_The Bael Tree--Worship of the Left Hand--Trees of the Sun and
Moon--The Arbre Sec or Dry Tree--The Holy Tree of Bostam--The Bygas of
the Eastern Sathpuras--Tree Worship in Mysore--The Palm Tree--Worship
of the Palm at Najrau--The Tree of Ten Thousand Images--Tree Worship
in Persia--Sacred Old Testament Trees--The Classics--Forests and
Groves, favourite Places of Worship--Origin of Groves--Votive
Offerings to Trees._
"The Bael Tree," says Forlong, "as a representative of the triad and
monad, is always offered at Lingam worship, after washing the Lingam with
water and anointing it with sandal wood. The god is supposed to specially
like all white flowers and cooling embrocations, which last sandal wood is
held to be; and he is very commonly to be found under an umbrageous Bael,
more especially if there be no fine Ficus near; failing both, the poor god
is often reduced to the stump of a tree; and if that is also scarce, his
votaries raise to him a karn or cairn of stones, with the prominent one in
the centre, and plant a pomegranate, bits of tolsi, &c., near; and if
water is available, a little garden of flowers, of which the marigolds are
a favourite. My readers must not fancy that this worship is indecent, or
even productive of licentiousness. It is conducted by men, women and
children of modest mien, and pure and spotless lives, though at certain
seasons, as in all faiths and lands, the passions are roused and the
people proceed to excesses, yet Sivaism is peculiarly free from this with
reference to others, not excluding Eastern Christianity. Vishnooism, which
we may call the worship of _The Left Hand_, or female energies, is perhaps
the greatest sinner in this respect. Sivaism is for the most part _harshly
ascetic_, as regards its office-bearers and orthodox followers; yet all
faiths give way at certain solar periods, and all Hindoo sects are as bad
as Romans at the spring 'hilaria or carnival,' the more so if Ceres or
Kybele is propitious, and more apparently so in countries where writings
have not yet supplanted pictures. Amongst all the rudest tribes of India,
and even throughout Rajpootana, and with the strict Jain sects who abhor
Lingam worship, these still shew their parent root by devoting some
fifteen days annually, after the harvests are gathered in, to the most
gross form of Lingam worship, in which a complete naked image of a man,
called 'Elajee,' is built of clay and decorated with wreaths of flowers,
&c., and placed in prominent situations. In most parts of Rajpootana, this
male image exists at every city and village gate, but it is not rendered
conspicuously indecent until the hooly or harvest enjoyments; and low and
degrading as these are, reminding us of our purely animal frame, yet no
Hindoo practices of harvest times are so gross as I have seen practised at
the harvest homes or midnight revelries of our own country."
The oracular trees of the Sun and Moon, somewhere on the confines of
India, appear in all the fabulous histories of Alexander from the
Pseudo-Callisthenes downwards. Thus Alexander is made to tell the story
"Then came some of the townspeople and said, 'We have to show thee
something passing strange, O King, and worth thy visiting; for we can show
thee trees that talk with human speech.' So they led me to a certain park,
in the midst of which were the Sun and Moon, and round about them a guard
of priests of the Sun and Moon. And there stood the two trees of which
they had spoken, like unto cypress trees; and round about them were trees
like the myrobolans of Egypt, and with similar fruit. And I addressed the
two trees that were in the midst of the park, the one which was male in
the masculine gender, and the one that was female in the feminine gender.
And the name of the male tree was the Sun, and of the female tree the
Moon, names which were in that language Muthu and Emaüsae. And the stems
were clothed with the skins of animals; the male tree with the skins of
he-beasts, and the female tree with the skins of she-beasts.... And at the
setting of the Sun a voice, speaking in the Indian tongue, came forth from
the (Sun) tree; and I ordered the Indians who were with me to interpret
it. But they were afraid and would not."
Maundeville informs us precisely where the trees are--"A fifteen journeys
in lengthe, goyinge be the deserts of the tother side of the Ryvere
Beumare," if one could only tell where that is. A mediæval chronicler
also tells us that Ogerus, the Dane (_temp. Caroli Magni_), conquered all
the parts beyond sea from Hierusalem to the Trees of the Sun. In the old
Italian romance also of _Guerino detto il Meschino_, still a chap book in
south Italy, the hero visits the Trees of the Sun and Moon.
