OTHER SACRED TREES

More notable sacred trees not included in the ogham.

THE CEDAR

While the Cedar was not part of the Celtic ogham writing, it was sacred in many regions and cultures. The Cedar was in close association with the Accadian-Chaldean god Ea, whose name, legend has it, was inscribed on the tree's core. To the Chaldeans, the Cedar signified not just the god Ea, "the god of wisdom," but also the divine force which inhabits in the tree; the Cedar of Ea was a divine oracle (Philpot: 2004). In India, the cedar was thought to be a fertility enhancer for both cattle and women. To the Sumerians, the Cedar was the Cosmic Tree and the Tree of Life. It was also devoted to Tammuz, the Green God, and had magical properties.

Native Americans held the Cedar in high respect. In the late 1800s, it was a major feature of the Sioux Ghost Dance religion – it stood proudly as the sacrificial pole. Ethnologist James Mooney tells us that The Ghost Dance, a Native American revivalist-messianic movement, was performed around a small Cedar tree planted in the ground specifically for that reason. “The selection of the cedar is in agreement with the general Indian idea, which has always ascribed a mystic sacredness to that tree, from its never-dying green, which renders it so conspicuous a feature of the desert landscape; from the aromatic fragrance of its twigs, which are burned as incense in sacred ceremonies…and from the dark-red color of its heart, which seems as though dyed in blood” (Moony: 1965). Mooney also suggests that the Cedar incense was so potent that malicious ghosts couldn't stand it and were driven away by its aroma, despite the fact that "the wood itself is considered too sacred to be used as fuel" (Mooney: 1995). According to Cherokee folklore, the red hue of the Cedar stems from the blood of a wizard who was slain and decapitated by a Cherokee warrior - the wizard's head was hung from multiple trees yet survived. A shaman advised the villagers to hang the head from the highest branches of a cedar, where it died. As a result, the cedar became known as a "medicine tree." The Lakota revere the Cedar because it was a favored tree of Wakinyan, the Flying God or Thunderbird. According to Lakota legend, "the cedar tree is Wakinyan's favorite, and he never strikes it with lightning." "He enjoys the smell of cedar" (Walker: 1991). The Lakota burned Cedar incense to appease Wakinyan and prevent thunderstorms from inflicting devastation.

The Egyptians regarded the Cedar as a sacred tree as well. Hieroglyphs on the Obelisk of Thutmose III describe the construction of Amun-Ra's sacred barge from Cedar chopped down by the pharaoh himself. For the yearly Nile festival, the barge was ceremoniously sailed down the Nile (Budge: 1990).

The Cedar tree, like other sacred trees, has two personalities - it is both healing and lethal. Native Americans utilized Cedar to heal asthma and arthritis, as well as to bring people out of comas. Other American folk remedies included using Cedar to halt night sweats (by placing Cedar bark or leaves beneath the pillow) and carrying a "double cedar knot" in one's pocket to cure rheumatism (Sackett: 1964). On the other hand, Cedar was frequently associated with evil and peril. In the Midwest and southern areas of the United States, it was widely held that if a planted Cedar tree died, so did the owner. Shamans in Canada utilized Cedar as a "soul trap." To catch a "wandering soul," a three-foot-square piece of Cedar netting with a quarter-inch mesh was built and installed (Darby: 1933). Every year, a girl was sacrificed to an old Cedar in India's Kangra Mountains, with "the families of the village taking it in turn to supply the victim," according to Frazer (Frazer: 1993). The sacrifice was made to please the tree's soul. The Cedar's evergreen nature, however, evokes its greatest significance – it represents endless life and victory over the bonds of death

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THE LAUREL

The last tree I’ll look at for now is the Laurel, which is considered sacred all around the world. Apollo's tree was the Laurel, and the initial Temple of Apollo at Delphi was built of Laurel branches. Philpot tells us about Apollo’s Laurel: “No sanctuary of his was complete without it….No worshipper could share in his rites who had not a crown of laurel on his head or a branch in his hand. As endowed with the power of the god…the laurel assumed an important and many-sided role in ceremonial symbolism” (Philpot: 2004). There is widespread consensus that the Laurel was revered in Delphi long before Apollo's temple was built. Because the earth goddess Gaia was the prominent deity at the site, a sacred Laurel grew there, and the Laurel was regarded as an oracular tree.

The Laurel was also devoted to Dionysus, Juno, Diana, and Silvanus; its leaves topped Dionysus' head, and it signifies the crown of martyrdom in Christianity. The Laurel was still considered "the surest way to the gods' protection and favor" until the third century CE, when it was employed to obtain the protection and favor of the Christian god as well.

Native Americans treasured laurel because it was used to make useful tools. The leaves were also useful medicinally. It was never burned, however, "because it is believed that doing so would bring on cold weather and would also destroy the medicinal virtues of the entire species" (Mooney: 1995). This is because when the leaves are burned, they emit a hissing sound akin to snow falling. But in Spain burning Laurel leaves was a way to cure rickets - according to Spanish medical legend, which appears to have been influenced by the arrival of Christianity, if a kid develops rickets as a result of a young girl's "spell," the child should be "fumigated" nine times with smoke from blessed burning Laurel leaves. The ritual must be performed on Saturday, with a specific charm uttered at the time of the fumigation, for this remedy to work. Another Spanish remedy, this one for fever, involved placing a Laurel cross on the sick person's chest as a priest read the Gospel – to be instantly cured, you need to receive this treatment on a Sunday.

Laurel leaves are also used to cure headaches, arthritis, eye problems, kidney stones, stings, herpes, and lameness. In 19th-century California, a poultice of laurel leaves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and olive oil was used to treat insanity (the "sudden fit" sort). The poultice was applied to the person's head, causing perspiration to instantly begin. After repeated applications, the person should be cured and awaken from a deep sleep. A piece of Utah folklore from the 1950s suggested rubbing Laurel leaves on the legs of every newborn child who was born feet first. It was believed that unless the legs were rubbed with Laurel leaves within four hours of birth, the infant would have an accident that would render him or her lame later in life.

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REFERENCES

The Cedar:

• Philpot, Mrs. J.H. The Sacred Tree in Religion and Myth. Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc. 2004, 95 (A reprint of the 1897 edition published by Macmillan and Co., Ltd. London and New York)

• Moony, James. The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press 1965, 53 (A reprint of Part 2 of the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1892-93. Washington: Government Printing Office 1896)

• Mooney, James. Myths of the Cherokee. New York: Dover Publications Inc. 1995, 421 (A reprint of the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology 1897-98 published in1900 by the Smithsonian Institution, Washington)

• Walker, James R. Lakota Belief and Ritual. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 1991, 77.

• Budge, E.A. Wallis. Cleopatra’s Needles and Other Egyptian Obelisks. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1990, 156 (A reprint of the 1926 edition published by the Religious Tract Society, London).

• Sackett, S.J. “More Folk Medicine from Western Kansas“ in Western Folklore #23 1964. Published by the California Folklore Society, UCLA, 76

• Darby, George E. “Indian Medicine in British Columbia” in The Canadian Medical Association Journal #28 1933, 437

• Frazer, Sir James. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Ltd. 1993, 112

The Laurel:

• Philpot, Mrs. J.H. The Sacred Tree in Religion and Myth. Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc. 2004, 95 (A reprint of the 1897 edition published by Macmillan and Co., Ltd. London and New York)

• Mooney, James. Myths of the Cherokee. New York: Dover Publications Inc. 1995, 422 (A reprint of the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology 1897-98 published in1900 by the Smithsonian Institution, Washington).