi Gerichtslinde
Celtic sacred trees Irminsul
Ceremonial pole Karam (festival)
Christmas tree List of tree deities
Donar's Oak Mesoamerican world tree
Five Trees Nature worship
 New Year tree Trail trees
Sacred garden Tree of life
Sacred grove Tree of life (biblical)
Sacred herbs Tree of life (Kabbalah)
Sefirot Wish tree
Sidrat al-Muntaha World tree
Talking tree Zapis

References
1. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Cook,
Stanley Arthur (1911). "Tree-Worship". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge
University Press. p. 235.
2. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Teutonic Peoples". Encyclopædia Britannica. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University
Press. p. 685.
3. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Norns". Encyclopædia Britannica. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
4. Taylor, John W. (1979). Tree Worship, in Mankind Quarterly, Sept., pp. 79-142. ISSN 0025-2344 (https://www.worldc
at.org/search?fq=x0:jrnl&q=n2:0025-2344).
5. Gollwitzer 1984:13.
6. "locus amoenus" (http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100111979). Oxford
Reference. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
7. "The Voyage of the Beagle" (http://www.bartleby.com/29/4.html), Chapter IV
8. Mountfort 2003:41, 279.
9. Mythical Trees and Deities (http://www.khandro.net/nature_trees.htm)
10. Forsyth 1992:5f.
11. Gorshunova. Olga V. (2008). Svjashennye derevja Khodzhi Barora…, ( Sacred Trees of Khodzhi Baror: Phytolatry
and the Cult of Female Deity in Central Asia) in Etnoragraficheskoe Obozrenie,n° 1, pp. 71-82. ISSN 0869-5415 (htt
ps://www.worldcat.org/search?fq=x0:jrnl&q=n2:0869-5415). (in Russian)
12. A green act of faith - Times Of India articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com › Collections › rTees A green act of faith.
Payal Gwalani, TNN Sep 4, 2011, 01.06pm IST .
13. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bo-Tree". Encyclopædia Britannica. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
p. 305.
14. Spirits (http://www.thaiworldview.com/bouddha/animism5.htm)
15. Nang Ta-khian image (http://www.tumnandd.com/wp-content/uploads/takien.jpg)
16. 9-year old asked Lady Ta-khian for help (Thai) (http://news.tlcthai.com/news/41148.html)Archived (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20140409140344/http://news.tlcthai.com/news/41148.html)2014-04-09 at the Wayback Machine.
17. 10 อันดับ สถานที่ขอหวย ที่ฮิตมากที่สุด ในประเทศไทย (http://travel.mthai.com/blog/32621.html)
18. Taheri, Sadreddin (2013)."Plant of life, in Ancient Iran, Mesopotamia & Egypt"(https://jfava.ut.ac.ir/article_36319.ht
ml). Tehran: Honarhay-e Ziba Journal, Vol. 18, No. 2, p. 15.
19. Simon Gardner, Pindar Sidisunthorn and LaiEe May, 2011. Heritage Trees of Penang. Penang: Areca Books.
ISBN 978-967-57190-6-6

Bibliography
Becker, Lore (2002). Die Mythologie der Bäume, Papyrus 1-2.
Brosse, Jaques (1989).Mythologie des arbres, ISBN 978-2-228-88711-3.
Forlong, James (1883). Rivers of Life, London & Edinburgh. Vol I chapter 2 Tree Worship.
Forsyth, James (1992).A History of the Peoples of Siberia: Russia's North Asian Colony 1581-1990 . Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 0-521-47771-9.
Gollwitzer, Gerda (1984). Botschaft der Bäume, DuMont Buchverlag Köln.
Hageneder, Fred (2005). The Meaning of Trees: Botany, History, Healing, Lore. Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-4823-
X.
 Malla, Bansi Lal (2000).Trees in Indian Art, Mythology, and Folklore, ISBN 81-7305-179-8.
Mountfort, Paul Rhys (2003).Nordic Runes: Understanding, Casting, and Interpreting the Ancient iking
V Oracle.
Inner Traditions / Bear & Company. ISBN 0-89281-093-9.
Porteous, Alexander (2002).The Forest in Folklore and Mythology. Courier Dover Publications.ISBN 0-486-42010-
8.

External links
"Tree Worship". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=T

rees_in_mythology&oldid=865206188"

This page was last edited on 22 October 2018, at 13:12(UTC).

Text is available under theCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of theWikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.