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Title: The Sacred Tree
or the tree in religion and myth
Author: J. H. Philpot
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Language: English
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[Illustration: ]
[Illustration: Sacred tree with its supporters, from St Marks, Venice.]

THE SACRED TREE

OR
THE TREE IN RELIGION AND MYTH
BY
MRS. J. H. PHILPOT
[Illustration: ]
_London_
MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1897
_All rights reserved_

PREFACE
The reader is requested to bear in mind that this volume lays no claim
to scholarship, independent research, or originality of view. Its aim
has been to select and collate, from sources not always easily
accessible to the general reader, certain facts and conclusions bearing
upon a subject of acknowledged interest. In so dealing with one of the
many modes of primitive religion, it is perhaps inevitable that the
writer should seem to exaggerate its importance, and in isolating a
given series of data to undervalue the significance of the parallel
facts from which they are severed. It is undeniable that the worship of
the spirit-inhabited tree has usually, if not always, been linked with,
and in many cases overshadowed by other cults; that sun, moon, and
stars, sacred springs and stones, holy mountains, and animals of the
most diverse kind, have all been approached with singular impartiality
by primitive man, as enshrining or symbolising a divine principle. But
no other form of pagan ritual has been so widely distributed, has left
behind it such persistent traces, or appeals so closely to modern
sympathies as the worship of the tree; of none is the study better
calculated to throw light on the dark ways of primitive thought, or to
arouse general interest in a branch of research which is as vigorous and
fruitful as it is new. For these reasons, in spite of obvious
disadvantages, its separate treatment has seemed to the writer to be
completely justifiable.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
TREE-WORSHIPITS DISTRIBUTION AND ORIGIN
Primitive conception of the tree-spiritIllustrations of the evidence
for tree-worship: from archaeology, from folk-lore, from
literature, from contemporary anthropologyEarliest record of
tree-worship, the cylinders of ChaldaeaThe symbol of the sacred
tree; its developmentMeaning of the symbolTree-worship amongst
the SemitesCanaanitish tree-worshipThe _ashra_The decoration
of the Temple at JerusalemTree-worship in ancient EgyptThe
sacred sycamoresSurvival of the worship in the Soudan and in
Africa generallyOsiris, originally a tree-god; compared with
other vegetation spiritsTammuz, Adonis, Attis, DionysusThe
sacred trees of the PersiansTree-worship still existent in India;
evidence of its ancient prevalenceIts incorporation in
BuddhismOther instances of tree-worship in the EastThe evidence
from America.
Greek and Roman tree-worshipThe German religion of the
grovePersistence of the belief in tree-spirits in Russia, Poland,
and FinlandSacred trees in mediaeval FranceThe rites of the
DruidsEvidence of tree-worship in Saxon England; its survival in
May-day customsGeneral conclusions as to the ancient prevalence
of tree-worshipIts origin; views of Robertson Smith, Herbert
Spencer, and Grant Allen
Page 1

CHAPTER II
THE GOD AND THE TREE
Tree-spirits divisible into tree-gods and tree-demonsThe gods of
antiquity subject to physical limitations, and approachable only
through their material embodiment or symbolThis embodiment
frequently a treeThe sycamores of Egypt believed to be inhabited
by deitiesDevelopments of this conceptionIn Greece the tree one
of the earliest symbols of the godThe chief Greek gods in their
origin deities of vegetationThe ritual of the treeThe tree
dressed or carved to represent an anthropomorphic godLate
survival of this custom amongst the classical nationsIts
prevalence in other countries.
The gods own treeZeus and the oakApollo and the laurelAphrodite
and the myrtleAthena and the oliveThe association of a
particular god with a particular tree not known amongst the
SemitesThe bodhi-trees or trees of wisdom of the BuddhasThe
sculptures of BharhutBrahma and the golden lotusThe holy basil
of IndiaThe grove of Upsala, the home of WodenTaara and the
oakThe great oak at Romove.
Gifts to the tree: in Arabia, in Egypt, in GreeceDedication of arms,
trophies, etc.
The use of branches and wreaths in religious ceremoniesThe procession
of the sacred bough in Greek festivalsThe ceremonial use of
branches common throughout the East.
The tree as sanctuary and asylum

24

CHAPTER III
WOOD-DEMONS AND TREE-SPIRITS
General characteristics of the tree-demonThe fabulous monsters of
ChaldaeaThe _jinni_ of ArabiaThe hairy monsters of the BibleThe
tree-demons of EgyptThe woodland creatures of GreeceCentaurs and
CyclopsPan, satyrs, and sileniThe fauns and silvani of
ItalyFemale woodland spiritsThe hamadryadsAlexander and the
flower-maidensThe vine-women of LucianCorresponding instances in
modern folk-loreThe soul of the nymph actually held to inhabit
the treeThe belief that blood would flow when the tree was
injuredExamples from Virgil, Ovid, and from modern
folk-loreIndian belief in wood-spirits.
The wood-spirits of Central and North EuropeTheir general
characteristicsThe moss-womenThe wild women of TyrolThe
wood-spirits of the GrisonsThe white and green ladiesThe Swedish
tree-spiritThe Russian LjeschiThe Finnish TapioThe Tengus of
JapanWood-demons of Peru and Brazil
52
CHAPTER IV
THE TREE IN ITS RELATION TO HUMAN LIFE
The tree represented as the progenitor of the human race; as related
in the Eddas; in Iranian mythology; amongst the Sioux IndiansThe
classical viewHuman beings represented as the fruit of a

treeIndividual births from a treeMythical births beneath a tree;

Zeus; Hermes; Hera; Apollo and Artemis; Romulus and Remus.
MetamorphosesApollo and DaphneMeaning of the legendThe daughters of
ClymeneBaucis and PhilemonOther instances of metamorphosisThe
growth of flowers from the blood of the dead, or from the tears
shed over themTransmigration of souls into treesTristram and
IseultSweet William and Fair MargaretOther instances.
The conception of the tree as sympathetically interwoven with human
lifeThe family treeThe community treeThe fig-tree in the Roman
ComitiumThe patrician and plebeian myrtle-trees.
The tree as the symbol of reproductive energyThe Semitic
mother-goddessInterpretation of the Chaldaean sacred tree as the
symbol of fertilityThe tree-inhabiting spirit of vegetation as
the patron of fertilityObservances connected therewith
72
CHAPTER V
THE TREE AS ORACLE
The oracular power a corollary to the belief in the tree-inhabiting
godConnection of the tree-oracle with the earth-oracleThe
oracles of the ChaldaeansCanaanite tree-oraclesThe tree of the
soothsayersThe oracular oak of Zeus at DodonaThe oracle of Zeus
AmmonThe prophetic laurel of DelphiOracular trees in Armenia, in
ArabiaAlexander the Great and the Persian tree-oraclesThe
prophetic ilex grove at RomeOther Italian tree-oracles: at Tibur;
at PrenesteTree-omensLegends of speaking treesOracle-lotsThe
origin of the divining-rodCut rods believed to retain some of the
divine power resident in the treeThe life-roodThe divining-rod a
survival of the tree-oracleIts modern useDivination by roots and
leaves
93
CHAPTER VI
THE UNIVERSE-TREE
Wide distribution of the conceptionIts plausibility to the primitive
mind; especially to the inhabitants of level countriesEarliest
version of the world-tree found in an Accadian hymn of great
antiquityProbably a poetical amplification of the sacred
spirit-inhabited treeThe world-tree and the world-mountainThe
two conceptions combined in the Norse Yggdrasil, as described in
the EddasIndian and Persian versions of the world-treeBuddhist
development of the ideaThe cosmogony of the PhoeniciansEgyptian
variants; the Tt-pillar; the golden gem-bearing tree of the
skyTraces of the world-tree in Chinese and Japanese mythologyA
similar tradition amongst North American Indians.
The Eastern conception of the stars as fruits of the world-tree, and
as jewels hung thereonA motive common in Oriental artThe golden
apples of the HesperidesOther instances of the world-tree in
European legendThe monster oak of the KalevalaCorresponding
tradition amongst the Esthonians.
The food of the gods, a conception associated with that of the
world-treeThe Persian haoma, a mystical tree, producing an
immortalising juiceIts terrestrial counterpart; the haoma

sacramentThe Vedic soma; not only a plant but a powerful

deityIdentification of the plantDe Gubernatis on the soma
ritualThe effect of the soma drinkCorresponding conceptions
amongst the GreeksOrigin of the idea

109

CHAPTER VII
PARADISE
Varieties of the tradition: (1) as the seat of the gods; (2) as the
home of the first parents; (3) as the abode of the blessedAll
associated with the conception of a mystical tree, in itself an
idealisation of the spirit-inhabited tree worshipped on earthThe
paradise of the gods in Indian tradition; its five miraculous
treesThe paradise of Genesis and of the Persian sacred booksThe
tree of paradise compared with sacred cedar of Chaldaeaparadise
as the abode of the blessed, a post-exilic tradition amongst the
JewsThe paradise of the Talmud; and of the KoranThe confusion in
the ancient traditions of paradise partly due to a limited
conception of space and to a belief in the propinquity of
heavenGreek conceptions of paradiseMiltons description
influenced by ancient traditions of an elevated paradise.
The earthly paradisePersistence of the tradition; Sir John
Maundevilles versionIcelandic traditionThe lost Atlantis of
Plato a variant of the paradise legendSt. Brandan and the Isle of
AvalonChristopher ColumbusJapanese tradition of an island of
eternal youth, with its marvellous treeDevelopments of the idea
of the tree of paradiseIts representation in art
128
CHAPTER VIII
MAY CELEBRATIONS
Their ancient religious significanceThe old English May-dayFetching
in the MayPuritan condemnation of the May-polesTheir removal as
a heathenish vanityExisting survivals of May customsMay-day
rhymes.
Origin of the celebrations: 1. The bringing in of the May-boughWide
distribution of the custom an evidence of its antiquityIts
original intentionThe May related to the harvest-bush of France
and Western Germany, and to the Greek _eiresione_Their common
purpose, to bring to the house a share of the blessings assumed to
be at the disposal of the tree-inhabiting spirit.
2. The May-pole: its primitive intention to bring to the village, as
the May-bough to the family, the newly-quickened generative
potency resident in the woodsWide prevalence of the
customAssociation of the May-pole with a human image or doll,
representing the vegetation spiritThe Greek festival of the
little DaedalaThe May-pole, originally renewed every year, became
later a permanent erection, newly dressed on May-dayAssumed
beneficent influence of the May-pole.
3. The May Queen, May Lady, or King and Queen of the May: Evidence
that these personages were originally regarded as human
representatives or embodiments of the generalised tree-soulOften
associated with its vegetable representative, the tree or bough;
or clothed in leaves and flowers, _e.g._ the Green George of

Carinthia and our Jack-in-the-GreenThe custom general throughout

EuropeRobin Hood and Maid Marian originally King and Queen of the
MayIn primitive times the human representative of the vegetation
spirit probably sacrificed, in order that the spirit might pass to
a more vigorous successorHuman sacrifice in MexicoSurvival in
symbol of this ancient custom in Bavaria, Swabia, Saxony, etc. 144
CHAPTER IX
CHRISTMAS OBSERVANCES
Distinctly pagan in their origin, and adapted to Christian use under
the influence of the ChurchThe Roman SaturnaliaThe use of
mistletoe a direct legacy from the DruidsThe decoration of the
house with evergreens also a Druidic custom.
The Christmas-tree; its introduction into England extremely recent;
not universally established in Germany, the land of its origin,
until the present centuryReferences to it by Goethe and
SchillerEarliest record from Strasburg about 1600
A.D.Theological disapprovalTheories as to its originProbably
connected with the legend of Christmas flowering
treesExamplesThe Glastonbury thornMannhardts view; a decorated
tree the recognised scenic symbol of Christmas in the paradise
play of the Middle Ages, wherein the story of the Fall was
dramatically associated with that of the NativityAn ancient
German custom to force into flower boughs cut on a sacred night
during the great autumn festivalThe date of severance delayed
under priestly influence so that the boughs might flower at
ChristmasInstances of the survival of this customThe lights on
the Christmas-tree a comparatively recent innovationLegends of
light-bearing treesThe lights possibly derived from ancient
solstitial observancesThe Christmas-tree an illustration of the
blending of pagan and mediaeval ideasA point in which the many
phases of tree-worship converge
162
INDEX

175

ILLUSTRATIONS
CHAPTER
PAGE
Sacred tree with its supporters, from St. Marks, Venice _Frontispiece_
1, Rudimentary and conventionalised forms of the sacred tree

2,

3.

4. Sacred tree with its supporters, surmounted by the winged disc,

from an Assyrian cylinder

5. Sacred tree, from the Temple of Athena at Pryene

6. The same, from a sculptured slab in the Treasury of St. Marks,

Venice

7. A _Ba_ or soul receiving the lustral water from a tree-goddess

10

8. Sacred tree with worshippers, from eastern gateway at Snchi

15

9. Sacred tree, from a Mexican manuscript

17

10. The goddess Nut in her sacred sycamore bestowing the bread and
water of the next world
26
11. Sacred tree of Dionysus, with a statue of the god and offerings 27
12. Sacred pine of Silvanus, with a bust of the god, and votive gifts
28
13. Fruit-tree dressed as Dionysus

31

14, Forms of the Tt or Did, the emblem of Osiris

34

15.

34

16. Apollo on his sacred tripod, a laurel branch in his hand

36

17. Coin of Athens, of the age of Pericles or earlier, showing olive

spray
38
18. Coin of Athens, third century B.C.

38

19. The Bodhi-tree of Kanaka Muni

41

20. Wild elephants paying their devotions to the sacred banian of

Ksyapa Buddha

42

21. Sacred sycamore, with offerings

44

22. Sacred tree of Artemis, hung with weapons of the chase

45

23. Sacred laurel of Apollo at Delphi, adorned with fillets and votive
tablets; beneath it the god appearing to protect Orestes
50
24. Imperial coin of Myra in Lycia, showing tree-goddess

87

25. Sacred tree and worshipper, from a Chaldaean cylinder

88

26. Sacred tree as symbol of fertility, from an Assyrian bas-relief 89

27. Yggdrasil, the Scandinavian world-tree

115

28. From a Babylonian seal

130

CHAPTER I
TREE-WORSHIPITS DISTRIBUTION AND ORIGIN

It is the purpose of the present volume to deal as concisely as possible

with the many religious observances, popular customs, legends,
traditions and ideas which have sprung from or are related to the
primitive conception of the tree-spirit. There is little doubt that most
if not all races, at some period of their development, have regarded the
tree as the home, haunt, or embodiment of a spiritual essence, capable
of more or less independent life and activity, and able to detach itself
from its material habitat and to appear in human or in animal form. This
belief has left innumerable traces in ancient art and literature, has
largely shaped the usages and legends of the peasantry, and impressed
its influence on the ritual of almost all the primitive religions of
mankind. There is, indeed, scarcely a country in the world where the
tree has not at one time or another been approached with reverence or
with fear, as being closely connected with some spiritual potency.
The evidence upon which this assertion is based is overwhelming in
amount, and is frequently to be found in quarters where until lately its
presence was unsuspected or its significance ignored. For instance, in
the interior of that fascinating storehouse of antiquity, St. Marks at
Venice, there are embedded in the walls, high above ones head, a number
of ancient sculptured slabs, on each of which a conventionalised plant,
with foliage most truthfully and lovingly rendered, is set between two
fabulous monsters, as fantastic and impossible as any supporters to be
met with in the whole range of heraldry (see Frontispiece). To the
ordinary observer these strange sculptures say nothing; probably he
passes over them lightly, as the offspring of that quaint mediaeval
fancy which was so prolific in monstrous births. But the student of
Oriental art at once detects in them a familiar design, a design whose
pedigree can be traced back to the day, six thousand years ago, when the
Chaldaean Semites were taking their culture and religion from the old
Accadians who dwelt on the shores of the Persian Gulf. In the central
plant he recognises the symbol or ideograph of a divine attribute or
activity, if not a representation of the visible embodiment or abode of
a god, and in the raised hand or forepaw of the supporters he discerns
the conventional attitude of adoration. The design, in short, which was
probably handed on from Assyria to Persia, and from Persia to Byzantium,
and so to Venice, is a vestige of that old world religion which regarded
the tree as one of the sacred haunts of deity.
Again, the same conception, the record of which is thus strangely
preserved in the very fabric of a Christian edifice, is to be traced
with equal certainty in the older and scarcely less permanent fabric of
popular tradition and custom. The folk-lore of the modern European
peasant, and the observances with which Christmas, May-day, and the
gathering of the harvest are still celebrated in civilised countries,
are all permeated by the primitive idea that there was a spiritual
essence embodied in vegetation, that trees, like men, had spirits,
passing in and out amongst them, which possessed a mysterious and potent
influence over human affairs, and which it was therefore wise and
necessary to propitiate.
A third example of the less recondite evidence on the subject is to be
found in the Book that we all know best. When we once realise how deeply
rooted and time-honoured was the belief that there was a spiritual force
inherent in vegetation, we cease to wonder at the perversity with which
the less cultured Israelites persisted in planting groves and setting up
altars under every green tree. Read in the light of modern research, the
Old Testament presents a drama of surpassing interest, a record of
internecine struggle between the aspiration of the few towards the
worship of a single, omnipresent, unconditioned God and the conservative

adhesion of the many to the primitive ritual and belief common to all
the Semitic tribes. For the backsliding children of Israel were no more
idolaters, in the usual meaning of the word, than were the Canaanites
whose rites they imitated. Their view of nature was that of the
primitive Semite, if not of the primitive man. All parts of nature, in
their idea, were full of spiritual forces, more or less, but never
completely, detached in their movements and action from the material
objects to which they were supposed properly to belong. In ritual the
sacred object was spoken of and treated as the god himself; it was not
merely his symbol, but his embodiment, the permanent centre of his
activity, in the same sense in which the human body is the permanent
centre of mans activity. The god inhabited the tree or sacred stone not
in the sense in which a man inhabits a house, but in the sense in which
his soul inhabits his body.[1]
To the three classes of evidence, derived respectively from archaeology,
from folk-lore, and from ancient literature, which have been thus
briefly exemplified, may be added a fourth, equally important and
prolific, that namely of contemporary anthropology. Scarcely a book is
printed on the customs of uncivilised races which does not contribute
some new fact to the subject. The illustration of an Arab praying to a
tree, in Slatin Pashas recently published volume, is no surprise to the
anthropologist, who has learnt to look for such survivals of primitive
customs wherever culture still remains primitive.
Rudimentary and conventionalised forms of the sacred tree.
(From Chaldaean and Assyrian cylinders. Goblet dAlviella.)
[Illustration: Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: Fig. 2.]
[Illustration: Fig. 3.]
Now of all primitive customs and beliefs there is none which has a
greater claim upon our interest than the worship of the tree, for there
is none which has had a wider distribution throughout the world, or has
left a deeper impress on the traditions and observances of mankind. Its
antiquity is undoubted, for when history begins to speak, we find it
already firmly established amongst the oldest civilised races. What is
probably its earliest record is met with on the engraved cylinders of
Chaldaea, some of which date back to 4000 B.C. Even at that period it
would appear that the Chaldaeans had advanced beyond the stage of crude
tree-worship, as found to this day amongst uncivilised races, for the
sacred tree had already undergone a process of idealisation. In a
bilingual hymn, which is of Accadian origin, and probably one of the
most ancient specimens of literature in existence, a mystical tree is
described as the abode of the gods. And it was probably by a similar
process of idealisation that a conventional representation of the sacred
tree came to be one of the most important symbols of Chaldaean religion.
This symbol, which we have already seen in decorative use on the slabs
at St. Marks, appears on the oldest Chaldaean cylinders as a stem
divided at the base, surmounted by a fork or a crescent, and cut,
midway, by one or more cross bars which sometimes bear a fruit at each
extremity. This rudimentary image frequently changes into the palm, the
pomegranate, the cypress, vine, etc.[2] On the Assyrian monuments of
about 1000 B.C. and later, the figure becomes still more complex and
more artistically conventionalised, and it nearly always stands between
two personages facing each other, who are sometimes priests or kings in
an attitude of adoration, sometimes monstrous creatures, such as are so

often met with in Assyro-Chaldaean imagery, lions, sphinxes, griffins,

unicorns, winged bulls, men or _genii_ with the head of an eagle, and so
forth. Above it is frequently suspended the winged circle, personifying
the supreme deity. In his exhaustive chapter on this ancient design, M.
Goblet dAlviella has shown that it obtained a wide dissemination
throughout the world, and is used even to this day in the fictile and
textile art of the East.[3] M. Menant concludes from his exhaustive
study of the cylinders, that the worship of the sacred tree in Assyria
was intimately associated with that of the supreme deity, its symbol
being incontestably one of the most sacred emblems of the Assyrian
religion.[4] M. Lenormants view was that the winged circle, in
conjunction with the sacred tree, represented the primeval cosmogonic
pair, the creative sun and the fertile earth, and was a symbol of the
divine mystery of generation.[5] In Babylonia the sacred tree was no
doubt closely associated with Istar, the divine mother, who was
originally not a Semitic, but an Accadian goddess, and whose cult,
together with that of her bridegroom Tammuz, was introduced into
Chaldaea from Eridu, a city which flourished on the shores of the
Persian Gulf between 3000 and 4000 B.C.[6] That the Accadians were
familiar with the worship of the tree may also be inferred from the fact
that their chief god, Ea, was closely associated with the sacred cedar,
on whose core his name was supposed to be inscribed.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.Sacred tree with its supporters, surmounted by
the winged disc.(From an Assyrian cylinder. Goblet dAlviella.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 5.Sacred tree, much conventionalised.(From a
capital of the Temple of Athena at Pryene. Goblet dAlviella.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 6.Sacred tree, from a sculptured slab in the
Treasury of St. Marks, Venice.]
But however much their attitude towards the sacred tree may have been
modified under Accadian influence, the Chaldaeans in their worship of
the tree only followed the rule of their Semitic kindred, for the
conception of trees as demoniac beings was familiar to all the Semites,
and the tree was adored as divine in every part of the Semitic area.[7]
Even that stationary Semite, the modern Arab, holds certain trees
inviolable as being inhabited by spirits, and honours them with
sacrifices and decorations, and to this day the traveller in Palestine
sometimes lights upon holy trees hung with tokens of homage.
This strange persistence of a primitive religion in the very birthplace
of a most exalted spiritual worship is an additional evidence of its
remarkable vitality. For there is no country in the world where the tree
was ever more ardently worshipped than it was in ancient Palestine.
Amongst the Canaanites every altar to the god had its sacred tree beside
it, and when the Israelites established local sanctuaries under their
influence, they set up their altar under a green tree, and planted
beside it as its indispensable accompaniment an _ashra_, which was
either a living tree or a tree-like post, and not a grove, as rendered
in the Authorised Version. This _ashra_ was undoubtedly worshipped as a
sacred symbol of the deity. Originally it appears to have been
associated with Ashtoreth or Astarte, the Syrian Istar, the revolting
character of whose worship perhaps explains the excessive bitterness of
the biblical denunciations.[8] But the _ashra_ was also erected by the
altars of other gods, and in pre-prophetic days even beside that of
Jehovah Himself, whence it may be concluded that in early times
tree-worship had such a vogue in Canaan, that the sacred tree or the
pole, its surrogate, had come to be viewed as a _general_ symbol of

deity.[9] The great antiquity of the cult in Syria was recognised in

the local traditions, for an old Phoenician cosmogony, quoted by
Eusebius, states that the first men consecrated the plants shooting out
of the earth, and judged them gods, and worshipped them, and made meat
and drink offerings to them.[10] In addition to the _ashra_, the
Chaldaean symbol of the sacred tree between its supporters was also
familiar to the Phoenicians, and is found wherever their art penetrated,
notably in Cyprus and on the archaic pottery of Corinth and Athens.[11]
It is highly probable that both these sacred symbols had a common
origin, but the connection must have been lost sight of in later times,
for we find Ezekiel, to whom the prophetic denunciations of the _ashra_
must have been familiar, decorating the temple of his vision with
designs evidently derived from the Chaldaean sacred tree, a palm-tree
between a cherub and a cherub.[12] A similar ornamentation with
palm-trees and cherubim, it will be remembered, had been used in the
temple built by Solomon.[13]
Amongst the ancient Egyptians, whose exuberant piety required,
according to M. Maspero, an actual rabble of gods to satisfy it, trees
were enthusiastically worshipped, side by side with other objects, as
the homes of various divinities. The splendid green sycamores, which
flourish here and there as though by miracle on the edge of the
cultivated land, their rootlets bathed by the leakage of the Nile, were
accounted divine and earnestly worshipped by Egyptians of every rank, in
the belief that they were animated by spirits, who on occasion could
emerge from them. They were habitually honoured with fruit offerings,
and the charitable found an outlet for their benevolence in daily
replenishing the water-jars placed beneath them for the use of the
passer-by, who in his turn would express his gratitude for the boon by
reciting a prayer to the deity of the tree. The most famous of these
sycamoresthe sycamore of the Southwas regarded as the living body of
Hthor upon earth; and the tree at Metairieh, commonly called the Tree
of the Virgin, is probably the successor of a sacred tree of Heliopolis,
in which a goddess, perhaps Hthor, was worshipped.[14] The district
around Memphis was known as the Land of the Sycamore, and contained
several trees generally believed to be inhabited by detached doubles of
Nut and Hthor. Similar trees are worshipped at the present day both
by Christian and Mussulman fellahn.
[Illustration: Fig. 7.A Ba or soul receiving the lustral water from a
tree-goddess.(From a painting discovered by Prof. Petrie at Thebes.
Illustrated London News, 25th July 1896.)]
On the outskirts of the province of Darfur the Bedeyat Arabs, though
surrounded by Moslem tribes, still adhere to the same primitive cult.
Under the wide-spreading branches of an enormous heglik-tree, and on a
spot kept beautifully clean and sprinkled with fine sand, they beseech
an unknown god to direct them in their undertakings and to protect them
from danger.[15] They have, in short, retained, in spite of the pressure
of Islamism, the old heathen worship which still widely prevails amongst
the uncivilised races of the African continent. Thus on the Guinea Coast
almost every village has its sacred tree, and in some parts offerings
are still made to them. The negroes of the Congo plant a sacred tree
before their houses and set jars of palm-wine under it for the
tree-spirit.[16] In Dahomey prayers and gifts are offered to trees in
time of sickness. One of the goddesses of the Fantis has her abode in
huge cotton-trees. In the Nyassa country, where the spirits of the dead
are worshipped as gods, the ceremonies are conducted and offerings
placed not at the grave of the dead man, but at the foot of the tree
which grows before his house, or if that be unsuitable, beneath some

especially beautiful tree selected for the purpose.[17]

