by Reverend Ashira Goddard

Created on: April 02, 2008

Tree lore is well attested for in nearly every culture throughout history. The ancient word for sanctuary is identical in both origin and meaning to the Latin word 'nemus' which means a grove or woodland grove.

Perhaps though, the most familiar tree lore is that of the Celtic Druid's worship of the Oak Tree. However they were not the only culture to believe in tree spirits or tree lore. There were sacred groves of Oak tree's in Germany. To this day the practice of sacredness of tree's is still apparent in many parts of Germany. This German's took tree worship serious in ancient times with severe penalties inflicted upon anyone who might even dare peel bark from a standing tree. (The penalty is too graphic for description but would result in death).

In Sweden it was believed that some of the revered Oaks were able to give oracular responses to questions. Many clans would maintain holy groves around their villages with elders being able to hear the Oaks speak.

It was not just the Oak that had lore associated with it. Tree lore is perhaps best preserved in its antiquity by the Romans. The sacred tree of Romulus was worshiped until the end of days in the Empire. On a slope of the Palatine Hill a cornel-tree was considered the most sacred object in all of Rome.

In Finnish culture, tree lore was abound. They too had a sacred grove in which they would have certain sacred trees to hang the skins of sacrificial victims and one in the center that would accept the offerings to the Gods.

The Hidatsa Indians of North America believed that the 'shade' (tree spirit) of the cottonwood (considered by the Hidatsa to be the greatest tree in the valley of the Upper Missouri) if approached with reverence would provide answers to questions and solutions to problems.

The Wanika of Eastern Africa believed that the cocoa-nut trees gave life just as a mother does a child. Siamese Buddhist Monks still believe that every living thing has a soul. Animism is not a philosophical theory with these Monks but a common dogma.

In Dalmatia the great Beech trees were the 'shade' trees that would strike a person dead if they even broke a bough of the tree.

The enormous trunks of the silk cotton trees that grow far higher than all other trees in West Africa were revered and thought it was here that the trunk to be the abode of the Gods. Any tree that grew palm- leaves at its roots was an abode of some Divine being.

Deep within the Kangra Mountains of the Punjaub a young girl was annually sacrificed to the

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