It will be observed that the letter ascribed to Alexander describes the
two oracular trees as resembling two cypress trees. As such the Trees of
the Sun and Moon are represented on several extant ancient medals, _e.g._,
on two struck at Perga, in Pamphylia, in the time of Aurelian. An Eastern
story tells us of two vast cypress trees, sacred among the Magians, which
grew in Khorasan, one at Kashmar near Turshiz, and the other at Farmad
near Tuz, and which were said to have risen from shoots that Zoroaster
brought from paradise. The former of these was sacrilegiously cut down by
the order of the Khalif Motawakkil, in the ninth century. The trunk was
dispatched to Baghdad on rollers at a vast expense, whilst the branches
alone formed a load for 1,300 camels. The night that the convoy reached
within one stage of the palace, the Khalif was cut in pieces by his own
guards. This tree was said to be 1,450 years old, and to measure 33-3/4
cubits in girth. The locality of this "Arbol Sol" we see was in Khorasan,
and possibly its fame may have been transferred to a representative of
another species. The plane as well as the cypress was one of the
distinctive trees of the Magian paradise.
In the Peutingerian Tables we find in the north-east of Asia the rubric,
"_Hic Alexander Responsum accepit_," which looks very like an allusion to
the tale of the Oracular Trees. If so, it is remarkable as a suggestion of
the antiquity of the Alexandrian legends, though the rubric may of course
be an interpolation. The Trees of the Sun and Moon appear as located in
India Ultima to the east of Persia, in a map which is found in MSS. (12th
century) of the _Floridus of Lambertus_; and they are indicated more or
less precisely in several maps of the succeeding centuries.
Marco has mixed up this legend of the Alexandrian romance on the
authority, as we have reason to believe, of some of the re-compilers of
that romance, with a famous subject of _Christian_ legend in that age, the
Arbre Sec or Dry Tree, one form of which is related by Maundeville and by
Johan Schiltberger. "A lytille fro Ebron," says the former, "is the Mount
of Mambre, of the whyche the Valeye taketh his name. And there is a tree
of Oke that the Saracens clepen Dirpe, that is of Abraham's Tyme, the
which men clepen the Dry Tree. And theye saye that it hath ben this sithe
the beginnynge of the World; and was sumtyme grene and bare Leves, unto
the Tyme that Oure Lord dyede on the Cross; and thanne it dryede; and so
dyden alle the Trees that weren thanne in the World. And summe seyn he
here Prophecyes that a Lord, a Prynce of the West syde of the World, shall
wynnen the Land of Promyssioum, _i.e._ the Holy Land, withe Helpe of
Cristene Men, and he halle do synge a Masse under that Drye Tree, and than
the Tree shall wexen grene and bere both Fruyt and Leves. And thorghe that
Myracle manye Sarazines and Jewes schulle hev turned to Cristene Feithe.
And, therefore, they dan gret Worschippe thereto, and kepen it fulle
besyly. And alle be it so that it be drye, natheloss yet be herethe great
vertu, &c."
The tradition seems to have altered with circumstances, for a traveller of
nearly two centuries later (Friar Anselmo, 1590), describes the oak of
Abraham at Hebron as a tree of dense and verdant foliage:--"The Saracens
make their devotions at it, and hold it in great veneration, for it has
remained thus green from the days of Abraham until now; and they tie
scraps of cloth on its branches inscribed with some of their writing, and
believe that if any one were to cut a piece off that tree he would die
within the year." Indeed, even before Maundeville's time, Friar Burchard
(1283) had noticed that though the famous old tree was dry, another had
sprung from its roots.
As long ago as the time of Constantine a fair was held under the Terebink
of Maimre, which was the object of many superstitious rites and excesses.
The Emperor ordered these to be put a stop to, and a church to be erected
on the spot. In the time of Arculph (end of 7th century), the dry trunk
still existed under the roof of this church.
There are several Dry Tree stories among the wonders of Buddhism; one is
that of a sacred tree visited by the Chinese pilgrims to India, which had
grown from the twig which Sakya in Hindu fashion had used as a
tooth-brush; and I think there is a like story in our own country of the
Glastonbury Thorn having grown from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea.
He who injured the holy tree of Bostam, we are told, perished the same
day; a general belief in regard to those _Trees of Grace_ of which we have
already seen instances in regard to the sacred trees of Zoroaster and the
Oak of Hebron. We find the same belief in Eastern Africa, where certain
trees, regarded by the natives with superstitious reverence, which they
express by driving in votive nails and suspending rags, are known to the
European residents by the vulgar name of _Devil Trees_. Burton relates a
case of the verification of the superstition in the death of an English
merchant who had cut down such a tree, and of four members of his
household. (See note on p. 120 of Yule's "Marco Polo's Travels," vol. I.)