To return to ancient Egypt, there is evidence that the great Osiris was
originally a tree-god. According to Egyptian mythology, after he had
been murdered his coffin was discovered enclosed in a tree-trunk, and he
is spoken of in the inscriptions as the one in the tree, the solitary
one in the acacia. The rites, too, by which his death and burial were
annually celebrated appear to couple him closely with Tammuz, Adonis,
Attis, Dionysus, and other gods whose worship was associated with a
similar ritual.[18] Mr. Frazer, following Mannhardt, contends that all
these deities were tree-gods, and that the ceremonial connected with
their worship was symbolical of the annual death and revival of
vegetation. It is certainly true that in Babylonia, Egypt, Phoenicia,
and above all in Phrygia, a peculiarly emotional form of worship, which
subsequently extended to Cyprus, Crete, Greece, and Italy, arose in
connection with deities who were closely associated with vegetable life.
Tammuz
Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured
The Syrian damsels to lament his fate,
and for whose resuscitation his bride, the goddess Istar, descended into
Hadeswas represented as originally dwelling in a tree.[19] Adonis, who
was the beloved of Aphroditethe Syrian Astarteand is Tammuz under
another name, was born from a myrrh-tree. Attis, the favourite of
Cybele, who was worshipped with barbarous rites in Phrygia, was
represented in the form of a decorated pine-tree, to which his image was
attached. Dionysus, whose death and resurrection were celebrated in
Crete and elsewhere, was worshipped throughout Greece as Dionysus of
the Tree. These facts are sufficient to warrant the inference that
tree-worship was very firmly rooted in those regions where the Semitic
races came into contact with the Aryans. In Phrygia it was peculiarly
prominent, as we know from classical references. The archaeological
evidence is vague and incomplete, but a characteristic device frequent
in Phrygian art, in which two animals, usually lions rampant, face one
another on either side of a pillar, or an archaic representation of the
mother-goddess Cybele,[20] recalls the sacred tree of Babylonia. The
device is familiar in connection with the lion-gate of Mycenae, which
was probably erected under Phrygian influence.
The Persians venerated trees as the dwelling-place of the deity, as the
haunts of good and evil spirits, and as the habitations in which the
souls of heroes and of the virtuous dead continued their existence.
According to Plutarch, they assigned some trees and plants to the good
God, others to the evil demon.[21] The Zend-Avesta ordained that the
trees which Ormuzd had given should be prayed to as pure and holy, and
adored with fire and lustral water;[22] and according to tradition, when
Zoroaster died, Ormuzd himself translated his soul into a lofty tree,
and planted it upon a high mountain. The cypress was regarded by the
Persians as especially sacred. It was closely associated with
fire-worship, and was revered as a symbol of the pure light of Ormuzd.
It is frequently represented on ancient gravestones in conjunction with
the lion, the symbol of the sun-god Mithra.[23] Another venerated tree
was the myrtle, a branch of which was used as an essential accompaniment
in all religious functions. The observances connected with the Persian
worship of the Haoma plant will be dealt with in a later chapter. The
Achaemenian kings regarded the plane as their peculiar tree, and a
representation of it in gold formed part of their state. A certain
plane-tree in Lydia was presented by Xerxes with vessels of gold and
costly apparel, and committed to the guardianship of one of his

immortals.[24]
In India, where tree-worship once enjoyed a wide prevalence, it has left
indubitable traces on the religions which displaced it, and it is still
encountered in its crudest form amongst some of the aboriginal hill
tribes. The Garrows, for instance, who possess neither temples nor
altars, set up a bamboo before their huts, and sacrifice before it to
their deity.[25] On a mountain in Travancore there existed until quite
recently an ancient tree, which was regarded by the natives as the
residence of a powerful deity. Sacrifices were offered to it, and
sermons preached before it; it served, indeed, as the cathedral of the
district. At length, to the horror of its worshippers, an English
missionary had it cut down and used in the construction of a chapel on
its site.[26] The ancient prevalence of tree-worship in India is
established by frequent references to sacred trees in the Vedas, and by
the statement of Q. Curtius that the companions of Alexander the Great
noticed that the Indians reputed as gods whatever they held in
reverence, especially trees, which it was death to injure.[27] This
ancient reverence for the tree was recognised by Buddhism, and adapted
to its more advanced mode of thought. The asvattha or pippala-tree,
_Ficus Religiosa_, which had previously been identified with the supreme
deity, Brahma, came to be venerated above all others by the special
injunction of Gautama, as that under which he had achieved perfect
knowledge.[28] In his previous incarnations Gautama himself is
represented as having been a tree-spirit no less than forty-three times.
The evidence of the monuments as to the importance attached to the tree
in early Buddhism is equally definite. The Snchi and Ama-ravati
sculptures, some casts of which are in the British Museum, contain
representations of the sacred tree decorated with garlands and
surrounded by votaries, whilst the worship of the trees identified with
the various Buddhas is repeatedly represented on the Stpa of Bharhut.
[Illustration: Fig. 8.Sacred tree with worshippers, from eastern
gateway of Buddhist Tope at Snchi.(Fergussons Tree and Serpent Worship
(1868), Plate xxv.)]
There is very little evidence of the existence of tree-worship amongst
the Chinese, but they have a tradition of a Tree of Life, and of a drink
of immortality made from various sacred plants. They also make use of
the divining-rod, which is an offshoot of tree-worship, and certain
Taoist medals, like the talismans worn in Java, bear the familiar symbol
of the sacred tree.[29] In Japan certain old trees growing near Shinto
temples are regarded as sacred, and bound with a fillet of straw rope,
as if they were tenanted by a divine spirit.[30] Japanese mythology
tells of holy _sakaki_ trees growing on the Mountain of Heaven, and of a
herb of immortality to be gathered on the Island of Eternal Youth.
Amongst the semi-civilised races which border upon these ancient states
the tree is still almost universally regarded as the dwelling-place of a
spirit, and as such is protected, venerated, and often presented with
offerings. In Sumatra and Borneo certain old trees are held to be
sacred, and the Dyaks would regard their destruction as an impious act.
The Mintira of the Malay Peninsula believe that trees are inhabited by
terrible spirits capable of inflicting diseases. The Talein of Burmah
never cut down a tree without a prayer to the indwelling spirit. The
Siamese have such veneration for the takhien-tree that they offer it
cakes and rice before felling it; so strong, indeed, is their dread of
destroying trees of any kind, and thereby offending the gods inhabiting
them, that all necessary tree-felling is relegated to the lowest
criminals. Even at the present day they frequently make offerings to the

tree-dwelling spirits, and hang gifts on any tree whose deity they
desire to propitiate.[31]
In the Western Hemisphere, the fact that the drawing of a tree with two
opposed personages or supporters, similar in design to the sacred tree
of the Chaldaeans, has been found in an ancient Mexican MS., has been
put forward as an additional argument in favour of the pre-Columbian
colonisation of that continent and its early contact with the Eastern
world.[32] Speaking generally, however, the worship of the tree appears
to have flourished less widely in the New World than the Old, though
traces of it have been found all over the continent.[33] A large
ash-tree is regarded with great veneration by the Indians of Lake
Superior, and in Mexico there was a cypress, the spreading branches of
which were loaded by the natives with votive offerings, locks of hair,
teeth, and morsels of ribbon; it was many centuries old, and had
probably had mysterious influence ascribed to it, and been decorated
with offerings long before the discovery of America.[34] By that date,
however, the Mexicans had apparently advanced beyond the earliest stage
of religious development, and expanded the idea of individual
tree-spirits into the more general conception of a god of vegetation. It
was in the honour of such a god that their May-Day celebrations were
held and their human sacrifices offered. In Nicaragua cereals were
worshipped as well as trees. In more primitive Patagonia the cruder form
of worship persists, a certain tree standing upon a hill being still
resorted to by numerous worshippers, each of whom brings his offering.
[Illustration: Fig. 9.From a Mexican manuscript.(Goblet dAlviella.)]
To return nearer home, the worship of the tree has prevailed at one time
or another in every country of Europe. It played a vital part in the
religion of Greece and Rome, and classical literature is full of
traditions and ideas which can have been derived from no other source.
The subject has been exhaustively treated by Btticher in his
_Baumkultus der Hellenen_.[35] Mr. Farnell, in his recently published
work, says that in the earliest period of Greek religion of which we
have any record, the tree was worshipped as the shrine of the divinity
that housed within it; hence the epithet , appli
t Z us, a

th l g 
f H l  D 
itis.[36] Discv i s ma
i C t a
th
P lp s withi th p s t y a (1896) s m t shw that th wship
f
iti s i aicic shap as st pillas  as t s play
a g at
pat i th  ligi f th Myc a a p i
abut 1500 B.C.[37] Th
p sist t b li f f th G k a
Rma p asaty i th xist c a

pw  f th vaius w
la
spiits is als vitally c ct
with th
pimitiv i
a f th t -sul.
I th c t f Eup , cv 
as it c was with
s f st, th
v  ati f th t
tictu
all th  ligius usag s f th
pimitiv ihabitats. I aci t G may, th uiv sal c  mial
 ligi f th p pl ha
its ab
i th _gv _, a
th ali st
ffts f th Chistia missiai s w 
i ct
twa
s th

stucti f th s v  at
w
s,  th i cs cati by th
 cti withi th m f a Chistia
ific .[38] But lg aft  th i
mial cv si th G mas ctiu
t p pl v y w
with
spiits, a
th l g 
s a
flk-l f th i m

sc 
ats a
still ich i m mi s f this tim -hu
sup stiti. Sm f th s
w
-ihabitig spiits w  favuabl t ma,  a
y t b fi 
a

h lp him i
ifficulty; th s w  malicius a
vi
ictiv . Th whl
subj ct has b  stu
i
i G may with chaact istic thugh ss,
th sta
a
wk b ig Maha
ts w ll-kw a
fasciatig _Wal
u
F l
kult _.[39]

I Pla
t s app a t hav b  wshipp
as lat as th fut th

c tuy, a
i pats f Russia th pw  f th t -spiit v  th
h 
s was s fimly h l
, that it was lg custmay t ppitiat it by
th sacific f a cw. Th P mias, a tib  lat
t th Fis,
wshipp
t s, amg th  thigs, util th i cv si t
Chistiaity abut 1380 A.D.[40] I pats f Esthia th p asats v 
withi th p s t c tuy  ga

c tai t s as sac
, ca fully
pt ct
th m, hug th m with w aths, a
c a y a pu
f sh
bullcks bl
abut th i ts, i 
 that th cattl might
thiv .[41] I th  mt  pats f th Czas
mai th b li f i
t -
ms still p sists. Th y a h l
t b mus c atu s, wh
ca chag th i statu at will, a
whs vic is h a
i th clash
f th stm as th y spig fm t t t . I Fila
th ak is
still call
G
s t , a
t this
ay th bich a
th
mutai-ash a h l
sac
by th p asats, a
plat
b si
th i
cttag s with v y sig f  v  c .
I Fac at Massilia (w Mas ill s) huma sacific s w  , i
pimitiv tim s, ff 
t t s.[42] I th futh c tuy f u a
th  was a famus p a-t
at Aux  which was hug with tphi s f
th chas a
pai
all th v  ati
u t a g
.[43] I th lif f
St. Ama
us m ti is ma
f sac
gv s a
t s wshipp
 a
B auvais, a
vaius Chuch cucils i th
aly mi

l ag s
uc

ths wh v  at
t s,  h l
at Nat s i 895 A.D. xp ssly
jiig th
stucti f t s which w  cs cat
t
ms.
Tac s f th aci t wship still suviv h  as ls wh  i ppula
custm; i th suth f Fac th y hav a gac ful bs vac , i which
th spiit f v g tati is p sifi
by a yuth cla
i g , wh
f igig sl p is awak 
by a mai
s kiss.
I u w isla
s, as v y  kws, th ak-t
play
a sali t
pat i th l
Dui
ical wship, a
Pliy[44] v 
iv s th am
Dui
fm, a ak, as sm still c ct it with _
aach_, th
C ltic w
f that t . Th imptat it s with which th mistl t
was s v 
fm th pa t t a


icat
at th alta fuish
vi
c f th v  ati pai
t th spiit f th t , wh,
acc
ig t th t achig f th Dui
s,  t at
it th
paasit -bugh wh  th ak l av s with 
. Th T uts 
ubt
bught with th m t Bitai th  ligi f th sac
gv , a
w
fi
Kig E
ga c
mig th i
l it s i c cti with th al

a
th  t s, a
Caut fifty y as lat  fbi

ig th wship
ti ly.[45] Th c  mi s c c ct
with th wship f th t
suviv
i th fm f a pictu squ symblism lg aft  th i igi
ha
b  fgtt . I 1515, at a Tw lfth-Night pag at h l
at his
palac f G wich by 
 f H y III., t -spiits  p s t
by
III wyl
-m , all appaayl
i g  mss s
aily cam ut f a
plac lyk a w
a
gag
i battl with th yal kights.[46] It
was als a custm f this kig i th aly y as f his  ig t  st
t th w
s with a ichly-appa ll
 tiu i 
 t f tch May 
g  bws,th spiit f v g tati, whs   w
vigu was
symblis
, ucsciusly 
ubt, i th g  bughs with which th
cuti s
ck
th i caps.[47] May-
ay c  mi s t c l bat th  w
lif i th f st ca b tac
i Egla
as fa back as th
thit th c tuy, a
th imptac still attach
t th m by th
p pl as lat as th s v t th c tuy is i
icat
by th acu
with which th Puitas attack
th Maypl , a h ath ish vaity
g atly abus
t sup stiti a
wick
 ss. Th s a
th 
suvivals will b m fully t at
i a lat  chapt , a
a ly
m ti
h  as shwig th aci t p val c f a b li f i

t -spiits, which i

is al

custms.

cmp t t t accut f such

I fi ,   wh has t stu
i
th subj ct ca hav ay i
a f th

sactity assciat
with th t
amgst p -Chistia atis. Th
g  al cclusi which Bttich  giv s as th  sult f his labat
 s ach, is that th wship f th t
was t ly th ali st fm
f
ivi itual, but was th last t
isapp a b f th sp a
f
Chistiaity; it xist
lg b f th
 cti f t mpl s a
statu s
t th g
s, fluish
si
by si
with th m, a
p sist
lg aft 
th y ha

isapp a
.[48] M. Tyl, with g at  cauti, cclu
s
that _
i ct a
abslut t -wship_ may li v y wi
a

p i
th aly histy f  ligi, but that apat fm this th  is a wi

ag f aimistic cc ptis c ct
with t a
f st wship.
Th t may b th spiits p ch,  sh lt ,  favuit haut; 
may s v as a scaffl
 alta, wh  ff igs ca b s t ut f
sm spiitual b ig;  its sh lt  may b a plac f wship s t apat
by atu , f sm tib s th ly t mpl , f may tib s, p haps, th
ali st;  lastly, it may b m  ly a sac
bj ct patis
by, 
assciat
with,  symblisig sm
iviity.[49] Th s vai

cc ptis, M. Tyl thiks, cfm, i spit f th i cfusi, t
th aimistic th lgy i which th y all hav th i ss tial
picipl s.
T
iscuss th igi f t -wship wul
ivlv th csi
ati f
th whl qu sti f pimitiv cultu , th th y f aimism, a
th
subj ct f ac st wship, tg th  with a
ig ssi  th v y
bscu pbl m f tt mism. Th last w
has t y t b  sai

th s qu stis, a
th tim has c taily t y t cm t say it. As
will b shw i th  xt tw chapt s, th g  al cc pti f th
t -spiit iclu
s at l ast tw
iff  t s i s f i
as, that  th
 ha
f th t -g
, whs wship b cam gais
it a
fiit
 ligi, a
 th th  ha
that f th t -
ms  t -spiits,
whs ppitiati was
ga

it   v  s abv th l v l f
sc y a
icatati. T
fi th  lati b tw  th s tw
cc ptis is xt m ly
ifficult, a
it has b  appach
by

iff  t wit s alg tw
iff  t li s f thught. Eith  th g
s
w 
v lp
fm th spiitual fc s assum
by pimitiv ma t b
ih  t i atu , a
ga
ually
iff  tiat
fm th l ss fi 
ly
pw s mb
i
i th vaius
ms, util th y cam t b  ga

as
th kism  a
pa ts f th i wshipp s;  th y w  ac stal
spiits, at c f a
a
tust
fm th i v y igi by th i
kism , whilst all th class f mi spiits a

ms w  but

g  at g
s  th ac stal spiits f  mi s. Th fm  vi w is
put fwa
by Pf ss Rb ts Smith, i a chapt  that
s v s
mst ca ful stu
y, but h a
mits that it is
ifficult t u
sta
hw
th fi 
ly pw s f atu that haut
a
istict i which m  liv

a
psp 
, a
w   ga

as mb
i
i hly t s a
spigs,
b cam i
tifi
with th tibal g
f a cmmuity a
th pa t f a
ac .[50] Th  is  such
ifficulty i M. H b t Sp c s th y
that all  ligi as fm ac st wship,  i M. Gat All s
suppl m tay ct ti that t s a
st s cam t b  ga

as
sac
a
t b hu
with sacific s b caus th y w  igially
assciat
with th ac stal gav , a
w  h c assum
t hav
b cm th hauts  mb
im ts f th ac stal spiit.[51] This
latt  vi w, hw v ,
 s t s m t tak suffici t accut f th
thusa
spiits wh, i th b li f f pimitiv m , thg
th
w
s, th mutais, a
th spigs, a
app a
i hibl aimal
 s mi-huma fm. Pbably th tuth li s b tw  th tw th i s,
a
th pimitiv wship f th t ha
m tha  t.

CHAPTER II
THE GOD AND THE TREE
Wh  w xami m cls ly th spiitual b igs wh hav b  thught
t haut  ihabit v g tati, w fi
that th y fall m  l ss

istictly it tw class sit t -g
s  th  ha
, a
 th
th  it th vaius t -
ms, w
-spiits,
ya
s, lv s, jis,
a
fabulus mst s cmm t th mythlgy f all cuti s. Th 
is, p haps,  abslut ly
fiit li f
macati b tw  th tw
class s, f pimitiv thught
 s t
al i shap
fiitis. But
th
ivisi, b si
s b ig cv i t f u p s t pups , is a
vital  . F a g
is a i
ivi
ual spiit wh t s it stat

 latis with ma, is mstly if t ivaiably  ga

as aki t his
wshipp s, a
is p sumably th i fi 
, ally, a
pt ct.
Wh  as th
m is a i
p 
t a
, as a ul , t i
ivi
ualis

spiit, withut huma kiship, a
f th mst pat ufi 
ly t ma.
Th g
is t b  v 
, appach
a
call
up by am ; th
m,
as a ul , t b
 a

a
shu
. Th p s t chapt  will b

vt
t th b li f i th t -ihabitig g
.
Th cc pti f a ubiquitus, uc
iti
spiit is ti ly
f ig t pimitiv thught. All th g
s f atiquity w  subj ct t
physical limitatis. Ths
v  f G c a
Rm w  by  m as
i
p 
t f a mat ial vim t. Th  was always sm hly plac
 sactuay, sm gv , t , st ,  futai,  lat   sm
t mpl  imag , wh  i th g
was assum
t
w ll, a
thugh which
h ha
t b appach
. T Ms s J hvah is H that
w lt i th
bush,[52] a
c tui s lat  Cyus, whil a
mittig that th L
f
Isa l ha
ma
him kig f th whl wl
, y t sp aks f Him as th
L
that
w ll th i J usal m.[53]  y f qu tly, sp cially i
aly tim s, this hm  haut f th g
was a t ; his c  mial
wship was c
uct
b  ath its sha
w, a
th ff igs f his
wshipp s w  hug up its bach s,  plac
at its ft,  up
a tabl by its si
, a
assum
th  by t hav  ach
th g
. Thus
th sac
sycam s f Egypt w  b li v
t b actually ihabit
by
Hthor, Nut, Selkt, Nt, or some other deity, and were worshipped and
presented with offerings as such. The vignettes in the _Book of the
Dead_ demonstrate this belief unmistakably. They frequently depict the
soul on its journey to the next world coming to one of these miraculous
sycamores on the edge of the terrible desert before it, and receiving
from the goddess of the tree a supply of bread, fruit, or water, the
acceptance of which made it the guest of the deity and prevented it from
retracing its steps without her express permission. O, sycamore of the
Goddess Nut, begins one of the chapters in the _Book of the Dead_,
let there be given to me the water which is in thee. As a rule in the
vignettes the bust of the goddess is represented as appearing from
amidst the sheltering foliage, but sometimes only her arm is seen
emerging from the leaves with a libation-bowl in the hand. The
conception is illustrated still more clearly on an ancient sarcophagus
in the Marseilles Museum, where the trunk from which the branches spread
is represented as the actual body of the deity.[54]
[Illustration: Fig. 10.The goddess Nut in her sacred sycamore
bestowing the bread and water of the next world.(Maspero, Dawn of
Civilisation.)]

[Illustration: Fig. 11.Sacred tree of Dionysus, with a statue of the

god and offerings.(Btticher, Fig. 24.)]
As mans conception of the deity became more definitely anthropomorphic
on the one hand and less local on the other, this primitive
representation of the god in the tree underwent a change in two
corresponding directions. In the one case an attempt was made to express
more clearly the manlike form of the god; the tree was dressed or carved
in human semblance, or a mask or statue of the god was hung upon or
placed beside it. In the other case, as the god widened his territory or
absorbed other local gods he became associated with all trees of a
certain class, and was assumed to dwell not in a particular tree, but in
a particular kind of tree, which thenceforward became sacred to and
symbolical of him. This latter idea received special development in the
religions of Greece and Rome. But in the early history of both those
countries cases occur in which a god was worshipped in an individual
tree. At Dodona, which was perhaps the most ancient of all Greek
sanctuaries, Zeus was approached as immanent in his sacred oak, and
legendary afterthought explained the primitive ritual by relating that
the first oak sprang from the blood of a Titan slain while invading the
abode of the god, who thereupon chose it as his own peculiar tree.
Again, in ancient Rome, according to Livy, Jupiter was originally
worshipped in the form of a lofty oak-tree which grew upon the Capitol.
The same was probably true of other gods at their first appearance.
Amongst the Greeks, indeed, the tree was the earliest symbol or
of the od, nd s such is frequenty represented on ncient vses,
mrbe tbets, siver vesses, nd w-pintins. Indeed, the soitry
tree stndin in Attic fieds nd worshipped s the scred hbittion of
 od ws in  probbiity the eriest Greek tempe, the forerunner
of those mrveous edifices which hve roused the dmirtion of every
subsequent e; whist the eborte worship of which those tempes
becme the home ws presumby bsed upon  ceremoni oriiny
connected with the worship of the tree.
[Iustrtion: Fi. 12.Scred pine of Sivnus, with  bust of the od,
nd votive ifts represented by  be of merchndise nd  Mercurys
stff.(Btticher, Fi 18.)]
Accordin to Mr. Frne, the test writer on the subject, the chief
ods of the Greeks were in their oriin deities of veettion, the
speci ttributes which we ssocite with them bein subsequent
ccretions. The pre-Heenic Cronos ve his nme to n Attic
hrvest-festiv hed in Juy, nd his ncient embem ws the
sicke.[55] Zeus, besides bein the ok-od of Dodon, ws worshipped in
Attic s  od of ricuture nd honoured with cere offerins.[56]
Artemis ws not primriy  oddess of chstity, nor  moon-oddess, nor
the twin-sister of Apoo, but n independent divinity, cosey reted
to the wood-nymphs, nd connected with wter nd with wid veettion
nd forest bests. She ws worshipped in Arcdi s the oddess of the
nut-tree nd the cedr, nd in Lconi s the oddess of the ure nd
the myrte. Her ido t Sprt ws sid to hve been found in  wiow
brke, bound round with withies. At Teuthe in Ache she ws worshipped
s the oddess of the woodnd psture, nd t Cnidus s the nurturer of
the hycinth.[57] In the eend of the coonistion of Boie she ws
represented s embodied in  hre which suddeny disppered in 
myrte-tree.[58] But her chrcter s  tree-oddess comes out sti
more cery in the cut of the hnin Artemis t Kphye in
Arcdi,[59] which no doubt rew out of the primitive custom of
suspendin  msk or ime of the veettion spirit to the scred tree.

