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The Beginning and Ending of Trees

© Sharon K. West

Trees, tall and short, grow silently in backyards, parks and hills. These beautiful, towering organisms have been around since the beginning of time. People love trees, sometimes worship them, and other times obliterate all the trees they can. What is it with trees?

As I contemplated that question, my thoughts turned to why we have such a regard for trees. I believe one reason we are fascinated with trees is that they appear to us as embodiments of time. Even today, we mark special events and peoples' lives with the planting of a tree, expecting that these living memorials will remain far longer than a single lifetime. We also use the concept of a tree in genealogies, our Family Trees.

The beginning of time has trees and the ending has trees. The Bible states that trees were created on the third day of creation even before lights in the heavens. Man was then placed in the Garden of Eden to tend trees but fell by eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Fast forwarding through the Bible, the end is with a tree as well in the last chapter of Revelation. It is written that the Tree of Life will be planted on both sides of the River of God, with twelve varieties of fruit and its leaves for the healing of the nations.

Trees stir emotions in people. Some have even gone so far as to chain themselves to a tree trunk in order to keep the tree from being cut down. At our core, we have a primordial respect for trees. They have sheltered us from the elements, given us warmth from burning their wood, and provided us food from their fruits. Actually, if our homes are made of wood, we are living in a tree. When that basic respect for trees breaks down, one symptom is the elimination of the rain forests. When respect escalates, veneration of trees is the result.

This veneration of trees appeared throughout history in ancient cultures. Sacred Trees are often believed to be guarded by dragons or serpents. Trees of significance included oaks which were sacred to Druids, and the tamarisk in Egypt which was often planted around temples. In Celtic tradition, trees were looked to as a source of wisdom and hope, a link between upper and lower worlds. The grove was the center of their religion. The Celtic Tree of Life appears on Celtic crosses and in the manuscript, the Book of Kells. The Celtic Green Man joins man with tree in a kinship symbolizing the cycle of renewal and birth.

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