The writer of an article in the _Cornhill Magazine_ of November, 1874, on
the Gonds and Bygas of the Eastern Sathpuras (Central Provinces, India),
says--
"My endeavours to obtain a clear insight into their ways were so far
successful, that after a time they did not object to my being present at
their domestic ceremonies, and gradually the Byga priests supplied me with
all the information they could give as to their curious custom of tree
culture and spirit worship.
"All that they could tell did not throw much light on the subject, for
even to the Bygas themselves it is extremely vague and mysterious; but the
contrast between their acknowledged hatred of trees as a rule, and their
deep veneration of certain others in particular, is very curious.
"I have seen hill-sides swept clear of forests for miles, with but here
and there a solitary tree left standing. These remain now the objects of
the deepest veneration, and receive offerings of food, clothes, or flowers
from the passing Byga, who firmly believes that tree to be the home of a
spirit."
Captain J. S. F. Mackenzie, some years ago, contributed a paper to the
_Indian Antiquary_ on Tree and Serpent Worship in Mysore. He said that
round about Bangalose, more especially the Lal Bagh and Petta--as the
native town is called--three or more stones are to be found together,
having representations of serpents carved upon them. These stones are
erected always under the sacred fig tree, by some pious persons, whose
means and piety determine the care and finish with which they are
executed. Judging from the number of the stones, the worship of the
serpent appears to be more prevalent in the Bungalose district than in
other parts of the province. No priest is ever in charge of them. There is
no objection to men doing so, but, from the custom or from some
reason--partly because the serpent is supposed to confer fertility on
barren women--the worshipping of the stones, which takes place during the
Gauri feast, is confined to women of all Hindu classes and creeds. The
stones, when properly erected, ought to be on a built-up stone platform
facing the rising sun, and under the shade of two _peepul_ (_ficus
religiosa_) trees--a male and female growing together, and wedded by
ceremonies in every respect the same as in the case of human beings--close
by, and growing in the same platform a _nimb_ (_margosa_) and _bipatra_ (a
kind of wood-apple), which are supposed to be living witnesses of the
marriage. The expense of performing the marriage ceremony is too heavy for
ordinary persons, and so we generally find only one _peepul_ and a _nimb_
on the platform. By the common people these two are supposed to represent
man and wife.
To speak at length of the Palm tree would require a volume--and that a
bulky one--rather than a passing notice in a treatise of the most limited
dimensions. So much does man owe to this tree in the east, that the
inhabitants of those countries where it flourishes can conceive of no land
possessing any attraction where it does not exist. An Arab woman lately
visiting England once expressed herself to this effect after being shewn
everything wonderful that the country had possessed, all in her estimation
faded into comparative worthlessness when, in answer to her enquiry, she
was told that no palm trees grew there. No tree, in consequence, has been
so highly prized or been made so much of. To say that men have been simply
grateful for it, or that they have reverenced it, is to stop short of the
mark, they have actually deified it and rendered to it divine honours.
"A conventional form of the palm tree occurs on the Nineveh tablets,
surrounded by an enclosure of _palmettes_, and attended by winged
deities, or ministers holding the _pine-cone_ symbol of life, which in
Assyrian sculpture takes the place of the _crux-ansata_ in the hands of
the Egyptian deities.
"The palmette passed from the Assyrians to the Greeks, and formed the
crowning ornament of their most beautiful temples. It appears also to have
been a symbol among the Etruscans, and, together with the palm tree, will
be found on Etruscan sacred utensils."[7]
Sir William Ousley, from whose travels we quote in other parts of this
volume, describes the tree worship at Najran in Arabia, in which the tree
was a palm or _Sacred Date_, having its regular priests, festivals, rites
and services, and he quotes from a manuscript of the ninth century after
Christ, and adds this note from a writer on Indian and Japanese symbols of
divinity. "The trunk of a tree on whose top sits Deus the supreme Creator.
Some other object might be worthy of observation; but I fix my attention
on the _trunk of a tree_. Moreover, whether you go to the Japanese or to
the Thibetans, everywhere will meet you _green tree_ worship (which has
been) transmitted and preserved as symbolic perhaps of the creation and
preservation of the world."