The ssocition of Her with tree-worship is ess pronounced. She ws

sid to hve been born under  wiow-tree t Smos, nd her worship in
tht isnd ws chrcterised by  yery ceremony in which her
priestess secreted her ido in  wiow brke, where it ws subsequenty
rediscovered nd honoured with n obtion of ckes.[60] In Aros she
ws worshipped s the deity who ve the fruits of the erth, nd s
such ws represented with  pomernte in her hnd. It is so worthy
of note tht the fmiir symbo of  conventionised tree between two
riffins ppers on the stephnos or coronet of the oddess on coins of
Croton of the fourth century, nd of certin South Itin cities, s
we s on  cooss bust now t Venice, which, ike the hed on the
coins, ws presumby copied from the tempe-ime t Croton.[61]
Aphrodite ws not  primitive
veettive ife is bundnty
vrint of the ret Orient
Istr, Astrte, Cybee, etc.,
veettion.[62]

Greek deity, but her connection with

cer. She ws, in fct, but  Heenised
oddess, worshipped in different prts s
who ws essentiy  divinity of

This primitive connection of the ods of Greece with veettive ife ws
ost siht of in their ter deveopments. Even t the dte of the
Homeric poems the more dvnced of the Greeks hd evidenty rrived t
 hihy deveoped structure of reiious thouht, showin us cer-cut
person divinities with ethic nd spiritu ttributes.[63] But the
oder nd cruder ides of the nture of the ods eft  persistent trce
in the ritu with which they were worshipped, s we s in the desins
of the rtists who refected the popur trditions. Thus the ncient
custom of burnin incense before the tree, deckin it with consecrted
fiets, nd honourin it with burnt offerins, survived on fter the
beief of which it ws the ntur deveopment hd decyed. A scupture
preserved in the Berin Museum represents the hoy pine-tree of Pn
dorned with wreths nd fiets. An ime of Pn is ner, nd offerins
re bein brouht to n tr pced beneth it. Ain, Theocritus
describes how t the consecrtion of Heens pne-tree t Sprt, the
choir of Lcedemonin midens hun consecrted wreths of otus fowers
upon the tree, nointed it with costy spikenrd, nd ttched to it the
dedictory pcrd: Honour me,  ye tht pss by, for I m Heens
tree.[64]
[Iustrtion: Fi. 13.Fruit-tree dressed s Dionysus.(Btticher, Fi.
44.)]
The prctice of ivin the tree  humn sembnce, by cothin it in
rments or crvin its stump in humn form, ws the ntur resut of
this worship monst n rtistic rce, ropin its wy towrds 
concrete expression of its ides. It represented the crude strivins of
 peope who, in their ttempts to crete ods in their own ime,
eventuy produced n unsurpssbe ide of humn rce nd beuty.
From the rudey crved tree-stump rose in due time the Hermes of
Prxitees. Btticher reproduces sever ncient desins in which the
trunk of  tree is dressed s Dionysus. In one of these  msk is
fstened t the top of the trunk in such  wy tht the brnches pper
to row from the hed of the od, nd the trunk itsef is cothed with 
on rment;  tbe, or tr, oded with ifts, stnds beside
it.[65]
In other cses, probby where the worshipped tree hd died, its trunk
or brnches were rudey crved into n ime of the od, nd either eft
_in situ_, or hewn down nd pced ner the tempe or, ter, in the

very tempe itsef. Both Pusnis nd Piny stte tht the odest
imes of the ods were mde of wood, nd sever Ltin uthors refer to
the custom of thus crvin the brnches of uspicious trees (_feicium
rborum_) s prevent in primitive times monst the Greeks.[66] The
or embem of Aphrodite, dedicted by Peops, ws wrouht out of 
fresh verdnt myrte-tree. At Smos  bord ws the embem of Her; two
wooden stocks joined toether by  cross-piece ws the sin of the
twin-brethren t Sprt, nd  wooden coumn encirced with ivy ws
consecrted to Dionysus t Thebes.[67]
It my be firy ssumed tht in cses such s these the worshippers
beieved tht the ded piece of wood retined some t est of the power
oriiny ttributed to the spirit dwein in the ivin tree. Their
idotry ws but  chidish deduction from n ncient nd deepy-rooted
theooy. The sme my be sid for the wood-cutter, derided in the
Apocryph, who, tkin  crooked piece of wood nd fu of knots,
crveth it with the diience of his ideness, nd shpeth it by the
ski of his indoence; then he iveth it the sembnce of the ime of
 mn, smerin it with vermiion nd with pint coourin it red; nd
hvin mde for it  chmber worthy of it, he setteth it in  w,
mkin it fst with iron.[68] Side by side with this fooish
wood-cutter, who for ife beseecheth tht which is ded, my be pced
the Siciin pesnt whom Theocritus represents s offerin scrifice to
 crved Pn. When thou hst turned yonder ne, otherd, where the
ok-trees re, thou wit find n ime of fi-tree wood newy crven;
three eed it is, the brk sti covers it, nd it is eress with.
A riht hoy precinct runs round it, nd  ceseess strem tht feth
from the rocks on every side is reen with ures nd myrtes nd
frrnt cypress. And  round the pce tht chid of the rpe, the
vine, doth fourish with its tendris, nd the meres in sprin with
their sweet sons pour forth their woodnotes wid, nd the brown
nihtines repy with their compints, pourin from their bis their
honey sweet son.[69]
This crude worship of the od in the nthropomorphised tree inered on
monst the pesntry side by side with the spendid tempe ritu, even
into dys when the revetion of  Deity who fied  time nd spce,
nd ws worshipped in tempes not mde with hnds, ws rpidy
underminin the pn worship of the cities. Mximus Tyrius, who ived
in the second century A.D., nd counted mon his most diient pupis
the ret Mrcus Aureius, retes how even in his dy t the festiv
of Dionysus every pesnt seected the most beutifu tree in his rden
to convert it into n ime of the od nd to worship it.[70] And
Apueius, nother writer of the sme period, bers simir testimony.
It is the custom, he sys, of pious trveers, when their wy psses
 rove or hoy pce, tht they offer up  pryer for the fufiment of
their wishes, offer ifts nd remin there  time; so I, when I set foot
in tht most scred city, thouh in hste, must crve for  prdon,
offer  pryer nd moderte my hste. For never ws trveer more
justified in mkin  reiious puse, when he perchnce sh hve come
upon  fower-wrethed tr,  rotto covered with bouhs, n ok
decorted with mny horns, or  beech-tree with skins hun to it, 
itte scred hi fenced round, or  _tree trunk hewn s n ime_
(_truncus domine effitus_).[71]
Forms of the Tt or Did, the embem of Osiris.
(Mspero, _op. cit._)
[Iustrtion: Fi. 14.]

[Iustrtion: Fi. 15.]

This custom of crvin  tree into the sembnce of  od, nd
subsequenty worshippin it s his snctury or symbo, ws current in
mny prts of the word. The chief ido form of Osiris, the Did or Tt,
is beieved by Mspero to hve oriinted s  simpe tree-trunk
disbrnched nd pnted in the round.[72] Usuy it is represented
with  rotesque fce, beneth four superimposed cpits, with 
neckce round its neck,  on robe hidin the bse of the coumn in
its fods, nd the whoe surmounted by the fmiir Osirin embems.
Ain, it is sid to hve been  prctice monst the Druids, when n
ok died to strip off its brk nd shpe it into  pir, pyrmid, or
cross, nd continue to worship it s n embem of the od.[73] The cross
especiy ws  fvourite form, nd ny ok with two princip brnches
formin  cross with the min stem ws consecrted by  scred
inscription, nd from tht time forwrd rerded with prticur
reverence.
The sme custom previed in Indi. In the seventeenth century there
existed ner Surt  scred bnin-tree, supposed to be 3000 yers od,
which the Hindus woud never cut or touch with stee for fer of
offendin the od conceed in its foie. They mde pirimes to it
nd honoured it with reiious ceremonies. On its trunk t  itte
distnce from the round  hed hd been rouhy crved, pinted in y
coours, nd furnished with od nd siver eyes. This simucrum ws
constnty dorned with fresh foie nd fowers, the withered eves
which they repced bein distributed monst the pirims s pious
souvenirs.[74]
It ws predominnty, thouh by no mens excusivey,  Greek
deveopment to ssocite  prticur od with  prticur vriety of
tree. The ok, excein  others in mjestic strenth nd inherent
viour, becme the embem nd embodiment of Zeus. The connection rose
in  probbiity from the primitive worship of the Pesic Zeus in
the ok rove of Dodon, but in cssic times it ws ccepted
throuhout Greece. On coins nd in other works of rt the od is
frequenty represented s crowned with ok eves, or s stndin or
sittin beside n ok-tree.[75] To hve prtken of the corns of Zeus
ws  verncur expression for hvin cquired wisdom nd knowede.
This especi snctity of the ok s the tree of the fther of the ods
pssed into Ity, nd Viri speks of it s
Joves own tree
Tht hods the word in wfu sovereinty.
[Iustrtion: Fi. 16.Apoo on his scred tripod,  ure brnch in
his hnd.(From  coin, probby of Dephi.)]
More scred even thn the ok to Zeus ws the ure to Apoo. No
snctury of his ws compete without it; none coud be founded where
the soi ws unfvourbe to its rowth. No worshipper coud shre in
his rites who hd not  crown of ure on his hed or  brnch in his
hnd. As endowed with the power of the od, who ws t once the prophet,
poet, redeemer, nd protector of his peope, the ure ssumed n
importnt nd mny-sided re in ceremoni symboism.[76] The stff of
ure in the hnd of the recitin poet ws ssumed to ssist his
inspirtion, in the hnd of the prophet or diviner to hep him to see
hidden thins. Thus the use of the ure pyed n essenti prt in
the orcur ceremoni of Dephi. Everywhere, in short, the berin of

the ure bouh ws the surest wy to the ods protection nd fvour.
The conception ws sow to die. Cement, writin bout 200 A.D., sti
finds the wrnin necessry tht one must not hope to obtin
reconciition with God by mens of ure brnches dorned with red nd
white ribbons.[77]
By n esy trnsition the ure becme scred so to Aescupius. As
the source t once of  vube remedy nd  dedy poison, it ws hed
in hih esteem by Greek physicins. It ws popury beieved tht
spirits coud be cst out by its mens, nd it ws usu to ffix 
ure bouh over the doorwy in cses of serious iness, in order to
vert deth nd keep evi spirits t by.[78]
The ceremoni use of the ure pssed from Greece into Ity. When the
Sibyine books were consuted t Rome, the ure of prophecy wys
dorned the chir of the priest.[79] Victors were crowned with ure,
nd in Romn triumphs the sodiers decked their spers nd hemets with
its eves.
The tree of Aphrodite ws the myrte.[80] It ws hed to hve the power
both of cretin nd of perpetutin ove, nd hence from the eriest
times ws used in mrrie ceremonies. In the Eeusinin mysteries the
initites crowned themseves with the ok eves of Zeus nd the myrte
of Aphrodite. The Grces, her ttendnts, were represented s werin
myrte chpets, nd her worshippers crowned themseves with myrte
sprys. At Rome Venus ws worshipped under the nme of Myrte in her
tempe t the foot of the Aventine. The ppe-tree hed  subsidiry but
yet importnt pce in the cut of Aphrodite. Its fruit ws rerded s
n pproprite offerin to her nd, ccordin to Theocritus, pyed its
prt in ove mes.[81] The ppes of Atnt hd no doubt  symboic
sinificnce.
[Iustrtion: Fi. 17.Coin of Athens, of the e of Perices or
erier, showin oive spry.]
[Iustrtion: Fi. 18.Coin of Athens, third century B.C.]
Athen so hd her speci tree. Accordin to mythooy she sprn
fuy rmed from the hed of Zeus, but reserch into the oriins of the
ods mkes it much more probbe tht her true pediree ws from the
oive, which rew wid upon the Athenin Acropois, the chief set of
her worship. Mr. MLennn even incined to rerd the oive s
oriiny the totem of the Athenins.[82] At ny rte their connection
with tht tree dtes from n ncient time. The produce of the
oive-tree hd n most reiious vue for the men of Attic, nd the
physic side of Greek civiistion much depended on it.[83] From the
er of Perices onwrds the coins of Athens were stmped with the
oive-brnch, monst other usu ccompniments of the tutery
oddess. Every snctury nd tempe of Athen hd its scred oive-tree,
which ws rerded s the symbo of the divine pece nd protection.
Ntury  eend rose to expin the connection. Athen nd Poseidon,
bein t vrince s to which of them shoud nme the newy-founded city
of Athens, referred the question to the ods, who in ener ssemby
decreed the priviee to tht cimnt who shoud ive the most usefu
present to the inhbitnts of erth. Poseidon struck the round with his
trident nd  horse sprn forth. But Athen reveed the spry of the
ry-reen oive,  divine crown nd ory for briht Athens.[84] And
the ods decided tht the oive, s the embem of pece, ws  hiher
ift to mn thn the horse, which ws the symbo of wr. So Athen nmed
the city fter hersef nd becme its protectress. This myth, which,

ccordin to Mr. Frne, is one of the very few cretion-myths in Greek

fok-ore, ws  fvourite subject in rt, nd is frequenty represented
on te Attic coins.[85]
Other ods hd their scred trees: Dionysus, the vine; Dis nd
Persephone, the popr, which ws supposed to row on the bnks of
Acheron. The cypress, ced by Greeks nd Romns ike the mournfu
tree, ws so scred to the ruers of the underword, nd to their
ssocites, the Ftes nd Furies. As such it ws customry to pnt it
by the rve, nd, in the event of  deth, to pce it either before
the house or in the vestibue, in order to wrn those bout to perform 
scred rite inst enterin  pce pouted by  ded body.[86]
In rerd to the number of trees which they hed scred the Semitic
ntions rived the Greeks. They venerted the pines nd cedrs of
Lebnon, the everreen oks of the Pestinin his, the tmrisks of
the Syrin junes, the ccis of the Arbin wdies, besides such
cutivted trees s the pm, the oive, nd the vine. But there is no
cer evidence to prove tht they ever couped  prticur species of
tree with  prticur od. In Phoenici the cypress ws scred to
Astrte, but it ws equy connected with the od Mecrth, who ws
beieved to hve pnted the cypress-trees t Dphne. If  tree
beoned to  prticur deity, it ws not becuse it ws of 
prticur species, but becuse it ws the ntur wood of the pce
where the od ws worshipped.[87] It is true tht the Chdens
rerded the cedr s the speci tree of the od E, but the
ssocition ws probby borrowed, ike the od himsef, from the
non-Semitic Accdins, whie the connection of the Nbten od,
Dusres, with the vine my be trced to Heenic infuence.
Outside the Semitic re individu ods re often found, s in Greece,
inked with prticur kinds of trees. In Persi the cypress ws the
scred tree of the od Mithr, whie in Eypt the cci ws intimtey
ssocited with Osiris. On n ncient srcophus n cci is
represented with the device, Osiris shoots up.[88] And in mortury
pictures the od is sometimes represented s  mummy covered with  tree
or with rowin pnts. In both cses the ide of ife risin out of
deth is probby impied.
[Iustrtion: Fi. 19.The Bodhi-tree of Knk Muni (Ficus
omert).(The Stp of Bhrhut, by Mjor-Gener Cunninhm, Pte
xxiv. 4.)]
In Indi ech Buddh ws ssocited with his own bodhi-tree or tree of
wisdom. The trumpet-fower, the s-tree, the cci, the pipp, nd
the bnin  beoned to different Buddhs, nd re so depicted on the
Stp of Bhrhut. Here in the cse of the eriest of the Buddhs whose
bodhi-tree hs been found, the Buddh Vipsin, the prticur tree
represented is the _pti_ or trumpet-fower. In front of it is pced
 throne or bodhi-mnd, before which two peope re kneein, whist 
crowd of others with joined hnds re stndin on ech side of the
tree.[89] The Buddh Gutms tree ws the pipp or _Ficus
reiios_, which is much more ebortey treted t Bhrhut thn ny
other bodhi-tree. In the scupture representin its dortion, the
trunk is entirey surrounded by n open pired buidin with n upper
story, ornmented with niches continin umbres. Two umbres re
pced in the top of the tree, nd numerous stremers re hnin from
the brnches. In the two upper corners re fyin fiures with wins,
brinin offerins of rnds. On ech side there is  me fiure
risin  rnd in his riht hnd nd hodin the tip of his tonue

with the thumb nd forefiner of his eft. In the ower story of the
buidin is  throne in front of  tree. Two fiures, me nd feme,
re kneein before the throne, whie  feme fiure is stndin to the
eft, nd  N Rj with his hnds crossed on his brest to the riht.
This fiure is distinuished by  tripe serpent crest. To the extreme
riht there is n isoted pir surmounted by n eephnt hodin out
 rnd in his trunk. On the domed roof of the buidin is inscribed,
The Bodhi-Tree of the Buddh Sky Muni.[90] In nother scupture
eephnts od nd youn re pyin their devotions to  bnin-tree,
whie others re brinin rnds to hn on its brnches. The
importnt berin of these scuptures on the history of tree-worship is
obvious.
[Iustrtion: Fi. 20.Wid eephnts pyin their devotions to the
scred bnin of Ksyp Buddh.(The Stp of Bhrhut, Pte xv.)]
It my be noted in pssin tht neither in the mny scuptured scenes t
Bhrhut nd Buddh Gy,  of which re contemporry with Asok
(_circ_ 250 B.C.), nor even in the much ter scuptures of Snchi
dtin from the end of the first century A.D. is there ny
representtion of Buddh, the soe objects of reverence bein stps
(representtions of the tombs of hoy men), whees, or trees. At  ter
dte the tree ppers to hve ost its ornic connection with the
venerted persone, nd to hve preserved ony  ceremoni nd
symboic sinificnce, for the Bo-tree, under which truth rduy
unfoded itsef to the medittin Gutm, is rerded s scred by
Buddhists in much the sme wy s the cross is by Christins.
There cn be no doubt, however, tht in the eriest forms of worship
current in Indi, the ince between the pnt word nd the divine
essence ws extremey intimte. The ret cretive od Brhm, who, by
the iht of his countennce, dispeed the primev oom, nd by his
divine infuence evoked the erth from the primev ocen, is
represented in Hindu theooy s hvin emnted from  oden otus
which hd been quickened into ife when the spirit of Om moved over the
fce of the wters. Ain, in Brhminic worship the very essence of
the deity is supposed to descend into his tree. The tusi or hoy bsi
of Indi is beieved by the Hindus to be pervded by the divinity of
Vishnu nd of his wife Lkshmi, nd hence is venerted s  od. It
opens the tes of heven to the pious worshipper, nd those who uproot
it wi be punished by Vishnu in time nd eternity.[91]
In fct, in the twiiht of reiion, wherever we turn, the sme ide of
 tree-inhbitin od previs. In the mythooy of Northern Europe the
rove of Ups, the most scred spot in  the Scndinvin peninsu,
ws the home of Woden, the od who, fter hnin for nine nihts on the
ows-tree, descended to the underword nd brouht bck the prize of
wisdom in the form of nine rune sons.[92] In the Midde Aes, ccordin
to the rue by which the ods of one e become the demons of the next,
Woden ws converted into Stn, his rove becme the Brocken, nd the
Vkyrie deenerted into witches. Tr, the supreme od of the Finns
nd Esthonins, ws ssocited with the ok, nd the sme is true of the
Norse od, Bder, t whose deth, we re tod, men, nims, nd pnts
wept. The princip od of the ncient Prussins ws supposed to dwe
by preference in the ret ok t Romove,[93] before which  hierrchy
of priests kept up  continu fire of ok-os. The ok ws veied from
view, ike the pictures in  modern continent church, nd ony shown
from time to time to its worshippers. The rove where it stood ws so
scred tht ony the consecrted were owed to enter, nd no brnch in
it miht be injured.[94]

[Iustrtion: Fi. 21.Scred sycmore, with offerins.(Mspero, op.

cit.)]
If proof were needed of the reverence with which the tree ws rerded
in ncient times nd of its hod upon the reverence of the peope, s
bein the dwein-pce of the od, it coud be found one in the
number of the ifts, which, by the evidence of ncient iterture nd
rt, it ws the prctice to hn upon its brnches or pce bout its
trunk. In Arbi there ws  tree, identified by Robertson Smith with
the scred cci of Nkh, the dwein-pce of the oddess A-Ozz,
on which the peope of Mecc t n nnu pirime hun wepons,
rments, ostrich es, nd other offerins.[95] It is spoken of in the
trditions of Mhomet by the vue nme of  _dht nwt_, or tree to
hn thins on. Another Arbin tree, the scred dte-pm t Nejrn,
ws so dored t n nnu fest, nd hun with fine cothes nd
womens ornments.[96] In Eypt, offerins of fis, rpes, cucumbers,
etc. were hbituy mde to the deities inhbitin the sycmores.
[Iustrtion: Fi. 22.Scred tree of Artemis, hun with wepons of the
chse.(Btticher, Fi. 9.)]
A simir custom ws we known in Greece, s is proved by the mny
vses nd scuptured tbets in which the tree is shown hun with
consecrted fiets nd offerins, whie the tr beneth rons with
ifts. Sttius, writin in the second century B.C., describes  widey
ceebrted tree, monst mny others simiry den, s bein covered
with bows nd rrows, heds of bors, skins of ions, nd hue horns,
which hd been dedicted to it s trophies of the chse.[97] Conquerors,
returnin from btte, woud hn their wepons on the scred tree with
 dediction to the -powerfu Zeus. The rms thus dedicted were
respected even by the enemy.
This custom of mkin offerins to the tree is no doubt of ret
ntiquity. In the eend of the Goden Feece, Phryxus, hvin been
crried by the fbed rm cross the Heespont, scrificed it to Ares,
nd hun its priceess feece on the bouhs of  scred beech-tree,[98]
whence it ws subsequenty recovered by Json. Such dediction t the
shrines of the ods of somethin tht hd been of service nd sti hd
vue to the worshipper, ws very common in Greek nd Romn worship, nd
in mny cses the tree ws the recipient of the ift.[99] The rich
brouht their jewes, the poor their homey toos nd utensis. The
fishermn dedicted his nets in rtitude for n exception ctch. The
shepherd offered his fute s  wecome ift to Pn. Some of the
dedictory inscriptions preserve for us the pthos of the ift.
Dphnis, the fute-pyer, bowed with shkin e, hs here dedicted
his shepherds stff, too hevy for his wek hnd, to medow-ovin
Pn.[100] Lis, rown od, hns her too truthfu mirror on the scred
tree of Aphrodite. Tke it, O ovey Cythere; to thee one is undyin
beuty iven.[101] In the sme wy Bcchic reveers, their frenzy
pst, brouht to the tree the cymbs, robes, nd perfumed tresses they
hd used.[102]
There is further evidence of the snctity of the tree in the importnt
function iven to brnches nd wreths in reiious ceremonies,  custom
which cn find oic expntion ony in  precedent tree-worship
deepy rooted in the popur mind. In the service of the ods of Greece
nd Rome the wreth ws indispensbe. An uncrowned worshipper ws in
the position of the mn in the prbe who hd no weddin rment. And
the wreth must hve been tken from the prticur tree of the od

