DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0342
Worship of Trees and Plants.
Worship of Trees and Plants.
We learn from the numerous examples adduced by Sir
John Lubbock, Mr. Tylor, and Mr. Fergusson, that the
adoration of trees, shrubs and plants, in virtue of the
supernatural qualities or divine essence supposed to be in-
herent in them, is almost as universally diffused over the
globe as the worship of animals, and that both forms of
religion are of the greatest antiquity. Every one is familiar
with such instances as the prophetic oak of Dodona, the
myrtle of Venus, the poplar sacred to Hercules, the oaks
of the British Druids, and the sacred groves of Germany
mentioned by Tacitus1; but every one does not know that
there existed quite recently a particular oak-copse in the
island of Skye which the inhabitants held inviolably sacred,
and that here and there in remote parts of Europe simple-
minded peasants are to be found who still pay homage to
certain trees, still hang offerings on their branches, and still
believe in willows that bleed, and in trees that speak when
about to be cut down.
Tree-worship, we are told, was once common in Greece,
France, Poland, Assyria, and many other countries. It has
continually prevailed among uncultivated tribes in Africa,
America, and Polynesia. In Persia travellers occasionally
come across trees hung with offerings of rags and garments,
and throughout the greater part of Asia a belief in a kind
of divinity inherent in certain trees has always been a re-
cognized element of the popular creed.
In India, as already observed, all life is sacred. It might
even be affirmed that the Hindus were the first believers in
the law of continuity; for in their creed the life of gods
is connected with that of demons, the life of demons with
1 Pliny asserts that the earliest form of temple or church was a tree,
and some think that the word kirk is cognate with quercus.
Worship of Trees and Plants.
We learn from the numerous examples adduced by Sir
John Lubbock, Mr. Tylor, and Mr. Fergusson, that the
adoration of trees, shrubs and plants, in virtue of the
supernatural qualities or divine essence supposed to be in-
herent in them, is almost as universally diffused over the
globe as the worship of animals, and that both forms of
religion are of the greatest antiquity. Every one is familiar
with such instances as the prophetic oak of Dodona, the
myrtle of Venus, the poplar sacred to Hercules, the oaks
of the British Druids, and the sacred groves of Germany
mentioned by Tacitus1; but every one does not know that
there existed quite recently a particular oak-copse in the
island of Skye which the inhabitants held inviolably sacred,
and that here and there in remote parts of Europe simple-
minded peasants are to be found who still pay homage to
certain trees, still hang offerings on their branches, and still
believe in willows that bleed, and in trees that speak when
about to be cut down.
Tree-worship, we are told, was once common in Greece,
France, Poland, Assyria, and many other countries. It has
continually prevailed among uncultivated tribes in Africa,
America, and Polynesia. In Persia travellers occasionally
come across trees hung with offerings of rags and garments,
and throughout the greater part of Asia a belief in a kind
of divinity inherent in certain trees has always been a re-
cognized element of the popular creed.
In India, as already observed, all life is sacred. It might
even be affirmed that the Hindus were the first believers in
the law of continuity; for in their creed the life of gods
is connected with that of demons, the life of demons with
1 Pliny asserts that the earliest form of temple or church was a tree,
and some think that the word kirk is cognate with quercus.