During a recent trip to Ireland, we drove past a curious looking tree next to one road in the countryside. A quick turnaround brought us back to inspect it. Here was one of Ireland's "rag trees." All manner of articles of clothing and personal belongings draped every bough and the trunk of the tree. Baby bonnets, men's socks, women's scarves, and every other item of clothing imaginable testified of each person's belief that this tree has spiritual powers of healing.
Hinduism, the world's oldest religion still practiced today, reveres the tree as a symbol of abundance. World Trees appear as universal symbols in many cultures representing life and credited with bringing everything into existence. The World Tree shows up in different forms of the same thing such as in the Hebrew Kabbala's Sephirothal Tree of Life, the Rosicrucian's Rose, and the Scandinavian Ash or Yggdrasil of the Eddas.
In Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Fangorn forest stands as an important element in the plot. In the movie, Legolas, the elf, comments that the forest is old and angry and the trees are speaking to one another. The character of Treebeard is an Ent, a guardian of the forest. He and other Ents do battle against Saruman at Isengard. Ents are mythical creatures resembing trees which were invented by Tolkien.
The belief in spirits inhabiting trees, however, do appear in many religions. The ancient Chinese believed spirits of the dead and various gods resided in trees planted in the vicinity of tombs and temples. What is called the faerie triad of trees is a belief that where oak, ash and thorn grow together, faeries live. Animism is the belief that spirits inhabit animals, trees and other objects.
Some of the most well-known customs involving trees are totem poles, Maypoles and Christmas trees. Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest Coast are known for their totem poles. According to dictionary.com, a totem is "an animal, plant, or natural object serving among certain tribal or traditional peoples as the emblem of a clan or family and sometimes revered as its founder, ancestor, or guardian." A totem pole is the trunk of a tree which is carved with various totems. Totem poles fall into three categories: a central post of houses, a memorial pole, or a monument for the dead.
The Maypole was used in ancient British fertility rites which ushered in spring and was believed to ensure a good crop and increase in livestock. The Maypole may be a phallic symbol. A tree was cut from the forest and its trunk set up in a central place and decorated. Then the people danced around it. Maypoles were banned in the sixteenth century as being heathenistic.
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