worshipped, so tht the worshipper miht be pced in cosest communion

with the deity, nd remin inviote from moesttion whie thus cothed
with the divine protection.[103]
The crryin of the scred brnch in soemn procession formed the
essenti feture in some of the most importnt reiious festivs of
Greece. At the Dphnephori, hed every nine yers t Thebes in Boeoti
in honour of Apoo, the chief post in the procession ws hed by the
Dphnephorus, or ure-berer,  boy chosen for his strenth nd
beuty. He ws foowed to the tempe of the od by  chorus of midens,
so berin brnches nd chntin  procession hymn, nd ws rerded
for the occsion s the priest of Apoo, who himsef bore monst his
mny other ppetions tht of Dphnephorus, becuse he hd brouht the
ure to Dephi nd pnted it there.[104]
At the Pynepsi nd the Threi, two importnt Athenin festivs,
the _Eiresione_,  hrvest wreth of oive or ure bound round with
red nd white woo, nd hun with the choicest first-fruits, ws borne
bout by sinin boys, whie offerins were mde to the ods.[105] A
vine brnch with the rpes upon it ve its nme to nother Athenin
festiv, the Oschophori, or rpe crryin, hed in honour of
Dionysus. A rce between chosen youths formed one of the events of the
festiv, the competitors runnin from the tempe of Dionysus to tht of
Athen, with bouhs in their hnds.[106]
Aprt, however, from these importnt festivs, the use of wreths or
brnches ws  fmiir incident in the diy ife of the Greeks,
berin with it wys  sort of reiious sinificnce. The briner of
ood news ws rewrded with  wreth; the uests t  fest were crowned
with fowers. No ift to the ods ws compete without its for
ccompniment, nd their sttues were often hidden under the wreths
brouht thither s the most cceptbe offerin.
It cn scrcey be doubted tht this vish empoyment of bossom nd
ef s the expression of  reiious emotion oriiny sprn from
reverence for the tree s the fvourite home of  od. The Greeks, with
their instinctive ove for  thins beutifu, ntury pushed this
rcefu custom further thn other rces. But the ceremoni use of
brnches nd fowers ws common throuhout the Est. The Chden
scred texts mention the use of reen brnches in reiious
ceremonies.[107] At the Fest of Tbernces the Isreites were
enjoined to tke the bouhs of oody trees, brnches of pm-trees,
nd the bouhs of thick trees nd wiows of the brook, nd rejoice
before the Lord.[108] The Apocryph mentions the fest oive bouhs
of the Tempe.[109] In Persi nd Armeni it ws customry to ber 
brnch when pprochin the od. In Eypt Isis ws worshipped with
sprys of bsinthe, pm-brnches were crried in funer processions,
nd otus wreths usuy worn t fests, whist in the Assyrin
scuptures iustrious persons re frequenty represented hodin 
fower.[110]
However itte benefit the votries of trees nd imes derived from
their observnces, prt from the subjective strenth nd soce tht
fow from every ct of worship, there ws t est one tnibe service
their ods coud render themthe riht of snctury nd syum. For the
scred tree, shrin s it did in the protective power of the indwein
deity, offered n inviobe refue to the persecuted nd the ods
foriveness to the sinner who impored it. To hve touched it ws
rerded monst the Greeks s equivent to hvin touched n tr or
sttue of the od. A brnch of it, entwined with the consecrted fiet,

ssured its berer from persecution. Hence  possibe expntion of the

eend of the youn Dionysus stndin secure monst the brnches of the
scred tree whist the fmes red round him.
[Iustrtion: Fi. 23.Scred ure of Apoo t Dephi, dorned with
fiets nd votive tbets; beneth it the od pperin to protect
Orestes.(From  vse-pintin, Btticher, Fi. 2.)]
Frequent references occur in the Cssics to tree-sncturies. The
Amzons, defeted by Hercues, found  sfe syum beneth the hoy tree
t Ephesus, which ws worshipped both s the symbo nd tempe of
Artemis, before her sttue ws set up in the tree or her tempe buit
round it.[111] Herodotus retes how Ceomenes, hvin burnt the scred
rove of Aros, toether with the five thousnd conquered Arives who
hd tken refue there, ws visited by the ods with mdness for his ct
of scriee.[112] Orestes, in his fiht from the Furies, is
represented on  Greek vse s seekin refue beneth Apoos
ure.[113] The od ppers out of the tree to succour him nd scre
wy his pursuers. The cypress rove on the Acropois t Phius in
Peoponnesus ws nother instnce. Fuitives from justice on rechin it
becme inviobe, nd escped prisoners hun upon its trees the chins
for which they hd no further use,[114] just s the modern crippe,
whose imbs hve been freed from the prison of his psy, dedictes his
crutches to our Ldy of Lourdes.

CHAPTER III
WOOD-DEMONS AND TREE-SPIRITS
In nery  prts of the word, s t nery  periods of history,
we find evidences of  beief in the existence of wood-spirits nd
tree-spirits, which, however they my differ in outwrd form, re
strney simir in their ener chrcteristics. It cnnot be
sserted of __ these beins tht they were rerded s the ctu
spirits of individu trees, connected with them s cosey s  mns
sou is with his body, but it is emphticy true of some of them. To
the css of wood-spirits s  whoe beon certin t est of the
_jinni_ of Arbi, the woodnd spirits of Greek nd Romn mythooy,
nd the wid men nd eves of Europen fok-ore, besides the
tree-inhbitin spirits of vrious unciviised rces. Thouh not wys
shrpy demrcted from the ods, they differ from them, s  rue, in
bein rerded nd spoken of enericy, nd in not hvin stted
retions with mn. Their inces re rther with trees, pnts, nd
nims, whose rowth nd prosperity re often beieved to be under
their protection, nd their presence is often ssumed to be expressed in
ntur phenomen, in the mysterious sounds of the woods, nd in the
fury of the storm. To mn they re frequenty unfriendy, nd numerous
observnces, sti prctised in unciviised prts, hve risen from the
beief tht it ws necessry to propitite their fvour.
Brody spekin, their friendiness to mn is directy proportionte to
their humn sembnce, nd this in its turn woud seem to depend on the
extent to which mn hs been be to conquer the dners of the reions
where they dwe. The frther bck they re trced the more nim-ike
nd inhumn their ppernce. They preceded the ods nd outsted them,
fourishin in times when these were sti nim nd totemistic, nd
retinin their nim chrcteristics on fter the ods hd become

nthropomorphic. To the pesnt mind there ws, perhps, no very cer

distinction between the two csses, nd the ine between them hs never
been n unpssbe one, for demons my deveop into ods, just s ods
my deenerte into demons. It is not cimed tht , or indeed most
demons were tree-spirits in their oriin, but  re css of them t
ny rte were cosey ssocited with veetbe ife nd the phenomen
tht foster or threten it.
Chden mythooy reconised, side by side with ods emphticy
humn,  css of fbuous monsters who were essentiy demons nd
inferior spirits. There is not much evidence to coupe these monsters
with trees, but in one of the Bbyonin hymns the id of the ods is
invoked inst  terribe demon who mkes  cretures hurry in
fer, nd of whom it is stted tht his hnd is the storm-demon, his
eye is fied with the shdow of the forest, the soe of his foot is the
uub-tree.[115]
In the cse of the _jinni_ of Arbi the connection with trees is more
cery demonstrbe. They were rerded s hiry monsters, more ike
bests thn men, huntin dense, untrodden thickets nd endowed with the
power of ssumin vrious shpes. Such n uncouth nd rmin
presentment my we hve risen from their presumed ssocition with
pces, which, s the ntur irs of dnerous nims, were perious
to mn, but the ssocition of certin kinds of _jinni_ with trees must
in mny cses be rerded s primry, the trees themseves bein
conceived s nimted demonic beins.[116] They hve pprenty hd 
oner creer thn most demons of the css, for their existence is
sti firmy beieved in by certin Bedouins, who sseverte tht they
hve ctuy seen them. Mr. Theodore Bent found the sme superstitious
dred of the _jinni_ both in the Hdrmut nd in Dhofr. They re
described s semi-divine spirits, who ive by rocks ner the strems,
under trees, or in the kes. Mr. Bent coud not induce the Bedouins of
his escort to ther  certin wter-pnt for fer of offendin the
_jinn_ of the ke. In fct in the Gr Mountins the fer of the
_jinni_, nd the ski of certin micins in keepin them friendy,
pper to constitute the ony tnibe forms of reiion.[117]
Under the word srm, hiry monsters, E.V. styrs nd devis, the
Bibe mkes occsion mention of mythic cretures who were presumby
reted to the Arbin _jinni_.[118] They re represented s frequentin
wste-pces, forsken by mn nd iven over to nettes nd brmbes. In
one psse the word is used of the hethen ods of Cnn,[119] whose
cose ssocition with trees hs redy been noticed.
The fntstic monsters of the Eyptin desert, thouht to pper ony t
the moment when the minor functions ssined to them hd to be
performed, nd t other times to conce themseves in innimte
objects, re represented s sometimes dwein in trees or in stkes
pnted in the round.[120] Their ssumed compete incorportion in such
objects is proved by the expressive term used by the Eyptinsthe
objects te them up. Their existence nd their unfriendiness to mn
were firmy beieved in. The shepherd fered them for his fock, the
hunter for himsef. Simir bests romed throuh the Eyptin Hdes nd
thretened the wyfrin spirits of the ded.
These frmentry evidences re importnt s cstin  side-iht on the
pre superstitions of the Aryn rces, monst which, s we sh
see, the beief in wood-demons nd tree-spirits ws most univers.
In Greek nd Romn mythooy there is  whoe ery of wid cretures

inhbitin the mountins nd woods, nd more or ess cosey ssocited
with veetbe ifecenturs nd cycops, Pns nd styrs, funs nd
sivni, nymphs nd dryds. Mnnhrdt hs diienty compred these
mythic beins with the wid peope nd wood-spirits of Europen
fok-ore, nd hs cery demonstrted  remrkbe retionship.[121]
In their evoution they present  distincty proressive humnistion.
The eriest of them, the centurs nd cycops, remind us of the
fbuous monsters of Semitic eend, nd their contests with, nd
eventu disppernce before the hiher powers seem preed in the
simir confict between the ods nd demons of Chde. Mnnhrdt
dduces mny ruments to prove tht the centurs first oriinted s
oc wood nd mountin spirits. Their eriest hunt ws the thicky
wooded Peion; one of them is represented s the son of the dryd
Phiyr or the inden; nother s the son of Mei or the sh. Their
wepons were uprooted trees. Like the Europen wid men of the woods
they were covered with on shy hir. Chiron, the most friendy of
them, ws skied in the use of simpes nd in the hidden powers of
nture. Lsty, their presence ws ssumed in the whirwind nd other
vioent tmospheric phenomen. A these fetures css the rchic
centurs with the undoubted wood-spirits of  ter mythooy. The sme
is probby true of the cycops, whose chrcteristicstheir sine eye,
their use of uprooted trees for wepons, nd their connection with sheep
nd otsmy be preed monst the eendry wood-spirits of modern
Europe.
In ter times the pce of the extinct centurs nd cycops ws tken
by  tribe, hf men hf ots, known s Pn, styrs, nd sieni, who
oriiny were in  probbiity oc wood-spirits, Pn proceedin
from Arcdi, the styrs from Aros, the sieni from Phryi. In the
cse of Pn we seem to see  css of doubtfuy micbe wood-spirits
deveopin into  more or ess benevoent od. The Greek poets of the
Pericen e spek of  whoe tribe of wood-demons known s Pnes or
Pnisci, from which eventuy n individu, the Gret Pn, seems to
hve emered. The son of  nymph, Pn is ced in the Cssics od of
the wood, compnion of kids, otherd. He is represented with horns
nd ots es, stndin beside  scred ok or pine,  fir-wreth on
his hed, nd  brnch in his hnd. He eds the reves of the styrs,
pipes nd dnces monst the wood-nymphs under the trees, nd woos 
pine-tree personified s Pithys. Like other wood-spirits he protects the
herds, nd, s befits  demon on the wy to potheosis, is for the most
prt friendy to mn. But he never, pprenty, quite ost his oriin
chrcter, for he is sometimes cssed with incubi nd spirits who cuse
evi drems.
The styr ws  derded, or rther unhumnised Pn, more sensu nd
micious in chrcter, corser in feture, nd more besti in form.
Hesiod cs the styrs  useess nd crfty tribe. They were
oriiny wood-demons, nd men represented s styrs took prt in the
festivs of Dionysus, the chief of veettion spirits. Sienus, ike
Pn, the individuised hed of  css, ws so cosey ssocited
with Dionysus. The sieni, in fct, were but Phryin vrints of the
styrs, nd re represented in the Homeric hymn to Aphrodite s
consortin with the hmdryds. In Art they pper cothed in otskins.
It my be dded tht the modern Greek pesnt sti beieves in
micious ot-footed demons who inhbit the mountins.[122]
In Romn mythooy the funs nd sivni pyed the sme prt s Pn nd
the styrs in Greece, nd the sme confusion existed s to whether they
were individu or eneric. The funs sedom ppered to mort siht,
but their presence ws mde known in the weird noises nd the hosty

ppernces of the drk forest. When seen they hd horns nd ots
feet, thouh in  ter renderin they re more humn in ppernce.
They urded the focks psturin in the woods nd, ike other
wood-spirits, so protected the cornfied. Sivnus nd the sivni, s
their nme denotes, were tree-spirits even more emphticy thn the
funs. Accordin to Viri the odest inhbitnts of Ltium otted to
Sivnus  scred rove nd  speci festiv;[123] in ter times he
ws universy rerded s the ptron of the rden nd fied. At
hrvest time n offerin of mik ws poured over the roots of his scred
tree. In Art, Sivnus is represented s covered with hir (_horridus_)
nd stndin under, or rowin out of  rnded tree,  crown of pine
sprys on his hed,  re pine bouh in one hnd nd  sicke in the
other. An inscription speks of him s hf encosed in  scred sh
(_scr semicusus frxino_). Another ccount ssocites the sivni
with the fi-tree, nd sttes tht they were ced by some _funi
ficrii_. Both funs nd sivni hd n evi reputtion for their
supposed propensity to ssut women, to crry off chidren, nd to
disturb the drems of seepers. The pesnts of North Ity nd Siciy
sti beieve in wood-spirits, _ente sevtic_, cosey resembin the
od sivni. A Siciin incnttion is ddressed to the spirit of the
fi-tree nd the devis of the nut-trees.[124]
Tkin the sum of their chrcteristics, Mnnhrdt is doubtess riht in
cssin these eendry beins with the wood-spirits met with in the
fok-ore of Northern Europe.
It is, however, in the feme counterprts of these woodnd cretures
tht the ide of n ctu tree-sou is most cery exempified. The
most strikin instnce is the fmiir one of the hmdryds, the
deep-bosomed nymphs of wooded Id, to whose cre Aphrodite entrusted the
infnt Aenes, nd whose very nme expresses their intimte connection
with their trees. To quote the Homeric hymn to Aphrodite, which ws
probby written under Phryin infuence, They beon neither to the
morts nor to the immorts: they ive on, indeed, enjoyin immort
food, nd with the immorts they join in the ordy dnce. The sieni
mte with them, nd Hermes, too, in the privy recesses of deihtfu
rottoes. With them, when they were born, upon the mountins ofty pines
nd oks sprn forth from the erth tht ives food to mn. Yet when t
st the fte of deth overtkes them, first the beutifu trees wither
upon the erth, the brk dies round them, their brnches f wy, nd
therewith the sous of the nymphs eve the iht of the sun.[125]
Pindr, who woud pper to hve first iven them the nme of
hmdryds, speks of them s hvin the sme enth of ife s 
tree.[126]
But the cse of the hmdryds is by no mens n isoted exmpe of the
Greek beief in spirits whose ife ws bound up with the ife of the
tree. In the Homeric hymn to Ceres the nymphs rejoice when the oks re
in ef, nd weep when their brnches become bre.[127] Esewhere 
nymph is depicted imporin tht the ok wherein she dwet shoud not be
hewn down, nd s brinin venence on him who inored her
entrety.[128] It ws not ony the ok nd the pine tht miht be
inhbited by  spirit. Amonst the nmes of nymphs tht hve come down
to us is Phiyr (the inden), Dphne (the ure), Rhoe (the
pomernte), nd Heike (the wiow). In ter times n ttempt ws
mde in some cses to expin the connection by metmorphosis,  ivin
nymph bein supposed to hve been converted into  tree, but it is
extremey probbe tht this ws n inversion of the primitive nexus.

There re mny instnces cosey pre to these cssic myths in

mediev nd modern eend. The story of Aexnder nd the
fower-midens, for instnce, which ws  fvourite with the
troubdours, nd ws subsequenty popurised by Lmprecht, nd ter by
Uhnd, ws presumby founded on  eend current in ncient Greece.
The story oes tht in  certin wood, when sprin cme, numbers of
enormous fower buds ppered out of the round, from ech of which, s
it opened, there ept forth  beutifu miden. Their robes were  prt
of their rowth, nd in coour they were just ike their fowers, red
nd white. They pyed nd dnced in the shde, nd their sinin
rived the birds. A pst hertches were wiped wy, nd  ife of
joy nd bundnce seemed to open to him who sw them. But it ws deth
for  miden to eve her shdy retret nd encounter the scorchin sun.
When summer ws pst, nd the fowers withered nd the birds were
sient, the beutifu cretures died. Aexnder nd his knihts, comin
upon this mic wood, mted with the fower-midens, nd for more thn
three months ived in perfect hppiness, ti one by one the fowers
fded, one by one the nymphs died, nd the kin nd his compnions hd
sorrowfuy to resume their trves.[129]
Leends of this sort no doubt provided Lucin with the motive for tht
true history of his, wherein he tes of the wonderfu vines rowin
on the fr side of  certin river tht rn wine insted of wter. These
vines beow hd  very thick stem, but bove bore midens bodies of
perfect form. Bunches of rpes rew from their finer-tips, nd vine
eves nd rpes formed their hir. They ve the trveers  friendy
reetin, nd bde them wecome, most spekin Greek, others Lydin or
Indin. Whoever ccepted their kisses fet  sudden drunken
bewiderment. They shrieked oud with pin when one ttempted to puck
their rpes. Two of the trveers who surrendered themseves to their
embrces coud not et free in, but took root nd budded forth vine
eves.[130]
The bove, of course, ws intended s  iterry prody, but stories,
not  whit ess wonderfu, re found in the fok-ore of mny modern
countries, nd re no doubt recited nd received in ood fith. There is
 modern Greek eend, for instnce, of  chidess wife, to whom
Heven, in nswer to her pryer for chidren, sent  oden ure
berry. Despisin the ift she threw it wy. From it there rew 
ure-tree with oden sprys. A prince, foowin the chse, ws so
struck by its beuty tht he ordered his dinner to be prepred beneth
it. In the bsence of the cook the tree opened nd  fir miden stepped
forth, nd fter strewin  hndfu of st over his food, withdrew to
the tree, which immeditey reincosed her. The foowin dy the prince
in found his dinner spoit, nd on the third dy he determined to
keep wtch. The mid cme forth nd ws cptured by the prince before
she coud rein her tree. After  time she escped, nd comin bck to
the tree ced upon it to open nd receive her. But it remined cosed,
nd she ws obied to return to her prince, with whom, fter vrious
mischnces, she ived hppiy for ever fter.[131]
The Czekhs hve  simir story of  nymph who romed the forest by dy,
but t niht invriby returned to her wiow. She mrried  mort nd
bore him  chid. One dy the wiow ws cut down nd the nymph died. A
crde fshioned out of its wood hd the power of uin her chid to
seep, nd when he rew up he ws be to hod converse with his mother
by mens of  pipe formed from the twis which rew bout the
stump.[132]
Tht the sou of the nymph ws thouht ctuy to inhbit the tree is

further proved by the beief current both in ncient nd modern myth,
tht bood woud fow when the tree ws injured. It ws firmy hed in
primitive times tht the bood ws the very ife, the sou of n nim,
nd hence in primitive ritu it ws the bood of the scrifice tht ws
offered to the od. It is interestin to note tht in some cses
winethe bood of the rpend the juices of fruits nd veetbes,
_i.e._ the vehice of the pnt-sou, were used s substitutes for
bood.[133] In  ter chpter we sh see tht herbs nd fowers were
fbed to row from the bood of the ded nd so to re-embody his
spirit, nd it wi be remembered how Viri mkes the corne nd myrte
which rew upon the rve of Poydorus t once beed nd spek when torn
up by the hnd of Aenes.[134] So Ovid, recountin  simir occurrence
in the cse of the dryds ok, scrieiousy feed by Eresicthon, ws
probby ony ivin  poetic version of  fmiir beief:
He it ws
Whose impious xe mid Ceres scred rove
Dred viote her immemori shdes.
Hue with the rowth of es in its midst
An ncient ok there stood, itsef  rove,
With votive tbets hun nd rtefu ifts
For vows ccompished. Underneth its shde
The dryds wove their fest dnce.
Eresicthon, in spite of wrnins, refused to sty his hnd.
The trembin tree sent forth n udibe ron!
From its pe eves nd corns died the reen,
Drk oozin swet from every brnch distied,
And s the scoffer smote it, crimson-red
Gushed from the wounded brk the sp, s strems
When t the tr fs some mihty bu
The ife-bood from his neck.
Then from its hert
Issued  voice, Thou strikest in this trunk
A nymph whom Ceres oves, nd for the deed
Dery sht py. With my st voice thy doom
I prophesy, nd in thy imminent fte
Find soce for my own.[135]
Mnnhrdt quotes sever mediev nd modern instnces of the beief in
beedin trees.[136] And stories of punishment incurred for destroyin 
spirit-inhbited tree re not uncommon in fok-ore. There is  Germn
eend of n od crone who ttempted to uproot the trunk of n ncient
fir-tree. In the midst of her bours  sudden wekness fe upon her,
insomuch tht she ws scrcey be to wk. Whie endevourin to crw
home she met  mysterious strner, who, herin her story, t once
pronounced tht in her ttempts to uproot the tree she hd wounded n
ef inhbitin it. If the ef recovered, he sid, so woud she; if not,
she woud die. As the od womn perished tht sef-sme niht we re
eft to infer tht the ef died so. From Indi comes  simir
recit. Whie fein  tree the youthfu Styvnt broke out into 
profuse swet, nd overcome with sudden wekness, finted nd died upon
the spot: he hd morty wounded the indwein spirit.
Such stories hve no doubt risen from the dred inspired by
wood-spirits monst  peope who beieve in them. In short, the wid
inhbitnts of the woods hve wys retined some of the we with which
their forerunners, the demons, were rerded. Often they re credited

with quite  wnton vindictiveness. A Ben fok-te tes of 

certin bnin-tree hunted by spirits who hd  hbit of wrinin the
necks of  who ventured to pproch the tree by niht.[137] In nother
Indin story  tree tht rew beside  Brhmns house ws inhbited by
 _snkchinni_,  feme spirit of white compexion, who one dy seized
the Brhmns wife nd thrust her into  hoe in the tree.[138]
Sometimes the tree-spirit wi be wicked nd fooish enouh to enter
into  humn bein, nd then the exorcists services re ced in. The
presence of the spirit is esiy discovered. The exorcist hs ony to
set fire to  piece of turmeric root, it bein of common knowede tht
no spirit cn endure the sme of burnin turmeric.
The Shnrs of Indi beieve tht disembodied spirits hunt the erth,
dwein in trees nd tkin especi deiht in drk forests nd
soitry pces.[139] When  Burmn strts upon  journey he hns 
brnch of pntins or  spry of the scred _Eueni_ on the poe of
his buffo crt, to conciite ny spirit upon whom he my be
unfortunte enouh to intrude. The hunter foowin his oney quest in
the forest wi deposit some rice nd  itte bunde of eves t the
foot of ny more thn usuy mjestic tree, hopin thereby to
propitite the _nt_ or spirit dwein therein.[140]
Somethin of the sme fer is fet by the pesnts for the firies,
eves, pixies, nd  the tribe of itte peope fmiir to Europen
fok-ore. These, too, re  more or ess ssocited with trees, bein
supposed to dwe either monst the brnches or in the hoow trunks.
Germn eves hve  prtiity for the ok nd eder, nd the hoes in
the trunks re the doorwys by which they pss in nd out. A simir
ide exists monst the Hindus. Thouh, s  rue, these forest-eves
ber  ood chrcter, they re not to be ihty offended, or more wi
be herd of it. Hence prudent country-fok wi never injure trees
inhbited by firies, for when rieved they hve mpe mens of
venin themseves by infictin some mdy or cusin some i-uck.
Even in Ennd, especiy in Devon nd Cornw, there sti exist
peope who beieve tht oks re inhbited by eves
Firy eves, whose midniht reves
By  forest side or fountin
Some beted pesnt sees.
And it is not yet quite n obsoete custom to turn the cot for uck
when pssin throuh ef-hunted roves. It ws on St. Johns eve tht
the firies hed their speci reves, nd in od dys mny  timorous
hnd miht be found ttchin to his doorwy brnches of St. Johns
wort, thered t midniht on St. Johns eve, to protect his dwein
from n invsion of eves. Simiry the pesnts ivin ner Mount Etn
never seep beneth trees on St. Johns eve, est the spirits who then
issue freey from their efy dwein-pces shoud enter into the
seeper.[141]
But it is in Centr nd North Europe, in the Tyro nd the Voses, in
the Germn forests, in Russi, Scndinvi, nd Finnd, tht the beief
in wood-spirits is most deepy rooted nd persistent. Mnnhrdt, who hs
diienty coected n enormous mss of evidence on the subject, sttes
tht trditions concernin the wid peope of the woods re current in
 the more wooded countries of Europe. He sees in these trditions n
mmtion of the ide of tree-spirits with tht of wind-spirits, nd
rejects the hypothesis tht they rose out of remembrnces of sve
hf-besti boriines who took to the woods on the dvnce of more