This passage, in the opinion of Forlong, shows clearly the Lingam
signification of the trunk:--"The Koreish tribe, from which the Arabian
prophet sprang, were from earliest known times worshippers of the palm
tree, and here, as in other lands, had it been succeeded by the Lingam,
and latterly by solar and ancestral worship. The Arabs used to hang on the
palm not only garments or pieces of garments, but arms or portions of
their warrior gear, thereby showing that they saw in the palm virility--a
Herakles or Mercury."[8]
A very remarkable tree found in Thibet was described by Abbé Huc in his
travels in that and other countries in the years 1844-6, it was called the
"Tree of Ten Thousand Images," and his account of it is as follows--"The
mountain at the foot of which Tsong-Kaba was born, became a famous place
of pilgrimage. Lamas assembled there from all parts to build their cells,
and thus by degrees was formed that flourishing Lamasery, the fame of
which extends to the remotest confines of Tartary. It is called Kounboum,
from two Thibetian words signifying Ten Thousand Images, and having
allusion to the tree which, according to the legend, sprang from
Tsong-Kaba's hair, and bears a Thibetian character on each of its leaves."
"It will here be naturally expected that we say something about this tree
itself. Does it exist? Have we seen it? Has it any peculiar attributes?
What about its marvellous leaves? All these questions our readers are
entitled to put to us. We will endeavour to answer as categorically as
possible.
"Yes, this tree does exist, and we had heard of it too often during our
journey not to feel somewhat eager to visit it. At the foot of the
mountain on which the Lamasery stands, and not far from the principal
Buddhist temple, is a great square enclosure formed by brick walls. Upon
entering this we were able to examine at leisure the marvellous tree, some
of the branches of which had already manifested themselves above the wall.
Our eyes were first directed with earnest curiosity to the leaves, and we
were filled with an absolute consternation of astonishment at finding
that, in point of fact, there were upon each of the leaves well-formed
Thibetian characters, all of a green colour, some darker, some lighter
than the leaf itself. Our first impression was a suspicion of fraud on the
part of the Lamas; but after a minute examination of every detail, we
could not discover the least deception. The characters all appeared to us
portions of the leaf itself, equally with its veins and nerves; the
position was not the same in all; in one leaf they would be at the top of
the leaf; in another in the middle; in a third, at the base or at the
side; the younger leaves represented the characters only in a partial
state of formation. The bark of the tree and its branches, which resemble
that of the plane tree, are also covered with these characters. When you
remove a piece of old bark, the young bark under it exhibits the
indistinct outlines of characters in a germinatory state, and what is very
singular, these new characters are not unfrequently different from those
which they replace. We examined everything with the closest attention, in
order to detect some case of trickery, but we could discern nothing of the
sort, and the perspiration absolutely trickled down our faces under the
influence of the sensations which this most amazing spectacle created.
More profound intellects than ours may, perhaps, be able to supply a
satisfactory explanation of the mysteries of this singular tree; but as to
us, we altogether give it up. Our readers possibly may smile at our
ignorance, but we care not, so that the sincerity and truth of our
statement be not suspected.
"The Tree of Ten Thousand Images seemed to us of great age. Its trunk,
which three men could scarcely embrace with outstretched arms, is not more
than eight feet high; the branches instead of shooting up, spread out in
the shape of a plume of feathers, and are extremely bushy; few of them are
dead. The leaves are always green; and the wood which has a reddish tint,
has an exquisite odour, something like that of cinnamon. The Lamas
informed us that in summer, towards the eighth moon, the tree produces
large red flowers of an extremely beautiful character. They informed us
also that there nowhere else exists another such tree; that various
attempts have been made in various Lamaseries of Tartary and Thibet to
propagate it by seeds and cuttings, but that all these attempts have been
fruitless.
"The Emperor Khang-Hi, when upon a pilgrimage to Kounboum, constructed, at
his own private expense, a dome of silver over the Tree of Ten Thousand
Images; moreover, he made a present to the Grand Lama of a fine black
horse, capable of travelling a thousand lis a day, and of a saddle adorned
with precious stones. The horse is dead, but the saddle is still shown in
one of the Buddhist temples, where it is an object of special veneration.
Before quitting the Lamasery, Khang-Hi endowed it with a yearly revenue
for the support of 350 Lamas."