civiised rces.[142] He thus summrises the chrcter of the wid

peope of Germny, Russi, nd Scndinvi. They re often of intic
proportions, dwe in woods or mountins, nd oriiny were no doubt
cosey connected with the spirits of trees, their knowede of
simpes nd remedies for sick ctte connectin them with the spirits
of veettion. From hed to foot they re cothed in moss, or covered
with rouh shy hir, their on ocks fotin behind them in the
wind. Occsiony they ssume n nim form. They nnounce their
presence in the wind nd tempest. The me spirits crry s wepons
uprooted pines or other trees, nd in their fihts with ech other use
tree trunks nd pieces of rock. They re most invriby of  wnton
disposition.[143]
Of  the vrious spirits of the woods, the moss-womn of Centr
Germny ppers to be the most definite exmpe of  tree-spirit. As
with the Greek dryd, her ife is bound up with tht of  tree.[144] The
moss-women ber different nmes nd somewht different chrcters in
different ocities, but the foowin description by the uthor of
_The Firy Fmiy_ represents the common trdition:
A moss-womn, the hymkers cry
And over the fieds in terror they fy,
She is oosey cd from neck to foot
In  mnte of moss from the mpes root,
And ike ichen ry on its stem tht rows
Is the hir tht over her mnte fows.
Her skin ike the mpe-rind is hrd,
Brown nd ridy nd furrowed nd scrred;
And ech feture ft ike the brk we see,
When  bouh hs been opped from the boe of  tree,
When the newer brk hs crept heiny round
And ps oer the ede of the open wound;
Her knotty, root-ike feet re bre,
And her heiht is n e from hee to hir.
Sometimes, however, the moss-women nd their retives the wood-midens
re more friendy to mn, nd wi hep him industriousy in the
hrvest-fied; they hve even been known to enter his service nd brin
prosperity to  his undertkins.
The wid women of Tyro, known ocy s Wid-fnen, re much more
terrifyin individus. Gintic in stture, their whoe body is covered
with hir nd bristes, nd their fce distorted with  mouth tht
stretches from er to er. They ive toether in the woods, with which
their ives re bound up. If their speci wood is destroyed they
dispper; if the tree from which  fn tkes her nme dies or is
feed, she psses out of existence.[145]
The pesnts in the Swiss Cnton of the Grisons, which by the wy hs 
wid-mn for its herdic device, beieve in wood-spirits of ret
strenth nd iity, who re skied in wether-ore nd the recovery
of stryed ctte.[146] The feme spirits, some of whom hve been known
to mrry morts, re cothed in skins; but the mes, who re hiry,
content themseves with  crown of ok eves. They re sometimes
hepfu to men, but more often mischievous, hvin  propensity for
stein the mik nd crryin off the chidren of the pesnts.
The white nd reen dies of Frnche Comt nd Neufchte beon to the
sme fmiy, their speci procivity bein to entice men wy, to dr
them throuh brke nd brier, nd eve them stripped of their

possessions.[147] In Neufchte there is  rock, L roche de  Dme

Verte, which youn men re especiy wrned to void; nd in the Jur,
 wood where beneth n ok the reen dies re wont to iht  fire,
nd my be herd sinin nd dncin round it. The pesnts when they
see the wid fowers nd the youn corn wvin in the wind, whisper to
ech other tht the reen dy is pssin over them with her compnions.
The Swedish conception of the tree-spirit is very simir. He so
deihts to ed stry those who intrude upon his forest domin. The
we-known tendency of mn, fter osin himsef, to wnder round nd
round unti he reins his strtin-pce, is ttributed to the
wood-spirit. He ooks ike  mn when you meet him, but touch him nd he
shoots to the heiht of the oftiest tree. You cry out in terror, nd he
uhs H, h! Hunters seek the friendship of these ords of the
forest, for he who stnds we with them never misses his im.[148]
The wood-demon of the Russins, Ljeschi, cs to mind both cssic
nd modern trditions. He is of humn form, with the horns, ers, nd
feet of  ot, his finers re on cws, nd he is covered with rouh
hir, often of  reen coour. He cn ssume mny forms, nd vry his
stture t wi; in the fieds he is no hiher thn the rss, in the
woods s t s the trees. Sometimes he is ike  mn, cothed in
sheepskins, nd often, ike the cycops, with ony one eye. Like other
wood-demons, he nnounces his presence in the storm nd the wind. He
sprins from tree to tree, nd rocks himsef in the brnches, screechin
nd uhin, neihin, owin, nd brkin. He deihts to mised the
trveer nd pune him in difficuties. However unfriendy to mn,
Ljeschi is on ood terms with nims;  the birds nd bests of the
wood re under his protection, nd the mirtions of squirres,
fied-mice, nd such sm deer re crried out under his uidnce. The
pesnts re t pins to propitite him. In the province of Oonitz the
shepherds offer him  cow every summer, to secure his fvour for the
herd; esewhere the hunter ives him the first thin he shoots, evin
it for him in n ok-wood, or pces  piece of bred or pncke strewed
with st upon  tree stump. There re certin wys of conjurin his
presence nd his id by mens of birch-twis, or by utterin  iven
formu whie stndin on  tree-stump, from which it woud pper tht
he is thouht of s dwein in these veetbe frments.[149] The
Russins so beieve in feme wood-spirits of terrifyin ppernce,
but they re of ess importnce thn the me.
In the fok-ore of the Finns the spirits of the woods ber  more
benin chrcter. The chief of them, Tpio, is termed the rcious
od of the woodnds, nd is represented s very t nd sender, with
 on brown berd,  cot of tree moss, nd  hih-crowned ht of fir
eves. His consort is Mieikki, the honey rich mother of the
woodnd, the hostess of en nd forest. The neihbourin Esthonins
hve their rss-mother who, besides presidin over the home-fied, is
so queen of the woods.
It is not perhps sinur to find tht the trditions with rerd to
wood-spirits current monst contiuous peopes shoud exhibit such 
stron resembnce to ech other, but when most excty the sme
conceptions re met with in such distnt prts s Jpn nd South
Americ, we cn ony concude tht the humn mind, wherever it exists,
is simiry constituted, nd, rnted the sme phenomen, fs bck
upon the sme ides to expin them.
The Tenus of Jpnese eend hve mny of the chrcteristic mrks of
the wood-spirit. They dwe in the topmost brnches of ofty trees, re

skied in the nue nd ore of nims nd pnts, nd re  terror
to untruthfu chidren. They hve the body of  mn, the hed of  hwk,
with  on proboscis, nd powerfu cws on their hnds; on their feet,
so provided with cws, re stit-ike cos  foot hih. They re
htched from es, nd in their youth hve fethers nd wins.[150]
A trveer in Peru ony sixty yers o found the trdition of  ivin
wood-host, who dwet in the drkest prt of the forest, the hunt of
niht-birds, nd issued forth to decoy the Indins to their
destruction.[151] The ide of  wid mn of the woods so exists in
Brzi. The Indins c him Curupir, nd ttribute to his ency 
such forest sounds s they cnnot understnd.[152]
Some of the foreoin trditions present  impse of the trnsition
towrds  ter nd more hihy deveoped conception, in which the mny
spirits once beieved in become enerised into  sine spirit of
veettion. It is not indeed contended tht this beief is necessriy
destructive of the erier. Indeed it is possibe tht in the oosey
workin mind of the pesnt the two conceptions my exist side by side.
The mny interestin ceremonies nd observnces which rose out of this
enerised conception wi be det with in  ter chpter.

CHAPTER IV
THE TREE IN ITS RELATION TO HUMAN LIFE
Hvin det with the Tree in its connection on the one hnd with ods,
nd on the other with spirits of more equivoc ttributes, we hve now
to consider  series of myths nd trditions wherein it ws rerded s
enterin into  sti more intimte retionship with mn. Sometimes it
ws represented s the source from which the humn rce oriiny
sprn, sometimes, conversey, s the object into which the sou miht
retret fter deth, or into which n individu miht be trnsmuted,
body nd sou, by some mircuous ency. In other cses the ife of 
prticur tree ws hed to be bound up with tht of n individu or 
community, nd sty, in  sti rer conception, the tree cme to be
very widey rerded s the embodiment of the spirit of fertiity, the
especi ptron of the fied nd fock.
To the modern mind, which cims to hve deciphered Ntures scttered
hieroyphs, nd finds  eneoic document even in the evnescent
wrinkes on  bbys foot, the ide of mn tkin oriin from  tree
wi seem in the hihest deree fntstic, but to the primitive
inteience it probby presented no reter difficuty thn the
extrction of the new bby from the prsey bed does to the modern
chid. The ery inquirer my we hve found in it the most ntur
nswer to the etern ridde, Whence cme our first prents? the most
pusibe soution to the strne probem of mns seprte existence
upon the obe, suppyin the necessry ink between him nd the ret
mother-erth, which supported nd fed him whie ive, nd received him
in into her bosom when ded. Specution prt, however, the soution
woud pper to hve commended itsef to mny different inquirers, for
the beief tht the humn rce took its first oriin from trees is met
with in the mythooy of the most widey seprted rces.
Thus we red in the Edds tht when heven nd erth hd been mde, Odin
nd his brothers wkin by the se-shore cme upon two trees. These

they chned into humn beins, me nd feme. The first brother ve
them sou nd ife; the second endowed them with wit nd wi to move;
the third dded fce, speech, siht, nd herin. They cothed them so
nd chose their nmes, Ask for the mns nd Emb for the womns. And
then they sent them forth to be the prents of the humn rce.[153]
Ain, ccordin to the Irnin ccount of the cretion the first humn
coupe, Mschi nd Mschin, issued from the round in the form of 
rhubrb pnt (the _Rheum ribes_), which ws t first sine, but in
process of time becme divided into two.[154] Ormuzd imprted to ech 
humn sou, nd they becme the prents of mnkind.
In the correspondin eend current monst the Sioux of the Upper
Missouri[155] one seems to ctch n echo from the Grden of Eden. Here
the oriin prents, ike the trees from which they deveoped, t first
stood firmy fixed to the erth, unti  monster snke nwed wy the
roots nd ve them independent motion, just s in Prdise the serpent
destroyed the hrmony nd mutu trust which united Adm nd Eve.
The cssic ntions possessed  simir trdition. Accordin to
Hesychius it ws beieved by the Greeks tht the humn rce ws the
fruit of the sh, nd Hesiod retes tht it ws from the trunks of
sh-trees tht Zeus creted the third or bronze rce of men.[156] The
ok ws prticurised s the fvoured tree in nother trdition.
Whence rt thou? inquires Peneope of the disuised Uysses, for thou
re not sprun of ok or rock, s od tes te.[157] Viri, too,
speks of
Nymphs, nd funs, nd sve men, who took
Their birth from trunks of trees nd stubborn ok.[158]
The Dmrs of South Afric beieve tht the univers proenitor ws 
tree, out of which cme Dmrs, Bushmen, oxen nd zebrs, nd
everythin ese tht ives.[159]
In other eends humn beins re represented s risin from the tree
s its fruit. The first book of the _Mhbhrt_ tes of n enormous
Indin fi-tree from whose brnches hun itte devotees in humn form;
nd n Itin trveer of the fourteenth century ws ssured by the
ntives of Mbr tht they knew of trees, which insted of fruit bore
pimy men nd women. So on s the wind bew they remined fresh nd
hethy, but when it dropped they becme withered nd dry.[160] A
somewht simir trdition ws fmiir to the Arb eorphers, who
te of  tkin tree rowin t the esternmost point of the hbitbe
word, which bore youn women on its brnches in pce of fruit.[161]
And even to the present dy fok-tes of Sxony nd Thurini spek of
chidren s rowin on the tree.
In nother css of oriin-myths _individu_ births re represented s
tkin pce directy from  tree. Adonis cme forth t the stroke of 
sword from the tree into which his mother, the uity Myrrh, hd been
trnsformed in nswer to her pryers.[162] The Phryin Attis, ccordin
to one version, ws fthered by n mond-tree; whie, ccordin to
nother, his body ws confined by Cybee in  pine-tree, from which on
the return of sprin he ws born in.[163] The Khtties of Centr
Indi cim to be descended from  certin Kht, beotten of wood,
who, t the pryer of Krn, n ieitimte brother of the five sons of
Pndu (heroes of the _Mhbhrt_), sprn from the stff he hd
fshioned from the brnch of  tree to ssist him inst his eitimte
kinsmen.[164]

The bove exmpes prove how widey the conception previed tht humn
beins or mn-ike spirits miht owe their first oriin to the tree. In
 ter ste these crude myths were rtionised in three directions.
In one the tree cme to be, not the source, but the scene of 
mircuous birth; in nother its supposed connection with  humn bein
ws expined by  metmorphosis eend; nd, thirdy, the tree cme to
be rerded s the symbo nd minister of fecundity.
Mny of the ods of Greece were born or brouht up, ccordin to
trdition, t the foot of some tree, whence Btticher rues tht their
worship ws founded on  pre-existin tree-cut. Rhe ve birth to Zeus
beneth  popr in Crete, nd the ruins of her tempe in n djoinin
cypress rove were shown even up to the Auustn e.[165] The peope of
Tnr sserted tht the youn Hermes ws rered monst them under 
pursne-tree (_ndrchnos_), the remins of which were for on
tresured in the tempe of the od s  scred souvenir of the
institution of his worship.[166] Her ws born nd brouht up under 
wiow in Smos, described by Pusnis, who sw it sti in ef, s
the most ncient of the scred trees known to the Greeks.[167] Leto ve
birth to Apoo nd Artemis in the isnd of Deos whie cspin two
trees, by some uthorities prticurised s n oive nd  pm, by
others, under the ide tht Apoo must hve been born t the foot of
his own tree, s two ures.[168] Romuus nd Remus were found under
the _Ficus ruminis_ by the Tiber, nd in ter dys were worshipped in
the Comitium beneth  spin from tht tree. The sme ide is met with
in the mythooy of other ntions. Vishnu ws born beneth the pired
shde of the bnin; Buddh ws born nd died under  s-tree.
The converse of these oriin myths is represented in the numerous
eends of metmorphosis nd trnsmirtion. The we-known story of
Apoo nd Dphne seems to suppy n instnce of the wy in which the
metmorphosis story rose to expin  more primitive connection, the
menin of which hd been ost. It is n estbished fct tht the
ure ws hed scred in Greece s connected with erth-orces before
the worship of Apoo ws introduced. A scred ure rew by the
prophetic ceft t Dephi in the dys when the erth-oddess, Gi,
sti presided over the orce, nd ccordin to trdition the oddess
duhter, Dphne,  mountin nymph, ws priestess under her.[169] The
story which expins the trnsference of the orcur power from Gi to
Apoo tes how Dphne, feein before the od, entrets her mother,
Erth, to sve her; the round opens to receive her, nd in her pce 
ure ppers. Apoo, bked of his ove, cries: If thou myst not
be my wife, thou sht for ever be my tree, nd henceforwrd he mkes
the ure his snctury, nd crowns his hed nd his yre with its
eves. Thus he steps into her mothers pce, nd the ws of Zeusthe
od erth-orces under  new nmere procimed throuh him.
The story is one of the mny fok-tes concernin the conversion of
morts into trees which Ovid hs so rcefuy eborted in his
_Metmorphoses_, nd which ssume  new importnce now tht we cn trce
them bck into tht od word when tree nd mn, nd indeed  ivin
thins, were hed to be so ner kin. How fr they owed their oriin to
the desire to find  new snction for the trdition tree-worship by
investin it with  humn interest, it is impossibe to sy. It is
sufficient for us tht they demonstrte the surviv of very ncient
modes of thouht monst rces who hd otherwise reched  hih deree
of civiistion. They were monst the mirces of cssic ntiquity,
nd ike other mirces, if they prove nothin ese, they t est
fford invube evidence s to the stte of ment cuture monst

those who found them credibe.

One of the most interestin of these metmorphosis eends concerns the
fte of the three duhters of the Sun nd Cymene, who were so
hert-broken t the tric fte of their brother Phton tht they were
chned into poprs by the bnks of the strem into which he hd been
hured,the Eridnus or Po. The ters they shed were preserved in the
form of mber:
As she bent
To knee, Phthus, edest born, her feet
Fet stiffen, nd Lmpeti, t her cry
Strtin, took sudden root, nd strove in vin
For motion to her id. The third, her hir
In nuish terin, tore off eves! And now
Their es row fixed s trunks, their rms s bouhs
Extend, nd upwrd round them creeps  brk
Tht rdu fods the form entire, sve yet
The hed nd mouth, tht to their mother shrieks
For hep. Wht hep is hers to ive? Now here,
Now there she rushes, frntic, kissin this
Or tht whie yet she cn, nd strives to rend
Their bodies from the cspin brk, nd ters
The fresh eves from their sproutin heds, nd sees,
Ahst, red drops s from some wound disti.
And Ah, forber! the sufferer shrieks; forber,
O mother der! our bodies in these trees
Aone re rent! Frewe! And oer the words,
Scrce-uttered, cosed the brk, nd  ws sti.
But yet they weep; nd in the sun their ters
To mber hrden, by the cer strem cuht
And borne, the ud nd rce of Ltin mids.[170]
The story of Bucis nd Phiemonthe worthy pesnts who so hospitby
entertined the ods, Zeus nd Hermes, disuised s trveers, tht
their cotte ws chned into  tempe nd they themseves into its
priest nd priestessis more fmiir. Their pryer tht neither shoud
witness the deth of the other ws fufied by the ods, by mens of 
device fmiir enouh to the fok-ore of the time:
As one morn upon the howed steps,
Bowed now with yers, they stood, nd to  knot
Of wonderin herers tod the Tempes te,
Surprised ech sw the others fiure chne
And sprout with sudden verdure: nd, s round
Their forms the rpid foie spred, whie yet
They coud, one mutu fond Frewe they took,
One kiss, nd oer their fces cosed the brk,
And both in trees were hidden! Sti the bouhs
Tht intercin ink the neihbour trunks
Tyns pesnt oves to show:the te
Her rvest edersmen not ike to ie,
As wherefore shoud they ie?with serious fith
Attested to these ers. The honoured bouhs
Mysef hve seen with rnds decked, mysef
One rnd dded more.[171]
In mny cses metmorphosis eends were ttched to prticur kinds of
trees, thereby no doubt reinforcin the reverence nd ffection with
which they were rerded. The Greek nme for the mond tree, Phy,

reced the fte of Phyis, the beutifu Thrcin, who hned hersef
in despir when she thouht Demophoon hd deserted her, nd ws chned
by the ods into one of these trees. Shorty fterwrds the trunt over
returned, herd the sorrowfu tidins, visited the tree, nd embrced it
with ters. Then suddeny its brnches, which ti then hd remined
bre, burst forth into bossom nd verdure, s if to show how joyfuy
conscious they were of the beoveds return. Meus, priest of Aphrodite,
fied with rief t the deth of his foster-son Adonis, hned himsef,
nd ws chned by the oddess he served into n ppe-tree, from which
time forwrd the ppe cme to be rerded s the most cceptbe ift
tht  over coud offer t her shrine. Lotis,  beutifu nymph,
pursued by Pripus, threw hersef on the mercy of the ods, nd by them
ws chned into the otus-tree.
The pine-tree, into which Cybee, in  moment of ner, hd chned her
over nd devotee, Attis, owed its perenni verdure to the compssion
of Zeus for her remorse. The pomernte ws connected in trdition with
 certin mid whom Dionysus oved, nd the crown-ike form of its
bossom ws ccounted for by the story tht the od, before he chned
her into  tree, hd promised her tht she shoud one dy wer  crown.
The frnkincense-tree owed its virtue to the nectr nd mbrosi
scttered by Apoo on the tomb of Leucothe, who hd secured his ove,
nd in consequence hd been buried ive t the instnce of her riv,
Cyti. The tree rew from her rve, nd Cyti, pinin wy in turn
from rief, ws chned into  pnt whose bossoms were destined
henceforth, ike our sunfower, perpetuy to confront the sun, her
fithess over.
The vicrious immortity which the jeous but fithfu Cyti thus
secured ws shred by other fbed persones, mny of whom, ccordin
to tht poetic sentiment which is beotten of  tht is ente nd
beutifu in nture, were chned into fowers. The ide is indeed 
rcefu one. For  beutifu youth or miden, dyin youn nd unhppy,
no better recompense thn such  fower-chne coud be imined by 
peope, fu indeed of the instinctive crvin for immortity, but
vue in their ssurnce of  ife beyond the rve.
The nymphs who, herin of the sd deth of the beutifu Nrcissus,
hurried to perform his obsequies, found tht he hd been chned into 
fower, the cup of which ws fied with the ters tht he hd shed.
Bid dffodiies fi their cups with ters, sins Miton, usin the
od Enish nme for the nrcissus. Rhodnthe, the univers prise of
whose beuty hd roused the jeous ner of Artemis, ws chned by
Apoo into the rose. The pipe of Pn ws fshioned from the reeds into
which the nymph, Syrinx, hd been trnsformed by her sister nymphs in
their determintion to rescue her from the ods unwecome overtures.
There re mny instnces in cssic mythooy wherein fowers were
beieved to hve risen from the bood, _i.e._ the very ife, of dyin
persons. The vioet sprn from the bood of Attis when Cybee chned
him into  pine-tree. From the bood of Hycinthus, kied in ner by
Zephyrus, Apoo cused the hycinth to row. Acis, crushed to deth by
Poyphemus, ws chned into  strem, but from his bood there sprn
the fowerin rush. Accordin to the Eyptins the vine rose from the
bood of the Titns.
In other cses ter-drops were, so to spek, the seed of the mirce.
The nemone rew from the ters tht Aphrodite shed t the deth of
Adonis:

Woe, woe for Cythere, he hth perished, the ovey Adonis.

A ter the Pphin sheds for ech bood-drop of Adonis,
And ters nd bood on the erth re turned to fowers.
The bood brins forth the rose; the ters, the wind-fower;
Woe, woe for Cythere, he hth perished, the ovey Adonis![172]
Shkespere, it wi be remembered, ives to the nemone the mic
power of producin ove.[173]
The eendry ore of the Est contins trditions simir to those
bove mentioned, of which it wi be sufficient to cite the
foowin:The Burmese beieve tht the _Cnn Indic_ or Indin shot
sprn from the scred bood of the Buddh. His evi-minded
brother-in-w, incensed t not bein owed to hod  seprte
ssemby of his own, roed down  rock upon the techer from  ofty
hi. A frment bruised the Buddhs toe, nd drew from it  few drops
of bood, from which the scred pnt rose.[174]
In nother css of eends, more chrcteristic of mediev thn of
cssic mythooy, the _sou_ of the ded person ws beieved to pss
into  tree. They re, in fct, cses rther of metempsychosis thn of
metmorphosis. A eend current in Cornw tes how, fter the oss of
her over, Iseut died broken-herted, nd ws buried in the sme church
with Tristrm, but by the kins decree t some distnce from him. Soon
ivy sprn from either rve, nd ech brnch rew nd rew unti it met
its feow t the crown of the vuted roof, nd there csped it nd
cun to it s ony ivy cn.[175] In nother version the pnts tht
sprn from the rves of the overs were  rose nd  vine. The sme
ide is met with in the fmiir bd of Fir Mrret nd Sweet
Wiim.
Mrret ws buried in the ower chnc,
And Wiim in the hiher;
Out of her brest there sprn  rose,
And out of his  brier.
They rew ti they rew into the church top,
And then they coud row no hiher;
And there they tyed in  true overs knot,
Which mde  the peope dmire.[176]
A story is tod in Jpn of  fithfu coupe who, fter enjoyin on
yers of hppiness, died t st t the sme moment; their spirits
withdrew into  t pine-tree of ret e, which  od hd once
pnted s he pssed tht wy. On mooniht nihts the overs my be
seen rkin toether the pine-needes under the tree, which to this dy
is known s the Pine of the Lovers.[177]
A certin Chinese kin hd  secretry, Hnpn, for whose youn nd
beutifu wife he conceived  vioent pssion. Fiin in his desins
upon her, the kin threw Hnpn into prison, where he shorty died of
rief. His wife, to escpe the roy suit, threw hersef from  ofty
terrce, hvin entreted s  st fvour tht she miht be buried
beside her husbnd. The kin in his ner ordered otherwise. But tht
sme niht  cedr sprn from ech rve, nd in ten dys they hd
become so t nd viorous in their rowth tht they were be to
interce both brnch nd root, nd the peope ced them the Trees of
Fithfu Love.[178]
In Germny the foowin story is tod to expin why  certin bue
fower, the endive, which rows by the rodside, is ced the

Weewrte or wy-wtcher. A miden, eery nticiptin the return of

her over from  on voye, visited every mornin nd evenin the spot
where they hd prted, nd nxiousy pced the rod, witin his
comin. At st, worn out by her on vii, she snk down by the
wyside nd expired. On the spot where she brethed her st the fower
ppered.[179]
There is  Jpnese story in which  mother is represented s herin
her ded sons voice in the sihin of  scred wiow which rew bove
his rve.[180] Grimm quotes other exmpes.[181] In the son of
Roncesves,  bckthorn rows bove the ded Srcens,  white fower
bove the ded Christins. In other eends white iies row from the
rves of persons unjusty executed. From  midens rve rew three
iies which none but her over miht puck.
In  these eends we hve  surviv of very primitive ides bout
the sou, ides out of which subsequenty rose the form doctrine of
trnsmirtion. The immortity of the sou ws ccepted, but there ws
wys n incintion to qurter it in some new ivin thin. The
instnces bove iven, in which it ws thouht to pss into some pnt,
especiy concern us, s iustrtin the primitive beief tht trees
nd shrubs miht contin  spirit in humn form.
A further derivtive of the ssumed kinship between humn nd veetbe
ife is the conception of the tree s symptheticy interwoven with
the ife nd fortunes of n individu,  fmiy, or  community. In
foktes the ife of  person is sometimes so bound up with the ife of
 pnt tht the witherin of the pnt wi immeditey foow or be
foowed by the deth of the person. Amon the MBens in Western
Afric, bout the Gboon, when two chidren re born on the sme dy the
peope pnt two trees of the sme kind nd dnce round them. The ife
of ech of the chidren is beieved to be bound up with the ife of one
of the trees, nd if the tree dies or is thrown down they re sure tht
the chid wi soon die. In the Cmeroons, so, the ife of  person is
beieved to be symptheticy bound up with tht of the tree. Some of
the Ppuns unite the ife of  new-born chid symptheticy with tht
of  tree, by drivin  pebbe into the brk of the tree. This is
supposed to ive them compete mstery over the chids ife; if the
tree is cut down the chid wi die.[182] Accordin to the Tmud, the
destruction of Bithr, in which four hundred thousnd Isreites ost
their ives, oriinted in the resentment of one of its inhbitnts t
the wnton destruction of  youn cedr-tree, which, ccordin to the
custom of the pce, he hd pnted t the birth of his chid.[183]
It ws usu monst the Romns to pnt  tree t the birth of  son,
nd from its viour to forecst the prosperity of the chid. It is
reted in the ife of Viri, tht the popr pnted t his birth
fourished exceediny, nd fr outstripped  its contemporries. A
simir superstition hs persisted even into times tht re most
contemporry. Lord Byron, for  his scepticism, hd the ide tht his
ife nd prosperity depended on the fte of n ok which he hd pnted
when he first visited Newsted.[184]
The mystic retionship of mn nd tree is further iustrted in n
od Germn beief quoted by Mnnhrdt, tht  sick chid pced in 
hoe mde in  tree by swin off  brnch, or by spittin it open with
 wede, wi recover s soon s the tree-wound hes. Shoud the chid
die nd the tree survive, the humn sou wi inhbit the tree for the
rest of its ife.[185]

The fmiy tree nd the community tree were merey extensions of this
conception. The heroic descendnts of Peops rerded the pne-tree s
especiy scred to them nd bound up with their fortunes, nd in ter
times we find fmiies tkin their nmes from trees. Mnnhrdt quotes
in this connection the Germn surnmes Linde, Hounder, Kirschbum,
Birnbum, etc.[186]
But more importnt thn the fmiy tree is the community tree. In mny
n od Germn vie there stood  tree, often  My-tree, which the
viers urded s the ppe of their eye. It ws ooked upon s the
ife-tree, the tutery enius, the second I of the whoe community.
Devotions were pid to it nd ifts offered s to  deity.[187] The
ncient fi-tree in the Comitium t Rome, redy uded to s 
supposed descendnt of the very tree under which Romuus nd Remus were
found, is nother cse in point.[188] It ws hed to be cosey
connected with the fortunes of the city, nd Tcitus describes the
terror of the Romns when, in the rein of Nero, it suddeny ben to
f nd wither, nd their reief when, upon the Emperors deth, it ws
found to hve renewed its viour.[189] Piny tes of two myrte-trees,
ced the Ptricin nd Pebein, which rew before the tempe of
Quirinus t Rome. As scred to Venus, nd hence symboic of union,
these trees were hed to represent the mity which existed between the
two orders. At first they hd rown with equ viour, but when the
ptricins ben to encroch upon the power of the pebs their tree
outrew the other, which nuished beneth its befu shdow. After
the Mrsin wr, however, from which dte the power of the Sente ben
to decine, it ws noticed tht the ptricin tree showed sins of e,
whie the pebein sprouted forth with new viour.[190] Curiousy
enouh, there is, or ws so recenty s 1885, n od tree in Jerusem,
opposite Cooks office, beonin to n od fmiy nd protected by the
Sutns firmn, which the Arbs consider wi f when the Sutns
rue ends. It ost  re imb durin the Turco-Russin wr, nd is
now (1885) in  decyed stte.[191]
[Iustrtion: Fi. 24.Imperi coin of Myr in Lyci, showin
tree-oddess.(Gobet dAvie.)]
From conceptions such s these the trnsition is esy to tht wider view
which rerded the tree s the mteri representtive of the mysterious
feminine reproductive power, the ood enius of ener prosperity. We
know tht the Semitic ntions worshipped under vrious nmes  ret
mother-oddess, the proenitrix of ods nd men, nd there is evidence
to show tht the tree ws widey venerted s her divine symbo. In the
coins of Heiopois (Bbek), where this ret deity ws worshipped
under the nme of Astrte, the fiure of the oddess under the peristye
of her tempe is sometimes repced by  pyrmid cypress. In  coin of
Myr, in Lyci, the bust of  oddess is represented in the foie of 
tree.[192] The oddess, who is of the veied rchic type nd wers on
her hed the _cthus_, the symbo of fertiity, is identified by Mr.
Frne with Artemis-Aphrodite, who is here cery conceived s 
divinity of veettion.[193] The Cnnites, nd under their infuence
the Isreites, worshipped Ashtroth, the fruitfu oddess, under the
symbo of n _shr_,  tree or poe, decked with fiets, ike the
My-tree. An ncient Bbyonin cyinder represents  decorted tree
with  worshipper beside it, who in the inscription invokes the oddess
s her servnt.[194] On other cyinders the tree-symbo sometimes
ccompnies nd sometimes repces the fiure of Istr, the ret
procretive oddess more or ess reted to the oddess of the
_shrim_.[195]

[Iustrtion: Fi. 25.Scred tree nd worshipper.(Gobet dAvie.)]

The conception of the tree s the symbo of fertiity seems to be sti
more cery emphsised in the Assyrin cyinders nd bs-reiefs, where
it is conventiony represented s  dte-pm between two persones,
who pproch it from either side berin in their hnds  cone simir
to the inforescence of the me dte-pm. Mr. Tyor suests tht
these persones, vriousy represented s kins or priests, enii with
wins nd heds of ees, or mythic nims, my represent the
fertiisin winds or divinities, whose procretive infuence ws
typified by the rtifici fecundtion of the pm,  procedure which is
necessry for its successfu cuture, nd which we know from Herodotus
to hve been fmiir to the Bbyonins.[196] The desin is usuy
surmounted by the wined disc representin the sun, nd the whoe is not
improbby ment to symboise the mystery of procretion, in which the
me eement enshrined in the sun, nd the feme eement inhbitin the
tree re ppropritey represented. The sme cooction is met with on
n tr from the Pmyrene now in Rome, on one of the fces of which is
the ime of  sor od, nd on the other the fiure of  cypress with
 chid crryin  rm midst its foie.[197] In this connection it
my be remembered tht Apueius, wishin to pint the son of Venus in
his mothers p, is reted to hve depicted him in the midst of 
cypress-tree.
[Iustrtion: Fi. 26.The scred tree s symbo of fertiity.(From n
Assyrin bs-reief. Perrot et Chipiez.)]
The bove fcts re importnt for their berin on the conception of 
tree-inhbitin spirit of veettion or enerised tree-sou, which, s
Mnnhrdt nd Frzer hve shown, ies t the root of mny otherwise
inexpicbe observnces found monst the pesntry in different
countries nd t different periods of history. These customs wi be
det with more fuy in  subsequent chpter. In  of them we find 
tree, or the brnch of  tree, or  humn bein or puppet dressed to
represent  tree, fiurin s the symbo or representtive of  spirit
who is rerded s more or ess friendy to mn, nd endowed with the
power of ssistin his mteri prosperity. In more primitive times thn
the present this prosperity resoved itsef into  question of
fecundity, nd the power which coud mke the fieds to ber, the focks
to mutipy, nd women to ive increse, ntury hed the foremost
pce in the ffections of the peope. The rich nd the cutured found
other ttributes to worship nd other ods to personify them, but the
pesnt cun to the observnces by which the spirit of fertiity ws
propitited. Hence the tree, on fter it hd cesed to be worshipped
s the home of the ret ods, or to be rerded s the prent of
mnkind, sti hed  firm pce in the devotions of the peope s the
embodiment of the -powerfu ptron of univers fertiity.
Of the innumerbe observnces founded on this ide the foowin my be
tken s  smpe. The scred chii or cedr of Giit, on the
north-western frontier of Indi, ws hed to hve the power of cusin
the herds to mutipy nd women to ber chidren. At the commencement of
whet-sowin three chosen unmrried youths, who hd underone
purifiction for three dys, strted for the mountins where the cedrs
rew, tkin with them wine, oi, nd bred, nd fruit of every kind.
Hvin found  suitbe tree they sprinked the oi nd wine on it,
whie they te the bred nd fruit s  scrifici fest. Then they cut
off  brnch nd brouht it to the vie, where mid ener rejoicin
it ws pced on  re stone beside runnin wter. A ot ws then
scrificed nd its bood poured over the cedr brnch, whie the

viers dnced round it. The ots fesh ws eten, nd every mn
went to his house berin  spry of cedr. On his rriv he sid to
his wife, If you wnt chidren I hve brouht them to you; if you wnt
ctte I hve brouht them; whtever you wnt, I hve it.[198]
The sme ide is no doubt to be trced in the form of surviv, in the
custom of ivin  brnch of ure to  bride which is found, ccordin
to Mnnhrdt, t Crnc in Brittny;[199] in the introduction of 
decorted pine-bouh into the house of the bride, met with in Litte
Russi, s we s in the ceremony of crryin the My, dorned with
ihts, before the bride nd brideroom in Hnoverin weddins.[200]
The dy of these observnces is pst, but underyin them there ws 
vit nd sti vid truth. To us s to the ncients the tree is sti
the ptron of fertiity, s those hve discovered to their cost who hve
bred  country of its forests. To us s to them it is sti the thin
of  thins ivin tht is endowed with the most endurin ife, the
most persistent viour. Genertions come nd o, but the tree ives on
nd every sprin puts forth new eves, nd every utumn bers new seed,
nd even to its st decrepitude the eves re s reen nd the seeds
s fu of ife s in the prime of its youth. Wht chnes hs not the
odest tree in Ennd witnessed! In the southern counties there is n
ncient wy, once throned by trveers, but now deserted nd broken in
its continuity; yet to this dy, even where prks nd pstures hve
overin it, its course my sti be trced by the yew-trees pnted t
its side by pirims journeyin to the shrine of St. Thoms of
Cnterbury, in the dys when their brothers were fihtin for the White
Rose or the Red.

CHAPTER V
THE TREE AS ORACLE
Amonst the innumerbe sources from which the ntions of ntiquity
professed to derive knowede of futurity nd prctic uidnce in the
ffirs of ife the tree hed  very prominent pce. Tree-orces
formed, indeed, the ntur corory of tree-worship, nd their number
nd popurity provide ddition testimony to the enuineness nd
extent of the ncient beief tht certin trees were tennted by 
superntur essence. For it ws s nimted demonic beins, to use
Robertson Smiths phrse, tht trees possessed orcur virtue. It ws
the od dwein in them who produced the mysterious rustins nd
movements of the brnches, from which the responses were interpreted by
the ttendnt priests. But ccordin to the ncient view the tree
derived  further tite to its orcur prestie from its connection by
mens of its roots with the under-word, the mysterious bode of
deprted spirits, in whom wisdom nd knowede of the future were
supposed to be vested. Thus the speci prophetic power ttributed to
the vriety of ok (probby the _Quercus escuus_) which rew t Dodon
ws scribed by ter writers to the fct tht its roots pierced the
erth more deepy thn those of other trees, rechin down even to
Trtrus (_tntum rdice in Trtr_).[201] It ws from this under-word
tht Su summoned Smue, nd it ws in the hope of obtinin hep from
the spirit of some ded hero by mens of  drem, tht men were wont to
pss the niht t his tomb or his tempe. The modern Arbs who sti
worship certin scred trees, s the pce where nes or _jinni_
descend, beieve tht  sick mn who seeps under such  tree wi

receive counse in  drem for the restortion of his heth.[202]

Of ornised orces the eriest ws no doubt the erth orce, nd the
prt pyed in the ceremoni by ntur fissures, sprins, nd trees
probby rew out of their cose connection with the erth. The most
fmous orce of ntiquity, tht of Dephi, ws situted t the openin
of  ntur ceft in the rock, beieved to be t the very centre of the
erth, nd ws oriiny presided over by the ret erth-mother, Gi,
the subordinte prt pyed by the ure which once rew ner the ceft
bein expressed by the eend tht Dphne ws the duhter nd priestess
of Gi.[203] The procedure t nother fmous orce, tht of Trophonius
t Lebde, ner Mount Heicon in Boeoti, ws distincty modeed on
the ide of  descent into the under-word,[204] the suppint obtinin
his nswer in  cve, where his experiences were so terribe tht he
never smied in; whence it cme to be sid of ny prticury
uubrious individu tht he hd consuted the orce of Trophonius. A
sti more strikin iustrtion of the ntiquity of this conception is
found in the ccount of the initition of n uur iven on  Bbyonin
tbet in the British Museum. The cndidte is there mde to descend
into n rtifici imittion of the ower word, where he behods the
trs midst the wters, the tresures of Anu, Be, nd E, the tbets
of the ods, the deiverin of the orce of heven nd erth, nd the
cedr-tree, the beoved of the ret ods.[205] Here the erth-orce
nd the tree-orce re seen in very ery conjunction; but the beief
in the divine power inherent in the tree cn be trced sti frther
bck, for in  biinu text of much erier dte we red of the
cedr-tree, the tree tht shtters the power of the incubus, upon whose
core is recorded the nme of E, _i.e._ the od of wisdom.[206]
The ide of the tree-orce ws fmiir to other brnches of the
Semitic rce, nd is expressed in their common trdition of  tree of
knowede. Sever usions to orcur trees re met with in the Od
Testment. Tht Jehovh shoud spek to Moses out of the burnin-bush,
if not to be rerded s  cse in point, ws t ny rte quite in
conformity with surroundin trdition, for there is no doubt tht the
beief in trees s pces of divine revetion ws very prevent in
Cnn. The fmous hoy tree ner Shechem, ced the tree of the
soothsyers in Judes ix. 37, nd the tree or trees of the reveer in
Genesis xii. 6 nd Deuteronomy xi. 30, must hve been the set of 
Cnnite tree-orce.[207] The prophetess Deborh ve her responses
under  pm ner Bethe, which, ccordin to scred trdition, mrked
the rve of the nurse of Rche. And Dvid, when he inquired of the
Lord s to the riht moment for ttckin the Phiistines, received the
sin in the sound of  oin in the tops of the muberry-trees.[208]
The _shr_ or rtifici tree in which the deity ws supposed to dwe
so ppers to hve been used by the Cnnites for the purposes of
divintion,  prctice probby uded to in the rebuke of the prophet,
My peope sk counse t their stock, nd their stff decreth unto
them.[209]
But by fr the most strikin instnce of  tree-orce, nd perhps one
my even sy the most sin vestie of the primitive tree-worship, ws
the orce of the Pesic Zeus t Dodon in Epirus. Here in  rove of
oks there ws  very ncient tree, beieved to be the ctu set of
the deity, whose responses were interpreted from the rustin of its
brnches, from the murmur of the scred sprin which weed forth t its
foot, or from the drwin of the orce ots kept in n urn beneth it.
The oriin of the orce is ost in prehistoric oom; probby it
existed erier thn the worship of Zeus himsef. Homer mkes Uysses
visit it,[210] nd Hesiod sttes tht Zeus dwet there in the trunk of 

tree.[211] Herodotus ffirms, on the testimony both of the priestesses

of Dodon nd of the Eyptin priests t Thebes, tht the orce ws
introduced from Eypt, nd dds tht the mnner in which orces were
deivered t Thebes nd t Dodon ws very simir. The priests t
Thebes tod him tht two women empoyed in their tempe hd been
cptured by Phoenicins, nd sod the one into Liby, the other to the
Greeks; the former estbished the orce of Zeus Ammon in the Libyn
desert, the tter tht of Dodon. In the ccount iven him by the
Dodonen priestesses, it ws sserted tht the orces were founded by
two bck pieons from Thebes.[212] We know from other sources tht the
orce of Zeus-Ammon ws vested in n ncient tree ().[213]
B t whatever may have bee its rigi there is  d bt that the racle
f Dda had a lg ad active career, cti ig fr clse p tw
th sad years. Sili s Italic s, twards the ed f the first cet ry
A.D., reiterates the statemet f Hesid that the deity at Dda
cc pied a tree;[214] Pa saias a h dred years later f d the tree
still gree ad fl rishig,[215] ad Philstrats ab t the same time
saw it adred with wreaths ad sacred fillets, beca se, like the
Delphic tripd, it gave frth racles.[216] A later writer states that
the rac lar vices ceased  the fellig f the tree by a certai
Illyria badit,[217] b t there is evidece that the tree ad the racle
were still i existece i the middle f the f rth cet ry A.D. These
aciet testimies t the imprtace f the racle have bee
marvell sly crrbrated by the discvery i the c rse f recet
excavatis f a large  mber f leade tablets iscribed with the
q estis addressed t the gd by his vtaries, ad datig frm 400 B.C.
wards.[218]
Accrdig t classical mythlgy, the rac lar virt e f the fam s ak
f Dda was t ly trasmitted t its ffshts, b t eve preserved
i the dead wd after its separati frm the tree. Ovid, i relatig
the stry f the plag e f Aegia, tells hw Aeac s, stadig beeath
A brachig ak, the Sires w tree, frm seed
Of ld Dda spr g,
calls p Ze s t repeple his stricke kigdm, ad fill his deslate
walls aew with citizes as  mer s as the ats at his feet.
Nt a breath
Was stirrig, b t the braches shk, the leaves
With r stlig m rm r waved.
Acceptig the me he kisses the sacred tree, falls asleep beeath it,
ad wakes t fid that the ats have bee mirac l sly chaged it me,
the fam s Myrmids.[219] Agai, it is related by mre tha e a thr
that whe the gd ship _Arg_ was b ilt, Athea itrd ced it it by
way f am let a beam hew i the grve f Dda, which i the
s bseq et vyage cstatly gave the Arga ts warig ad advice.[220]
At the fam s racle f Delphi the tree played as itrisic, if t s
predmiat, a part as at Dda, its f cti beig shared by the
fiss re i the earth ad the sacred sprig, which testify t the
chthic rigi f the racle, whilst the se f the sacred tripd has
bee th ght t cect it with the class f fire racles.[221] There is
evidece that a la rel-tree grew beside the rac lar fiss re i Gaias
time,[222] ad, accrdig t traditi, the earliest temple f Apll
was a h t f la rel b ghs erected by the gds w hads.[223] Ad
later , whe the rigial tree had disappeared ad the fiss re had
bee eclsed i the Adyt m, the etrace t the latter, as well as the

tripd  which the Pythia sat, were hidde i fresh la rel leaves
wheever the racle was give, ad the priestess havig chewed la rel
leaves ad crwed herself with a wreath f the sacred plat, waved a
la rel brach while chatig her ecstatic tteraces. Every ith year,
mrever, a bwer f la rel braches was erected i the frec rt f the
temple. It is certai hw far Aplls clse cecti with the
la rel may have rigiated frm Delphi, b t it is a fact that i later
times his rac lar f cti was iseparably b d p with the se f
that tree, ad the la rel became the recgised istr met f prphecy
(_per la rs gematis_). Ad at Delphi, whe the la rel trees had
disappeared, the racle ceased, fr the messeger set by the Emperr
J lia t reia g rate it received fr aswer, Tell the kig that the
c igly-b ilt chamber has falle t the gr d; Apll  lger has
bwer, r ispired la rel, r prphetic sprig; vaished is the talkig
water.[224]
T pass briefly ver ther examples f tree-racle, i Armeia the
fire-priests were wt t iterpret the will f the gd frm the
mvemets bserved i the braches f the hly plae-tree at
Armavira.[225] The Chaldae-Assyrias read the f t re i the r stlig f
the leaves f the prphetic trees.[226] At Nejr, i Yeme, the Arabs
prfessed t btai racles frm the spirit wh ihabited a sacred
date-palm.[227]
I the Shh Nmeh, Firda si, wrkig  d bt p a aciet traditi,
tells hw Sikader, r Alexader the Great, cs lted a tree-racle i
Persia.[228] Frm thece he prceeded t ather city, where he was
received with great hmage by the mst ill stri s f the ati. He
iq ired f them if there were aythig wderf l r extrardiary i
their c try, that he might g t see it, ad they replied that there
were tw trees i the kigdm, e a male, the ther a female, frm
which a vice prceeded. The male tree spke i the day ad the female
tree i the ight, ad whever had a wish wet thither t have his
desires accmplished. Sikader immediately repaired t the spt, ad
apprachig it, he hped i his heart that a csiderable part f his
life still remaied t be ejyed. Whe he came der the tree a
terrible s d arse ad rag i his ears, ad he asked the peple
preset what it meat. The attedat priest said it implied that
f rtee years f his life still remaied. Sikader at this
iterpretati f the prphetic s d wept, ad the b rig tears ra
dw his cheeks. Agai he asked, Shall I ret r t Rm ad see my
mther ad childre befre I die? ad the aswer was, Th wilt die at
Kash.
Amgst the Rmas ther frms f a g ry appear t have take the place
f the ld tree-racles ad red ced them t cmparative isigificace.
The mst imprtat f thse that remaied was the prphetic ilex grve
p the Avetie hill, sacred t Fa  s ad Pic s. Hither the applicat
came, fastig ad mealy clthed, ad havig crwed himself with beech
leaves, sacrificed tw sheep t the deities f the grve, ad layig
himself dw p their pelts, awaited the c sel f the gds i his
dream.[229] There was ather grve racle f Fa  s at Tib r by the
Alb ea sprig,[230] ad at the eighb rig Preeste, where the racle
f J piter was held i great rep te, the racle lts were fashied frm
the wd f his sacred ak.[231] At the mre seq estered Tira Matiea
the tree-racle appears t have dwidled it a mere vestige, the
respses beig give by a wdpecker perched p a ake cl m.[232]
T tree-mes, as distig ished frm tree-racles, the Rmas attached
m ch imprtace, ad they pssessed several treatises dealig with s ch

prtets. The family ad cmm ity tree described i the last chapter
had a certai rac lar character, ad fretld i its w frt es the
prsperity r adversity f thse whm it represeted. The witherig f
the la rel grve f A g st s was held t prted the death f Ner, ad
with him the exticti f the A g sta h se ad its adpted members;
the fall f Vespasias cypress fretld the death f Dmitia. If the
sacred tree attached t a sact ary were prted by the wid, it was a
clear prf that the deity had withdraw his prtecti, ad less the
tree preared itself aew, his wrship at that spt was discti ed.
The Sibyllie bks ctaied explicit istr ctis with regard t these
evet alities ad were ivariably cs lted i every s ch case.
I merable istaces f these tree-mes are give i classical
literat re.[233]
The legeds f trees which spke itelligibly belg rather t myth tha
t histry, b t they were q ite i accrdace with the aciet belief
that ay tree which ctaied a tree-s l, were it the spirit f a gd
r ly that f a dryad, might express itself i wrds. Th s the spirits
ihabitig the three trees f the Hesperides gave advice t the
waderig Arga ts. Philstrat s relates that at the cmmad f
Aplli s a tree addressed him i a distict female vice.[234] Whe
Rme was ivaded by the Ga ls a vice frm  t f the grve f Vesta
wared the Rmas t repair their walls r their city w ld fall.[235]
Ad after the battle i which Br t s ad Ar s Tarq ii s slew each
ther, a pwerf l vice frm the eighb rig grve f Arsia a ced
that the victry lay with the Rmas.[236] A later istace is that f
the _gharcad_ tree which spke t Mslim b. Ocba i a dream, ad
desigated him t the cmmad f the army f Yazd inst Medin.[237]
It hs redy been mentioned tht the responses t Dodon were
sometimes interpreted from the orce ots kept in n urn tht stood
upon  scred tbe beneth the tree, nd the sme form of divintion
ws so pprenty in use t Dephi,[238] whist t Preneste it ws the
soe method empoyed. Indeed this outrowth of the tree-orce ws in
common use throuhout the ncient word. There is  probbe usion to
it in Ezekie xxi. 21. The Scythin soothsyers were wont to divine by
the hep of  number of wiow rods, which they pced upon the round,
utterin their predictions s they thered them up one by one. They
so prctised divintion by mens of the brk of the inden-tree.[239]
Amonst the neihbourin Ani, in Srmti, women foretod the future
by mens of striht rods cut with secret enchntments t certin times
nd mrked very crefuy.[240] The Germns used to divine by mens of
the frments of  brnch cut from  fruit-tree, which they threw on to
 white coth.[241] The omen sticks of the Druids, frequenty referred
to in the Brdic poems, were probby rods cut from  fruit-tree nd
mrked with mystic embems.[242]
It is not esy to define the exct connection between these orce-ots
nd tht strne surviv, the divinin-rod, but it my be tken for
certin tht the beief in the efficcy of the tter is  superstition
conte to the beief in scred trees,[243] nd tht the ide
underyin both the orce-ot nd the divinin-rod ws tht they were
nimted by n indwein spirit, probby by the spirit of the tree
from which they were cut. We know from Piny nd Pusnis tht the
eriest imes of the ods were mde of wood, nd tht the Greeks,
Romns, nd other pre-Christin ntions worshipped stkes or peeed rods
of wood, pinted, or dressed, or rouhy crved in the sembnce of n
nthropomorphic od, nd supposed to be inhbited by  divine essence.
It ws probby by  simir mode of resonin tht the sper, the
sceptre, the stff of the ener, the stndrds of the rmy, the