Sir William Ousely says that when in Persia he endeavoured to obtain
information from the people respecting the ideas generally formed of
Peries or Fairies; imaginary creatures, beautiful and benevolent; also of
the Ghúles or "Demons of the Desert," a hideous race, that sometimes haunt
cemeteries, and particularly infest a dreary tract in the North of Persia,
not far from Teherán, bearing the portentous name of _Melek al mowt
dereh_, or "Valley of the Angel of Death." Concerning the _Jins_ or Genü,
he found they were not restricted to any particular region, but that the
gigantic monsters called Dives or Dibes, resided peculiarly among the
rocks and forests of _Mazenderan_ or Hyrcania.
He then proceeds:--"Those preternatural beings, and others which shall be
hereafter mentioned, were the subjects of our conversation when we passed
by an old and withered tree half covered with rags, fastened as votive
offerings, to the branches; it being one of those entitled by the Persians
_dirakht i fázel_, 'excellent or beneficial trees,' and held in
superstitious veneration. I had already seen four or five near A'bdúi, and
two or three previously in other places, since our departure from Bushehr;
and now ascertained that their supposed sanctity did not depend either on
the species, the size, or beauty of the trees; nor on their age, although
most were old; but often proceeded from accidental, and even trivial
circumstances; yet since the reverence paid to trees seemed nearly as
ancient, and as widely diffused as any other form of superstition, I have
been frequently induced to make it the object of personal inquiry among
Asiatics, and of literary research at home. The result now before me would
constitute a volume of no inconsiderable size, for the subject may be
traced from this present day to the earliest ages of which written records
furnish an account; through every country of the old, and, probably, of
the new world. The sacred Hebrew scriptures allude to it in many places;
we find it mentioned by Greek and Roman authors; various anecdotes
respecting it occur in Eastern manuscripts; and it has been noticed by
several European travellers and antiquaries."
Further in his work, the same author observes:--"However replete with
interesting objects, the ample field of antiquarian research offers but
few to our notice under a more attractive form than trees, whether we
regard them as distinguishing remarkable spots, the scenes of memorable
transactions, as dedicated to certain divinities, or, as in some cases,
almost identified with those divinities themselves."
"It is not my intention, nor is it necessary here, to trace back the
history of that veneration with which particular trees have been honoured
in all ages, and, I believe, in all countries. The Biblical reader will
easily recollect many important trees besides that which stood in the
midst of the garden of Eden, emphatically styled the 'tree of life,' and
the 'tree of knowledge of good and evil.' He will recollect the idolatrous
worship in _groves_, and under every _green tree_ (Exod. xxxiv. 13, Deut.
xvi. 21, &c.) The oak by Shechem, under which Jacob hid all the idols and
earrings (Gen. xxxv. 4). The oak near Bethel which marked the grove of
Deborah, and was significantly called _Allonbachuth_ (Gen. xxxv. 8). The
palm tree under which Deborah, the prophetess, dwelt (Judges iv. 5). The
oak under which sat 'the man of God' (Kings xiii. 14). The oak in Ophrah,
under which the angel of God appeared unto Gideon and conversed with him
(Judges vi. 11, 14, 16). The oak that was in the very Sanctuary of the
Lord (Joshua xxiv. 26).
"These and other trees which we may suppose lofty and umbrageous, such as
the oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good (Hosea
iv. 3), must immediately recur to a Biblical reader; but the course of
this article will remind him also of that humble bush which the Lord
consecrated by his presence, when he revealed himself to Moses in flaming
fire on the mountain of Horeb (Exod. iii. 2, 4). With whatever veneration
our first parents regarded the trees of Paradise, it appears that some
which grew in natural and common earth were actually worshipped by the
perverse Israelites of early ages, according to a learned Jew, one of
those Rabbinical writers whose authority is most respected.[9]
"But the immediate object of this article and the narrow limits of an
appendix do not allow me to expatiate farther amidst the groves of
Scriptural history or of Jewish superstition. Nor can I enjoy more than a
hasty glance at those trees reputed sacred in classical antiquity; of
which such number offer themselves to the imagination as would constitute
whole forests. So frequently were groves and woods dedicated to religious
purposes that at last those very terms (in Greek _alsos_, _lucus_ in
Latin), implied consecration.
"Turning for a moment or two to the "Archæologia Græca" of the learned Dr.
John Potter, we find numerous interesting items of information suitable
for insertion here.
"The temples in the country were generally surrounded with groves sacred
to the tutelar deity of the place, where, before the invention of temples,
the gods were worshipped.