herds wnd, the rods of the fmens, the ituus of the uur, nd the
truncheon of the constbe cme to be symboicy representtive of
power nd inviobiity, the primitive ssumption bein tht they
retined some of the divine spirit resident in the tree from which they
were cut.[244] From  simir prente sprn the popur custom of
strikin men, ctte, nd pnts with  reen switch (Lebensrute) t
certin sesons of the yer in order to mke them fruitfu, n
observnce of which so mny instnces hve been coected by Mnnhrdt.
It ws the tree-sou, the spirit of veettion, he concudes,
communicted by mens of this switchin, which drove wy the demons of
sickness nd steriity nd evoked fruitfuness nd heth.[245] The
divinin-rod is, if one my sy so, first cousin to the ife-rood.
Ech represents nd embodies  different function of the
supernturthe one its procretive, the other its prophetic ttribute.
The divinin-rod is the mere surviv of the once renowned
tree-orce.
It my seem strne tht in this positive e there shoud exist peope
cin themseves educted, who beieve tht  stick cut from  hze
or thorn-bush my in the hnds of  speciy endowed person possess 
mic power of revein the secrets of the erth. But so it is. There
re in this country t the present hour some hf-dozen profession
experts, who cim the fcuty of discoverin unsuspected sprins of
wter by mens of the divinin-rod, nd furnish we-ttested instnces
of their success. It is not necessry to discuss the credibiity of
their ssertions or to formute  theory to ccount for their success.
The subject of the divinin-rod concerns us ony in so fr s it is 
vestie poor nd trophied vestieof the mic eoquence once
ssocited with the scred tree. It is impossibe to sy when the use of
the divinin-rod first oriinted. It is mentioned in the Veds, nd is
we known to hve fourished monst the Chdens nd Eyptins. But
in those ery dys the function of the mic rod ws not restricted,
s it ws ter nd is now, to the serch for wter or buried tresure.
The Greeks nd Romns found mny uses for it. Cicero speks of providin
for ones wnts, _qusi viru divin, ut iunt_. It ws  fmiir
instrument in the hnds of the British Druids, nd is sti rey
empoyed in Chin. Mediev writers spek of it s bein in very common
use mon the miners of Germny.[246]
At  times nd in  pces the ct of cuttin nd preprin the rod
hs been the subject of much ceremony. It hd to be severed t 
prticur moment, nd from  prticur kind of tree, the tter
vryin ccordin to the country. As  rue  fruit-tree, or some other
tree tht ws usefu nd beneficent to mn, ws chosen. The Chinese
prefer the pech; the Druids mde choice of the ppe-tree.[247]
Esewhere the hze, the wiow, nd the bck-thorn hve been seected,
nd the st-nmed is sti known in Germny s the wishin-thorn, s
it is the tree from which wishin-rods were cut. The time t which the
rod ws cut ws equy importnt. For centuries the Chinese hve
dhered to the first new moon fter the winter sostice s the most
fvourbe dte for the ceremony. The French custom ws to cut it on
Mercurys dy (Wednesdy) t the pnetry hour of Mercury.[248] In
Sweden divinin-rods of mistetoe re cut on midsummer eve.[249] Even in
comprtivey modern times beievers in the divinin-rod professed to
expect more of  rod which hd been cut between sunset nd sunrise, upon
some hoy dy or t new moon, from  brnch on which the risin sun
first shone.[250]
These mystic observnces smck of  fr-distnt pst, nd the modern
wter-finder ppers to hve discrded them. His prctice is to cut 

forked brnch bout eihteen inches in enth from ny convenient hze
or white-thorn bush, nd rspin the prons very firmy between the
thumb nd two first finers of ech hnd, the joint bein hed
downwrds, he wks over the round where it is desired to find wter.
If he pproches  hidden sprin, the joint wi bein to rise inst
his wi, nd when he hs reched it, wi mke  compete hf
revoution, brekin or bendin the twis hed in his hnds, unti the
joint is uppermost. The depth of the sprin is estimted by the force
with which the rod is repeed from it. The ment exhustion of the
opertor fter  successfu opertion is sid to be considerbe. In n
od voume of the _Qurtery Review_ (No. 44) n ccount is iven of 
certin Ldy Noe who ws skifu in the use of the divinin-rod. She
used  thin forked hze-twi, which immeditey bent when she cme over
the underround sprin, its motion bein more or ess rpid s she
pproched or withdrew from the spot. When just over it the twi turned
so quick s to snp, brekin ner the finers, which by pressin it
were indented nd heted nd most bistered. A deree of ittion ws
so visibe in her fce.
Mny of the superstitious prctices tht sti survive in remote
vies re no doubt of the sme ncestry s the divinin-rod. In the
vey of Lnzo in Piedmont, overs in doubt whether to mrry consut
the orce in the form of  herb ced _concordi_, the root of which
is shped ike two hnds, ech with its five finers. If the herb they
find hs the hnds conjoined, the omen is fvourbe; but unfvourbe
if the hnds point different wys.[251]
The foowin nve recit is quoted in Brnds ntiquities:Lst
Fridy ws Ventines dy, nd the niht before I ot five by-eves,
nd pinned four of them to the four corners of my piow, nd the fifth
to the midde; nd then, if I dremt of my sweethert, Betty sid we
shoud be mrried before the yer ws out.[252] This beief in the
mic power of certin eves is enshrined in mny jines, sti
found in the rustic formury, such s
The even sh-ef in my ove
The first I meet sh be my ove;[253]
or
Find even sh or four-eved cover
And you see your true ove before the dys over.[254]
In od dys on St. Ventines eve mny  rustic mid hs sprinked
by-eves with rose-wter nd id them cross her piow, nd then
yin down in  cen niht-own, turned wron side out, hs softy
recited
Good Ventine, be kind to me,
In drems et me my true ove see;[255]
or, if she were  Stffordshire ss, she probby preferred St.
Thomss eve, nd hvin pced  spri of everreen under her piow,
sihed
Good St. Thoms, stnd by my bed
And te me when I sh be wed.[256]
To those who re new to the subject of comprtive mythooy these
dores whispered by fooish country irs under the stress of 

ntur impuse my seem bsurdy irreevnt. But to tht science which
strives to unrve the beiefs nd ides of on ded peope, every
vestie, every surviv is importnt. The chrms bove mentioned did not
sprin, fuy mtured, from the brin of some pecuiry inventive
diry-mid. They hve  on, on pediree, nd, ike the zebr stripe
which wi sometimes pper on  purebred horse, they throw us bck to
n e when mn beieved tht the word ws controed by spirits, nd
tht he, ike everythin ese, ws but  puppet in their hnds.

CHAPTER VI
THE UNIVERSE-TREE
One of the most interestin points in connection with tree myths is the
wide distribution of the conception of the cosmoonic or word-tree, of
which the Scndinvin Ydrsi is the most fmiir exmpe. The ide
is met with monst the ncient Chdens, the Eyptins, the Persins,
the Hindus, nd the Aryn rces of Northern Europe, s we s in the
mythooy of Chin nd Jpn; nd this community of trdition hs been
rerded by some uthorities s pointin to  prehistoric intercourse
between these widey-seprted rces, if not to their common
oriin.[257] But, prt from the fct tht the sme conception is so
found in  rudimentry form monst the boriines of New Zend nd
Americ, it is not difficut to imine tht it my hve occurred
seprtey to more thn one inquirer. In short, the ide of referrin
to the form of  tree the pprent conformtion of the universe is one
of the most ntur methods of resonin which cn occur to the sve
mind.[258] The moment he ben to concern himsef with such questions,
the primitive thinker must hve sked himsef why the heveny
firmment, with its sun nd strs nd the wters bove it, did not f
to erth ike everythin ese within his knowede. His mind ntury
demnded some prop or support to ntonise wht in his experience ws
the unrestricted despotism of eocentric rvittion. The Eyptin
expined the probem by representin the sky s the str-spned body
of the oddess Nut, who hd been seprted from her husbnd Sib, the
erth, by the efforts of Sh. In the mythooy of the Moris, Rni, the
sky, ws forciby seprted from his wife, the univers mother, erth,
by one of their chidren, Tne Mhut, fther of forests, who pntin
his hed upon the erth, uphed the hevens with his feet.[259]
The fct tht the ceesti bodies were observed to revove round 
fixed point rendered it  necessity tht this ssumed support of the
heven shoud be of the nture of  centr xis, uphodin the sky-roof
s the poe uphods  tent. To the inhbitnts of mountinous countries,
who sw the couds restin upon the peks, the ide of 
heven-supportin mountin no doubt presented itsef s the most
resonbe soution. Thus Aristote, to quote Lord Bcon, eenty
expoundeth the ncient fbe of Ats (tht stood fixed nd bre up the
heven from fin) to be ment of the poes or xe-tree of heven.
To pin-dweers, however, the tree ws the oftiest object within
their experience, nd it my be conjectured tht the ide of  centr
word-supportin tree ws  product of the ownds. In some cses the
two conceptions were combined nd the word-tree ws pced on the
summit of  word-mountin. It is interestin, however, to note tht the
eriest known version of  word-tree, pure nd simpe, comes to us
from the fertie uvi pin on the borders of the Persin Guf. The
ccount, contined in n od biinu hymn, nd probby of Accdin

oriin, represents the tree s rowin in the rden of Edin or Eden,

pced by Bbyonin trdition in the immedite vicinity of Eridu, 
city which fourished t the mouth of the Euphrtes between 3000 nd
4000 B.C.
In Eridu  stk rew overshdowin; in  hoy pce did it become
reen;
Its roots were of white cryst, which stretched towrds the deep.
(Before) E ws its course in Eridu, teemin with fertiity;
Its set ws the (centr pce of the erth);
Its foie (?) ws the couch of Zikum the (primev) mother.
Into the hert of its hoy house, which spred its shde ike 
forest, hth no mn entered.
(There is the home) of the mihty mother who psses cross the sky.
In the midst of it ws Tmmuz.
There is the shrine of the two (ods).[260]
Of this orified tree or stem it is to be observed tht it rew t the
centre of the erth; tht its roots pierced down into the bysm wtery
deep, where the mphibious E, the od of wisdom, hd his set, nd
whence he nourished the erth with sprins nd strems; tht its foie
supported Zikum, the primordi hevens, nd overshdowed the erth,
which ws pprenty rerded s  pne pced midwy between the
firmment bove nd the deep beow. The stem itsef ws the home of
Dvkin, consort of E, the ret mother, the dy of the Erth, nd
of her son Tmmuz,  tempe too scred for morts to enter.
Even were it not to be inferred from other evidence, there coud be
itte doubt tht the peope monst whom the bove conception rose
must hve been redy fmiir with tree-worship. The mihty stem, in
which the ret ods dwet, ws but  poetic mpifiction of the
scred, spirit-inhbited tree, nd rose out of the sme ideisin
process s tht which ve birth to the nery reted tree of knowede
nd tree of ife.
Side by side with tht of  word-tree the conception of 
word-mountin is so met with in the primitive cosmoony of the
Chdens, but whie the former trdition beoned to Sumir or Southern
Bbyoni, the tter seems to hve previed in the Northern Accd,
whose inhbitnts hd once been mountin-dweers.[261] This mountin
of the word, whose hed rived the heven, which hd the pure deep
for its foundtion nd ws the home of the ods, ws pced in the
north, nd its worship survived in tht of the iustrious mounds of
the Bbyonin pin, which were equy rerded s the visibe
hbittion of divine spirits. Isih represents the kin of Bbyon s
bostin, I wi scend into heven, I wi ext my throne bove the
strs of God; nd I wi sit upon the mount of conretion, in the
uttermost prts of the north.[262] It seems cer tht the prophet is
udin to the myth of  Chden Oympus, where the ods hed their
ssembies. In one of the Bbyonin hymns this mountin is ddressed
s, O thou who ivest shde, Lord who cstest thy shdow over the nd,
ret mount,[263] from which it miht pper tht the ide of the
word-mountin ws not very stricty dissocited from tht of 
word-tree.
In the correspondin cosmoony, which ws current five thousnd yers
ter monst the Scndinvins, the two conceptions were unequivocy
combined. The Norse Ydrsi, in spite of the mny quint symboic
fncies which hve been embroidered on to the min conception,
represents such  remrkbe mmtion of ides oriiny Orient

tht it is difficut to beieve tht it cn hve hd  toty

independent oriin. The word-mountin, the word-tree with the birds in
its brnches, nd the connection of the tter with nother pecuiry
Estern ide, tht of the food of the ods, re  reproduced in the
cosmoonic trditions of the Edds, nd it is hihy probbe tht they
formed prt of  primitive fok-ore common to the different rces. As
their cuture rew the Chdens ve up their erier conception, nd
cme to rerd the erth s  intic bow fotin bottom upwrds upon
the deep, but to the Norse poet the word sti remined  ft disc
surrounded by  river ocen, nd imited by mountin rnes. In its
centre Asrd, the mountin of the ods, ws pierced by  mihty tree
trunk, the brnches of which overshdowed the word nd supported the
sky, the strs, nd the couds, whist its roots stretched downwrds
into the primordi byss. The ppes stored in Vh, by etin which
the ods preserved their youth, cosey correspond to the mrit or som
which, s we sh see, ws  pecuir feture of the Estern conception
of the word-tree.
The chief nd most hoy set of the ods, sy the Edds, is by the
sh Ydrsi. There the ods meet in counci every dy. It is the
retest nd best of  trees, its brnches spred over  the word
nd rech bove heven. Three roots sustin the tree nd stnd wide
prt: one is with the As; the second with the Frost-ints; the third
reches into Nifheim, nd under it is Hveremer, where Nidhu nws
the root from beow. But under the second root, which extends to the
Frost-ints, is the we of Mimer, wherein knowede nd wisdom re
conceed. The third root of the sh is in heven, nd beneth it is the
most scred fountin of Urd. Here the ods hve their doomsted. The As
ride thither every dy over Bifrost, which is so ced As-bride.
There stnds  beutifu h ner the fountin beneth the sh. Out of
it come three mids. These mids shpe the ives of men nd we c them
the Norns. On the bouhs of the sh sits n ee, who knows mny
thins. Between his eyes sits the hwk, ced Vedfoner. A squirre, by
nme Rttsk, sprins up nd down the tree nd bers words of hte
between the ee nd Nidhu. Four sts ep bout in the brnches of
the sh nd bite the buds. The Norns tht dwe by the fountin of Urd
every dy tke wter from the fountin, nd cy tht ies round the
fountin, nd sprinke therewith the sh, in order tht its brnches my
not wither or decy.... In Vh there is  chest, kept by Ithun, in
which re the ppes tht the ods must bite when they row od, in
order to become youn in.[264]
In the bove description the vrious denizens of the tree hve been
supposed to symboise ntur phenomen. The sts who bite the buds re
the four crdin winds; the ee nd the hwk represent respectivey
the ir nd the wind-sti ether; the serpent Nidhu who nws the root
in the subterrnen byss symboises vocnic forces, nd the squirre,
who runs up nd down the tree, hi nd other tmospheric phenomen.
[Iustrtion: Fi. 27.Ydrsithe Scndinvin word-tree.(From Finn
Mnusens Edderen.)]
A simir if somewht ess detied symboism is met with in both the
Indin nd Persin trditions of the word-tree,  symboism which often
obscures nd overshdows its cosmic function. In both countries the
mythic tree ws venerted rther s  tree of ife, the source of the
immortisin som or hom, thn s the supporter of the universe. The
tter function ws not indeed quite ost siht of, for the Kpdrum
of the Veds ws  coud-tree of cooss size, which rew on  steep
mountin, nd by its shdow produced dy nd niht before the cretion

of the sun nd moon; nd in the Ri-Ved Brhm himsef is described s
the vst over-spredin tree of the universe, of which the ods re the
brnches. Simiry in Persin eend, ner the hom-tree stood the
tree of  seeds, frequented by two birds, one of which when he setted
on it broke off  thousnd brnches nd cused their seeds to f,
whie the other crried them to  pce whence they miht be conveyed to
the erth with the rin. The sme ide, even to the two birds, recurs in
the Indin trditions of the mystic som-tree, which, besides
producin the immortisin drink, so bore fruit nd seed of every
kind. It ws from this tree tht the immorts shped the heven nd the
erth: it rew in the third heven, overshdowin it with its brnches.
Beneth it st the ods, quffin the precious som, whereby they
preserved their immortity.
Amonst the foowers of Buddh this trdition of  superntur tree
underwent  further process of ideistion. Their fncy described it s
covered with divine fowers, nd emin with every kind of precious
stone. To its smest ef it ws formed of ems. It rew on  pure nd
eve swrd, respendent in coour s the pecocks neck. It received
the home of the ods.[265] It ws beneth this tree tht Gutm took
his set, resoved not to stir unti he hd ttined to perfect
knowede. The tempter Mr, with his hosts of demons, ssied him with
fiery drts, with rin in foods nd hurricnes; but the Buddh remined
unmoved, unti the defeted demons fed wy. This is probby 
Buddhist renderin of the Vedic ccount of the ret fiht between the
powers of iht nd drkness for the couds nd the mbrosi they
contined. Gutm so wins the victory, but for him it is knowede
nd enihtenment tht shoud constitute the true object of humn
desire.
Briefer references to the cosmic tree re met with in the trditions of
other rces. Accordin to the Phoenicins the universe ws frmed on the
mode of  tent, its xis  revovin cosmic tree, supportin  bue
cnopy on which the heveny bodies were embroidered. The Eyptins, in
one of their schemes of the universe, so represented the centr xis
s  cooss tree, on whose brnches Bennu the sun od perched. It ve
forth ceesti rin, which descended on the fieds of Lower Eypt, nd
penetrted to the under-word to refresh those who re in Amenti. The
Osirin Tt-pir, uded to in  previous chpter, is thouht by
Professor Tiee to be derived from the conception of the word-pir,
thouh M. Mspero rerds its cosmic symboism s  ter ccretion.
On  post on which is rven  humn countennce, nd which is covered
with y cothin, stnds the so-ced Tt-pir, entirey mde up of
superimposed cpits, one of which hs  rude fce scrtched upon it,
intended no doubt to represent the shinin sun. On the top of the pir
is pced the compete hed-dress of Osiris, the rms horns, the sun,
the ureus dder, the doube fether,  embems of iht nd
sovereinty, which in my judment must hve been intended to represent
the hihest heven.[266]
The conception of the word-tree is so found in the oden em-berin
tree of the sky, where, ccordin to Eyptin mythooy, Nut hd her
bode. She is oddess of the heveny ocen, whose body is decked with
strs. The pirim to the ower word ets of the fruit, nd the oddess
enin from the tree pours out the wter of ife. This ws in the west
on the wy trveed by the ded. To the est there ws nother tree,
with wide rditin brnches berin jewes, up which the stron mornin
sun, Horus, cimbed to the zenith of heven. It hs been suested tht
this Sycmore of Emerd ws  mythooic renderin of the beutifu

reen tints on the horizon t the risin nd settin of the sun.[267]
The trdition of  universe-tree is found so in Chin nd Jpn. The
eends of the tter country spek of n enormous met pine which
rows in the north t the centre of the word.[268] In Chinese mythooy
seven mircuous trees once fourished on the Kuen Ln Mountins. One of
them, which ws of jde, bore fruit tht conferred immortity; nother,
nmed Ton, rew on the hihest pek, hrd by the cosed te of
heven.[269]
It is interestin to find somewht simir trditions current in the New
Word. Accordin to the cosmoony of the Si Indins sm diminished
tribe inhbitin New Mexicothere ws in ech of the six reions of the
word, North, South, Est, West, Zenith, nd Ndir,  mountin berin 
int tree, in  sprin t the foot of which dwet one of the six coud
ruers, ech ttended by one of the six prim Si priestesses, chosen
by the rch-mother to intercede with the coud ruers to send rin to
the Si. The six trees were specified s the spruce, pine, spen, cedr,
nd two vrieties of the ok.[270]
The beutifu conception met with in some of the bove trditions, by
which the strs were compred t once to ems nd to the fruits of 
mihty tree, is frequenty encountered in ncient iterture. The
Arbins represented the zodic s  tree with tweve brnches, of which
the strs were the fruit, nd  somewht simir ide ppers in the
Apocyptic tree of ife, which bre tweve mnner of fruits, nd
yieded her fruit every month.[271] The Bbyonin hero Gimes, in
his wnderins beyond the tes of ocen, cme upon  forest, which
To the forest of the trees of the ods in ppernce ws equ;
Emerds it crried s its fruit;
The brnch refuses not to support  cnopy;
Cryst they crried s shoots,
Fruit they crry nd to the siht it is istenin.[272]
The device of  oden tree hun with jewes, which is common throuhout
the Est in  fine odsmiths work, nd  ood exmpe of which ws
formery one of the tresures of the pce of the Gret Mou t
Ar,[273] ws no doubt derived from the conception of  str-berin
word-tree. For it must be remembered tht the ncients beieved ems to
be sef-ustrous ike the strs. Homers pces emitted  rdince ike
mooniht, nd the coumns of od nd emerd seen by Herodotus t Tyre
ve out iht.[274]
We hve no direct instnce of em-berin trees in Greek mythooy,
thouh the oden ppes of the Hesperides rowin on Mount Ats, the
sky-sustinin mountin in the country beyond the north wind, hd
evidenty some kinship to the jeweed fruit of Estern eend.
In ddition to the Norse Ydrsi, there re other trces of the
trdition of  word-tree to be met with monst Europen ntions. The
Russins hve  eend, derived from Byzntium, of n iron-tree, the
root of which is the power of God, whie its hed sustins the three
words, the heveny ocen of ir, the erth, nd he with its burnin
fire nd brimstone.[275] Amonst the Sxons the ide of  word-tree
seems to hve persisted even to the time of Chremne, who in the
course of his cmpin inst them in 772 A.D. soemny destroyed s 
hethen ido their Irmens or Word-pir,  ofty tree-trunk, which
they worshipped s typifyin the univers coumn tht supports 
thins. Mnnhrdt, however, rerds the Irmens s simpy  ntion