"The most usual manner of consecration of images and altars was by
putting a crown upon them, anointing them with oil, and then offering
prayers and oblations to them. Sometimes they added an execration against
all that should presume to profane them, and inscribed upon them the name
of the deity and the cause of their dedication. In this manner the Spartan
virgins, in Theocritus's eighteenth Idyllium, promise to consecrate a tree
to Helena; for it was customary to dedicate trees or plants after the same
manner, and with altars and statues:
'We first a crown of creeping lotus twine,
And on the shadowy plane suspend, as thine;
We first beneath the shadowy plane distil
From silver vase the balsam's liquid rill;
Graved on the bark the passenger shall see
Adore me, traveller! I am Helen's Tree.'
Ovid likewise, in the eighth book of his Metamorphoses, speaks of adorning
them with ribands:
'An ancient oak in the dark centre stood,
The covert's glory, and itself a wood:
Ribands embrac'd its trunk, and from the boughs
Hung tablets, monuments of prosperous vows.'
It may here be farther observed, that altars were often erected under the
shade of trees. Thus we find the altar of Jupiter Herceus placed within
the court of Priamus, king of Troy:
'Within the courts, beneath the naked sky,
An altar rose; an aged laurel by;
That o'er the hearth and household gods displayed
A solemn gloom, a deep majestic shade.'
But where groves of trees could be had, they were preferred before any
other place. It was so common to erect altars and temples in groves, and
to dedicate them to religious uses, that all sacred places, even those
where no trees were to be seen, were called groves, as we learn from
Strabo.[10] And it seems to have been a general custom which prevailed,
not only in Europe, but over all the eastern countries, to attribute a
sort of religion to groves. Hence, among other precepts, whereby the Jews
were kept from the imitation of the Pagan religion, this was one: 'Thou
shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord
thy God' (Deut. xvi. 21).
"This practice is thought to have been introduced into Greece from
Phoenicia by Cadmus. And some are of opinion that hence Ascra, a village
in Boeotia, where Hesiod was born, received its name. Several causes are
assigned why groves came into so general request.
"At first, the pleasantness of such places was apt to allure the people,
and to beget in them a love for the religious worship which was paid
there; especially in hot countries, where nothing is more delightful and
refreshing than cool shades; for which cause the sacred groves consisted
of tall and beautiful trees, rather than such as yield fruit. Hence Cyril
does expressly distinguish the tree fit for groves from that which bears
fruit, it being the custom to plant groves, not with vines or fig trees,
or others which produced fruit, but only with trees which afford no fruit
for human use, merely for the sake of pleasure. Thus one of the temples of
Diana is described by Herodotus as standing within a grove of the largest
trees. And the way to Mercury's temple was set up on both sides with trees
reaching up to heaven, as we are told by the same historian. The same is
farther confirmed by the descriptions of groves which remain in the
ancient poets.
"Secondly, the solitude of groves was thought very fit to create a
religious awe and reverence in the minds of the people. Thus we are told
by Pliny, that in groves, _ipsa silentia adoramus_, the very silence of
the place becomes the object of our adoration. Seneca also observes, that
when we come into such places, _illa proceritas sylvæ_, _et secretum
loci_, _et admiratio umbræ_, _fidem numinis facit_, the height of the
trees, the solitude and secrecy of the place, and the horror which the
shade strikes into us, does possess us with an opinion that some deity
inhabits there.
"It may not be impertinent to add one testimony more from Ovid, who speaks
thus:
'A darksome grove of oak was spread out near,
Whose gloom impressive told, A God dwells here.'
"Thirdly, some are of opinion that groves derived their religion from the
primitive ages of men, who lived in such places before the building of
houses. Thus Tacitus reports of the ancient Germans, that they had no
other defence for their infants against wild beasts or the weather than
what was afforded _ramorum nexu_, by boughs of trees compacted together.
All other nations lived at first in the same manner; which was derived
from Paradise, the seat of the first parents of mankind. And it is not
unworthy of observation, that most of the ceremonies used in religion were
first taken from the customs of human life....
"In latter ages, when cities began to be filled with people, and men to
delight in magnificent edifices and costly ornaments, more than the
country and primitive way of living, groves by degrees came into disuse.
Yet such of the groves as remained from former times were still held in
great veneration, and reverenced the more for the sake of their antiquity.
As in the earlier times it was accounted an act of sacrilege to cut down
any of the consecrated trees, which appears from the punishment inflicted
by Ceres upon Erichthonius for this crime, whereof there is a prolix
relation in Callimachus; so in latter ages, the same was thought a most
grievous wickedness; whereof it will be sufficient to mention this one
example, where Lucan speaks of Cæsar's servants, in allusion to the fable
of Lycurgus, who endeavouring to destroy the vines of Bacchus, cut off his
own legs:
'But valiant hands
Then falter'd. Such the reverend majesty
That wrapt the gloomy spot, they feared the axe
That struck those hallow'd trees would from the stroke
Recoil upon themselves.'--ELTON."
Ouseley proceeds--"The trunk or stump of a single tree afforded most
obvious materials for a bust or statue; and even unfashioned by human art,
became on some occasions an object of idolatrous worship, whilst any rude
flat stone, or heap of earth at its base, served as an altar, and the
surrounding grove as a temple. That groves in ancient times were
considered as temples we learn from Pliny. Treating of the respect paid to
trees, he says that they were formerly Temples of the Gods, and that even
in his time the rustics, observing ancient usage, dedicated to the Deity
any tree of pre-eminent beauty or excellence. There is authority for
believing that images were placed in groves sooner than within the walls
of religious edifices; also that in the formation of statues, wood was
employed before stone or marble, as appears from Pausanias, and is
declared by many antiquaries, as for instance Caylus, Winkelmann, and
Ernesti.
"That various trees were consecrated, each to a particular divinity, we
know from numerous passages so familiar to every classical reader, that I
need scarcely quote on this subject Virgil and Pliny. The statue of each
god was often (perhaps generally though not necessarily), made from the
tree esteemed sacred to him. But I shall not here trace the idol
worshipped while yet merely a rude trunk or stock, and in that state
called Sanis, through the Xoanon, when the wood was pared or shaven until
it became a Deikelon or Bretas, having assumed a likeness, however faint,
of the human form. This progress has been described by several writers on
the Religion and Arts of Greece, such as Vossius, Gronovius, Grænius and
Spence, as well as those already mentioned.
"But it must not be here forgotton that as votive offerings, or as tokens
of veneration, wreaths and fillets, and chaplets or garlands were often
suspended from the sacred branches; a more elegant and far more innocent
form of homage to a Divinity than (as among some nations) the staining of
trees with blood which had just flowed from the expiring victim, not
unfrequently human.
"Concerning those offerings and wreaths and chaplets, a multiplicity of
Greek and Latin extracts might here be adduced, and illustrated by means
of the devices on medals, and sculptured marbles, the paintings on vases,
and other precious monuments of antiquity. But the limits usually assigned
to an appendix admit few quotations."
Sir William proceeds to notice those lines wherein, mentioning the
intended consecration of a shady plane-tree to Helen (who was daughter of
Jupiter, and worshipped as a goddess in the Troad, in Rhodes and
Lacedemon), Theocritus[11] describes the Spartan virgins declaring that
they would begin the ceremony by placing on it a twisted or woven wreath
of the humble growing lotus.
And Ovid's[12] mention of the wreaths hanging from a sacred tree, and the
addition of recent offerings; and his story of Eresicthon,[13] who
impiously violated the ancient woods of Ceres, cutting down the sacred
oak, which was in itself equal to a grove, and hung round with garlands,
fillets and other votive offerings.
And those lines in which Statius[14] records a vow, promising that an
hundred virgins of Calydon, who ministered at the altars, should fasten to
the consecrated tree chaplets and fillets, white and purple interwoven.
And the same poet's account of the celebrated Arcadian oak, sacred to
Diana, but itself adorned as a divinity, and so loaded with rustic
offerings that there was "scarcely room for the branches."
The palm was deemed sacred in Egypt according to Porphyry; and Herodotus
mentions those palms that surrounded the temple of Perseus (Lib. II., cap.
91); the grove of immense trees, and the trees reaching to heaven, about
the temple of Bubastis or Diana (Lib. II., c. 138); and those at the great
temple of Apollo (Lib. II., c. 156).
Sir William Ousley says--"We may believe, also, that a sacred mulberry
tree gave its name, _Hiera Sycaminos_, to a town or station near the river
Nile.
"Hiera Sycaminos, fifty-four miles above Syene, according to Pliny, Nat.
Hist., Lib. VI. c. 29; also in Ptolemy's Georgr., Lib. IV., c. 5; and in
the Peutingerian or Theodosian tables."