tree, correspondin to the community trees redy mentioned, nd

expins Chremnes ct s  poitic rther thn  reiious
one.[276]
In the Cthedr t Hidesheim there is n ncient stone coumn known s
the Irmensue (thouh its cim to the nme is disputed), which ws du
up under Louis e Dbonnire, nd trnsformed into  cndebrum
surmounted by n ime of the Virin,[277] the conception of mor
support thus tkin the pce of the rosser ide of  mteri sty.
As in Estern eend the universe-tree ws venerted s somethin more
thn  mere mteri supporter of the word, bein sometimes the iver
of wisdom nd sometimes the conveyer of immortity, so in Europen myth
it is found inked with  simir beneficence. In the eends of the
Finns its brnches re represented s conferrin etern wefre, nd
the deiht tht never ceses. The Kev, which dtes bck to n
unknown ntiquity, retes how the st of creted trees, the ok,
sprn from the mic corn pnted by the hero Winmoinen in the shes
of burnt hy which hd been mown by the wter-midens:
Spreds the ok-tree mny brnches,
Rounds itsef  brod coron,
Rises it bove the storm couds;
Fr it stretches out its brnches,
Stops the white couds in their courses,
With its brnches hides the suniht,
With its mny eves the moonbems,
And the striht dies in heven.
Sd the ives of mn nd hero,
Sd the house of ocen-dweers,
If the sun shines not upon them,
If the mooniht does not cheer them.
At the pryer of Winmoinen, pped by the monstrous rowth, his
mother, the wind-spirit, sends  tiny wter-creture, who, soon turnin
into  int, with  mihty swin of his htchet strikes the tree. With
the second stroke he cuts it, nd with the third fire sprins from its
hue buk nd the ok yieds, shkin erth nd heven in fin. It
is not ti then tht its beneficent powers re mde mnifest:
Estwrd fr the trunk extendin,
Fr to westwrd few the tree-tops,
To the south the eves were scttered,
To the north its hundred brnches.
Whosoeer  brnch hs tken
Hs obtined etern wefre.
Who receives himsef  tree top
He hs ined the mster-mic.
Who the foie hs thered
Hs deiht tht never ceses.[278]
The correspondin eend monst the neihbourin Esthonins, s tod in
their epic, the Kevipoe, contins  quint medey of the prctic
nd the poetic. Here, too, the monstrous ok is feed by  int who
rows from  dwrf; in fin it covers the se with its brnches nd
is quicky turned to use by the peope. From the trunk is fshioned 
bride with two rms, one stretchin to Finnd, the other to n
djoinin isnd. Ships re buit from the crown, nd towns from the
roots, nd toy-bots from the chips. Wht is eft over is used to buid

sheters for od men, widows, nd orphns, nd the st reminder to
provide  hut for the minstre. Therewith he ins the mster-mic,
for the strners who cross the bride now nd in, nd stop t his
door to sk wht city nd wht spendid pce stnd before them,
receive for nswer tht the pce is his poor hut, nd  the
spendour round is the iht of his sons refected from heven.[279]
To return in to the Est, it hs redy been mentioned tht in 
trdition common both to the Persins nd the Hindus, nd therefore
presumby of considerbe ntiquity, the cosmic tree produced the food
whereby the ods preserved their immortity. The universe-tree hd
become  tree of ife. This conception of  mystic ife-ivin tree
ws ssocited with the ritu use of n erthy counterprt of the
immortisin drink.
Accordin to the Persin trdition the hom-tree rew beside the tree
of  seeds in  ke, where it ws urded by two fish inst the
ttcks of the izrd sent by Ahrimn to destroy the scred sp
wherewith the ods were nourished. It ws the first of  trees pnted
by Ormuzd in the fountin of ife, nd ws identified with the od
Hom, who ve strenth nd heth to the body, nd to the sou
enihtenment nd etern ife. This od ws rerded s ssimited to
the erthy hom, nd s present in it. It is reted in the scred
writins tht he ppered one dy to Zoroster s he ws tendin the
hoy fire, nd thus ddressed him: I m the divine Hom, who keeps
deth t by. C upon me, express my juice tht ye my enjoy me;
worship me with sons of prise. Zoroster repied, Honour to Hom.
He is ood, we, nd truy born, the iver of wefre nd heth,
victorious nd of oden hue; his brnches bow down tht one my enjoy
them. To the sou he is the wy to heven. In the beinnin Ormuzd ve
to Hom the irde itterin with strs, wherewith he irded himsef
upon the tops of the mountins.[280]
The juice of the terrestri hom ws obtined from the pnt by the
use of peste nd mortr, nd ws tken whenever pryer ws offered.
Every house in Persi hd its hom-pnt nd its scred peste nd
mortr, which hd to be protected from poution s crefuy s the
hoy fire nd the scred myrte-twis. The preprtion of the
hom-drink hd its speci itury, nd in dedictin it the cup ws
hed oft, not pced on the round, est it shoud be pouted by the
breth of the worshipper or other impurity.[281] The Semnion or
Theombrotion which, ccordin to Piny, ws tken by the Persin kins
to keep off bodiy decy nd to produce constncy of mind, ws probby
identic with the hom-drink.[282]
The Prsees of Bomby sti continue the ritu use of the hom-juice,
derivin it from  pnt with  knotted stem nd eves ike those of
the jsmine, suppies of which re speciy obtined from Kirmn in
Persi. They refuse to dmit the identity of the Vedic som with their
own scred pnt, which they ssert is never found in Indi.[283]
This fct, if true, woud ccount for the confusion which ppers to
exist s to the exct nture of the pnt from which the Vedic som or
mrit ws derived, nd indeed it is very probbe tht in their
mirtions southwrd the Hindus mde use successivey of different
pnts. But there cn be itte doubt tht the som ritu nd the
conceptions ssocited with it were oriiny derived from the sme
source s tht of the hom, nd dte bck to  period before the Aryn
rces hd become seprted. Like the hom, the som is not ony  pnt
but so  powerfu deity, nd in both the Veds nd the Zendvest the

conceptions of the od nd the scred juice bend wonderfuy with ech
other.[284]
Accordin to Professor Roth, the pnt which is the source of the
intoxictin drink offered to the ods in Hindu scrifices is the
_Srcostemm cidum_ or _Ascepis cid_,  efess herb continin 
miky juice, but it is doubtfu whether it is identic with the Vedic
som pnt.[285] Dr. Hu sttes distincty tht the pnt t present
used by the scrifici priests of the Deccn is not the som of the
Veds. It rows on the his ner Poon; its sp, which is whitish, is
bitter nd strinent, but not sour; it is  very nsty drink, but hs
some intoxictin effect. De Guberntis concudes tht s the erthy
drink ws merey  symbo of the heveny som, its source nd chrcter
were not mteri. It is not necessry tht the drink which the
worshipper pretends to drink or to offer to Indr t the scrifice
shoud be rey intoxictin. The object of the rite is to induce Indr
in heven to drink the wter of strenth, the true som, the re
mbrosi, sometimes conceived s hidden in the couds, sometimes s
dwein in the soft iht poured forth by the ret Som, Indu, the
moon,the tree whose stem, on, drk, nd efess, resembes tht of
the erthy pnt from which the drink is ordered to be prepred. The
ritu resoves itsef, ccordin to De Guberntis, into  sun-chrm.
Som, the moon, the od of pnts, the ord of the drk forest of niht
or winter, is the ood enius who furnishes the mircuous drink
wherewith Indr, the sor hero, recruits his forces. It is under its
infuence, sy the Veds, tht Indr performs his ret deeds. Som does
rey intoxicte the ods in heven, incessnty renewin the triumph
of iht over its enemies. The scrifice of the som on erth is ony 
pe, nve, nd rotesque reproduction of tht divine mirce.[286]
Accordin to the Veds, however, the som-drink, which Windischmn
describes s the hoiest offerin of the ncient Indin worship, hd 
enuiney intoxictin effect. It is described s stimutin speech,
cin forth the rdent thouht, enertin hymns with the powers of
 poet; nd is invoked s bestower of ood, mster of  thousnd
sons, the eder of ses. A hymn in the Ri-Ved hs been thus
trnsted:
Weve quffed the Som briht
And re immort rown,
Weve entered into iht
And  the ods hve known.
Wht mort now cn hrm
Or foemn vex us more?
Throuh thee, beyond rm,
Immort od! we sor.[287]
In the Hindu worship the fermented juice of the som-pnt ws presented
in des to the deities invoked, prt sprinked on the scrifici
fire, prt on the scred rss strewed upon the foor, nd the reminder
invriby drunk by those who conducted the ceremony.[288] In ery
times, sys Windischmn, its use ws ooked upon s  hoy ction, nd
s  scrment by which the union with Brhm ws obtined.
The _mbrosi_ of the Oympin ods, ike the word itsef, ws no doubt
in its essence identic with the Vedic _mrit_ or _som_. It contined
the principe of immortity, nd ws hence withhed from morts. But
the word ws so ppied, ike the som, to  mixture of vrious fruits
used in reiious rites.[289] A sti coser noy, however, with the
Hindu nd Persin conception is to be found in the cut of Dionysus, who

ws rerded s present in the wine, which ws his ift to mn. He,
born  od, sys Euripides, is poured out in ibtions to the
ods.[290] And in, This od is  prophet. For when he forces his
wy into the body, he mkes those who rve to forete the future.[291]
The fct tht Dionysus ws essentiy  tree-od, the spiritu form
of the vine,[292] renders the noy sti more strikin.
To discuss the enesis of the bove conceptions woud be to reopen the
whoe question of the oriin of tree-worship. The drinkin of veetbe
juices, fermented or otherwise, ws no doubt one of the mens by which
ery rces were ccustomed to produce drems nd visions, nd so, in
their view, to et themseves possessed by or put into communiction
with  spirit. It ws ntur, therefore, for them to ssume tht the
spirit in question hd entered into them with the dru, nd ws
therefore present in it nd in the pnt from which it ws derived. Mr.
Herbert Spencer, indeed, rues tht this prticur ssumption ws one
of the chief fctors in the oriin of pnt-worship in ener,  min
reson why pnts yiedin intoxictin ents, nd hence other pnts,
cme to be rerded s continin superntur beins.[293] It woud
probby, however, be sfer to concude tht the scrment use of the
juice of pnts is merey one monst mny conte reiious uses, nd
ike the ritu empoyment of wreths in the service of the ods, the
ttchment of brnches to the house, nd the smitin with the
ife-rood, sprn out of the desire of men to brin nerer to
themseves  spirit redy beieved to exist, nd thus to ensure their
enjoyment of the protection nd the benefits presumed to be t his
dispos.

CHAPTER VII
PARADISE
No ccount of tree-worship woud be compete without  chpter on tht
trdition of  prdise or ide rden of deiht which is met with in
the mythooy of most  the ntions of ntiquity. The form of the
trdition vries. Prdise ws sometimes represented (1) s the set of
the ods; sometimes (2) s the first home of the prents of mnkind; nd
in other cses s (3) the bode of the spirits of the bessed.
Occsiony the different conceptions re combined; but the erier
trditions  concur in connectin prdise with  mircuous tree or
trees, or with  more or ess eendry mountin, from which it my be
pusiby inferred tht they dte bck to the dys of tht primitive
cosmoony when the hevens were supposed to be uphed by  mteri
support. Thus in one, t est, of its spects the trdition of prdise
must be rerded s n offshoot of the scred tree.
It is not difficut to understnd how the vrious conceptions rose. In
the first pce, s the ide of  ife or spirit more or ess bound to
the tree becme expnded into tht of  powerfu nd wide-rnin od,
the ideisin process demnded for him some home in heven
correspondin to the tree which ws his fvourite hbitt or embodiment
on erth. The scred od-hunted tree, to which worship nd ifts were
ccorded beow, suested  mystic counterprt bove, nd the proper
home of deity ws ssumed to be tht mrveous tree whose brnches were
the sky nd its fruit the sun nd strs, or tht ofty mountin whose
summit touched nd supported the hevens.

In the second pce, the beief, common in primitive mythooy, tht the
first prents were born from trees, presumby ed to the ide tht
these honoured ncestors, whose innocence ws  prt of their
ideistion, ived monst trees nd in  rden equy ideised.
The third conception of prdise ntury rew out of the erier
conceptions, when there rose the beief in  future ife of rewrd or
punishment; thouh it hs been pointed out tht the conception of heven
under the form of  rden previed, _pr exceence_, monst setted
ntions, ivin under kins of whose stte  uxurious rden or
pesunce formed n essenti prt.[294]
Of prdise rerded s the bode of the ods, the Indin trdition of
the rden of Indr furnishes the best exmpe. It ws situted on Mount
Meru, on the confines of Cshmere, nd contined the five wonderfu
trees which sprn from the wters, fter the churnin of the cosmic
ocen by the ods nd the demons. Under these trees the ods took their
ese, enjoyin the mbrosi tht fe from them. The rden, wtered by
sprins nd rivuets, contined uminous fowers, fruits tht conferred
immortity, nd birds whose son even the ods oved to her. The chief
of its five mircuous trees ws the pridjt, the fower of which
preserved its freshness throuhout the yer, contined in itsef every
scent nd fvour, nd ve hppiness to whoever demnded it. It ws,
moreover,  test of virtue, osin its spendour in the hnds of the
sinfu, nd preservin it for him who foowed duty. Ech person found
in it his fvourite coour nd perfume. It served s  torch by niht,
ws  tismn inst huner, thirst, disese, nd decrepitude, nd
discoursed the sweetest nd most vried music.[295] De Guberntis quotes
sever other instnces from Indin iterture of  eendry ceesti
rden.[296]
[Iustrtion: Fi. 28.From  Bbyonin se.(Gobet dAvie.)]
Of prdise, s the home of the first prents, the Pentteuch ives the
most circumstnti ccount, thouh it woud pper from Genesis iii. 8
tht the Bibic prdise ws so rerded s  fvourite resort of
Jehovh. The scred books of the Prsis contin  very simir version.
The oriin humn pir, Mschi nd Mschin, sprn from  tree in
Heden,  deihtfu spot where rew hom or hom, the mrveous tree of
ife, whose fruit imprted viour nd immortity. The womn, t the
instnce of Ahrimn, the spirit of evi in the uise of  serpent, ve
her husbnd fruit to et nd so ed to their ruin.[297] The trdition is
no doubt of very ncient oriin, nd is supposed to be represented on n
ery Bbyonin se now in the British Museum. The tree stnds in the
midde, from either side two humn beins seted stretch forth their
hnds for its fruit; the serpent stnds erect behind one of them.[298]
On nother cyinder in the Museum t the Hue there is represented 
rden with trees nd birds; in the midde  pm, from which two
persones re puckin the fruit;  third with  fruit in his hnd
seems to ddress them.[299]
The two mystic trees of the Bibic prdise find their common
counterprt in the scred cedr of the Chdens, which, besides bein
essentiy  tree of ife, empoyed in mic rites to restore strenth
nd ife to the body, ws so the reveer of the orces of erth nd
heven. Upon its core the nme of E, the od of wisdom, ws supposed
to be written,[300] just s the nme of Ormuzd ws first discosed to
mn by pperin crved in the wood of his scred cypress. The tree of
ife so finds  pre in the divine som, the iver of etern
youth nd immortity,  drink reserved ony for the ceesti ods or

the sous of the bessed.

The third conception of prdise, s the dwein-pce of the rihteous
ded, is met with in the eriest Greek iterture,[301] but there is no
definite trce of it monst the Semitic ntions unti much ter. It
did not, pprenty, find reconition monst the Jews unti fter the
exie, but references to it re frequent in their ter pocyptic
iterture.[302] In the second book of Esdrs, the Lord tes His peope
tht He wi brin them out of the tombs, nd tht He hs snctified nd
prepred for them tweve trees, den with divers fruits, nd s mny
fountins fowin with mik nd honey, nd seven mihty mountins,
whereupon there row roses nd iies.[303] They sh hve the tree
of ife for n ointment of sweet svour; they sh neither bour nor
be wery.[304]
In the Rbbinic writins, nd sti more in the Korn, this conception
of prdise is embroidered with mny fncifu extrvnces. The Tmud
even invents two prdises. There is n upper prdise nd  ower
prdise. And between them is fixed  pir, by which they re joined
toether, nd which is ced The strenth of the Hi of Sion. And by
this pir on every Sbbth nd festiv the sous of the rihteous
scend from the ower to the upper prdise, nd there enjoy the iht
of the Divine Mjesty ti the end of the Sbbth or festiv, when they
descend nd return into the ower prdise.[305]
This pir is no doubt  surviv of the od trdition of the
word-tree,  trdition sti more obviousy trcebe in the Mhometn
beief. Accordin to the Korn prdise is situted in the seventh
heven. In the centre of it stnds the mrveous tree ced _Toob_,
which is so re tht  mn mounted on the feetest horse coud not
ride round its brnches in  hundred yers. This tree not ony ffords
the most rtefu shde over the whoe extent of the Mussumn prdise,
but its bouhs, den with deicious fruits of  size nd tste unknown
to morts, bend themseves to be pucked t the wish of the hppy
denizens of tht bissfu bode. The rivers of prdise tke their rise
from the tree, fowin some with wter, some with mik, nd some with
honey; whie others re fied with wine, the use of which is not
forbidden to the bessed.[306]
The confusion of thouht pprent in these ncient trditions of
prdise ws no doubt prty due to the fct tht primitive mn, with
his imited rsp of the possibiities of spce, pictured heven s not
fr distnt from him. It ws  hppier nd  brihter erth, which
offered mteri rther thn spiritu joys, nd where, ccordin to the
eriest conceptions, the spirits of the deprted crried on the sme
pursuits, reped nd sowed nd hunted, s they hd done whie in ife.
Thus the od Accdin dweers by the Euphrtes pictured the sky s the
counterprt of their own fertie pins, nd the sun s  pouhmn
yokin his oxen to the itterin pouh, with which he tied the
heveny psture.[307] The sme ide is exempified in the nmes of the
zodic constetions, which re of extremey ncient oriin, the sin
we sti know s Turus bein ced by the Accdins the bu who
uides the yer. So ner ws heven tht it ws not impossibe to cimb
up to it, if you coud but find the cosmic tree by which it ws uphed.
The Khsis of Indi hve  eend tht the strs re men who hve
cimbed into heven by  tree.[308] The Mbocobis of Pruy sti
beieve tht the sous of the ded o up to the erth on hih by the
tree which joins us to heven, nd find n entrnce by mens of the
hoes in the sky-roof throuh which the rin descends.[309] There is 
Chinese story of  kin, who hvin herd of the ories of prdise,

set forth in serch of it. After on wnderins he cme to  mihty

coumn, which, he hd been tod, must be cimbed in order to rech the
wished-for o. But it ws too sippery, nd he ws compeed to f
bck upon the terntive route,  steep nd rued mountin pth. When
most fintin with ftiue he ws ssisted by some friendy nymphs,
nd t enth rrived t  beutifu rden, with  wondrous tree in its
midst, nd  fountin of immortity, from which four rivers, fowin to
the four corners of the erth, took their rise.[310]
The sme notion of the simirity nd propinquity of the heveny fied
is iustrted by the story of the Etruscn priest, who by his chrms
brouht down to erth  bit of heven whereon to buid his tempe. The
Mhometns ssert tht the Cb ws owered directy from the ceesti
prdise excty t the centre of the erth. And the Bedouins of Arbi
sti beieve tht the jinni, ivin ner the owest heven, cn her
the converstion of the nes, nd so in vube informtion which
they re be to imprt to men.[311]
Homer pced the set of the ods nd the court of Zeus upon the summit
of Oympus,[312] which ws supposed to touch heven, nd piercin
throuh the reion of rin nd coud to rech into the cm ether, where
reined etern sprin. By ter writers, however, Oympus ws
represented s n unsubstnti reion overhed, with the pce of Zeus
in its midst. The erier view of Oympus excty corresponds with the
Chden mount of the word, the mountin of Aru or Hdes, where
the ods hd their set, nd beneth which ws the word of hosts;[313]
so with the Mount of the Assemby spoken of by Isih, nd with the
Scndinvin Asrd. But there is  cerer reminiscence of the eevted
prdise of Orient eend in the beutifu rdens of the
word-supportin Ats, with their deicious fruits, their oden
ppes, nd their protectin dron. The third conception of prdise,
s the bode of the bessed, is so met with in Greek mythooy in the
Eysin fieds, or isnds of the bessed, so pced by some
uthorities in the neihbourhood of Mount Ats. Here the sous of the
virtuous enjoyed perfect hppiness, in bowers for ever reen, nd
monst medows wtered by pesnt strems nd bestrred with sphode.
The ir ws pure nd serene, the birds wrbed in the roves, nd the
inhbitnts crried on such voctions s they hd deihted in when on
erth. Lter writers, however, substituted for these innocent pesures
the vouptuous induences of the Mhometn prdise.
It ws, no doubt, the ncient trdition of n eevted prdise, of 
prdise seted on the summit of  heven-touchin word-mountin, which
infuenced Miton in his ceebrted description, for there is nothin in
the Bibic ccount to suest the excessive titude tht he so
deibertey ccentutes. Prdise, ccordin to the poet
crowns with her encosure reen,
As with  rur mound, the chmpin hed
Of  steep widerness, ...
nd overhed up-rew
Insuperbe heiht of oftiest shde,
Cedr, nd pine, nd fir, nd brnchin pm;
... Yet hiher thn their tops
The verdurous w of prdise up-sprun.
* * * * *
And hiher thn tht w  circin row
Of oodiest trees, oden with firest fruit.[314]
As mns conceptions of God hve widened with  more extended knowede

of His universe nd  fuer reistion of his own history on the

erth, these oder conceptions of prdise s the home of deity nd the
bode of the bessed hve decyed, unti t the present dy, however
much our theooins my differ in their descriptions of heven, they
ree t est in this, tht whtever it is, it is not  rden. But the
beief in the existence of n erthy prdise, which formed  prt of
the trditions of so mny ncient ntions, inered on for centuries
fter the Hoy City of the New Testment hd dispced the Prdise of
the Od.
The fetures of this erthy prdise re for the most prt simir to
those fmiir to us in the Bibic description. It contined the
fountin of immortity, from which sprn the four rivers tht fowed
to the four qurters of the erth. Purin brooks rn with the fr-fmed
mbrosi. The dweers therein reposed on fowery wns, ued by the
meodious wrbins of birds nd festin on deicious fruits. Whtever
there ws of beutifu or subime in nture there found its more perfect
counterprt. Absoute contentment nd serenity nd the deiht tht
never dies were the boons it offered. There mn coud cese from toi,
for nture, unssisted, produced  tht ws necessry for his
sustennce. This rden of deiht ws often souht fter but sedom
found, except by semi-divine heroes diviney ed. Hercues, directed by
Nereus, the se-od, succeeded in ttinin the rdens of the
Hesperides on the word-supportin Mount Ats, the Pir of Heven, s
Herodotus cs it. He conquered the protectin dron nd secured the
oden sun-fruit from the centr tree.[315] The Chden Hercues,
Gimes, referred to in  previous chpter, found  simir tree with
mic fruit upon it when he reched the tes of ocen.
This ide of n ctu prdise upon erth hs fscinted the mind of
mn in  es, nd hs been one of his most cherished nd persistent
trditions. It ws n ide tht no doubt rose out of nd corresponded
to his ifeon crvin for  perfect pece nd hppiness which he never
found in the word he knew, nd which he hs t enth reised to be
incomptibe with his own ornistion. It hs tken him centuries to
discover tht if there is no erthy prdise it is he himsef nd not
the word tht is t fut. But the trdition ws sow to die, nd there
re probby peope who sti beieve, s Sir John Mundevie beieved
in the fourteenth century, tht the Grden of Eden exists somewhere upon
the erth if it coud ony be found. This is wht the fmous trveer
sys:
And beyond the nd, nd ises, nd deserts of Prester Johns ordship,
in oin striht towrds the Est, men find nothin but mountins nd
ret rocks; nd there is the drk reion, where no mn my see, neither
by dy nor niht, s they of the country sy. And tht desert, nd tht
pce of drkness, sts from this cost unto Terrestri Prdise,
where Adm, our first fther, nd Eve were put, who dwet there but 
itte whie, nd tht is towrds the est, t the beinnin of the
erth.
Of Prdise I cnnot propery spek, for I ws not there. It is fr
beyond; nd I repent not oin there, but I ws not worthy. But s I
hve herd sy of wise men beyond, I sh te you with ood-wi.
Terrestri Prdise, s wise men sy, is the hihest pce of the
erth; nd it is so hih tht it nery touches the circe of the moon,
there s the moon mkes her turn. For it is so hih tht the food of
Noh miht not come to it, tht woud hve covered  the erth of the
word  bout, nd bove nd beneth, except Prdise. And this
Prdise is encosed  bout with  w, nd men know not whereof it

is; for the w is covered  over with moss, s it seems; nd it
seems not tht the w is ntur stone. And tht w stretches from
the south to the north; nd it hs but one entry, which is cosed with
burnin fire, so tht no mn tht is mort dre enter. And in the
hihest pce of Prdise, excty in the midde, is  we tht csts
out four strems, which run by divers nds, of which the first is
ced Pison or Gnes, tht runs throuh Indi or Emk, in which river
re mny precious stones, nd much inum os, nd much snd of od.
And the other river is ced Nie or Gyson, which oes throuh
Ethiopi, nd fter throuh Eypt. And the other is ced Tiris, which
runs by Assyri nd by Armeni the Gret. And the other is ced
Euphrtes, which runs throuh Medi, Armeni, nd Persi. And men there
beyond sy tht  the sweet wters of the word, bove nd beneth,
tke their beinnin from the we of Prdise; nd out of tht we 
wters come nd o.[316]
The prdise in the existence of which the ret trveer so firmy
beieved is represented in  thirteenth-century mp s  circur isnd
yin to the est of Indi, nd the crtorpher hs not forotten to
introduce even the te from which our first prents were expeed.
A fourteenth-century Icendic s describes  voye undertken by 
prince nd his chosen friend in serch of the Dethess Lnd. They first
went to Constntinope to consut the Emperor, nd were tod tht the
erthy prdise ws sihty to the south of Indi. Arrived in tht
country they continued the journey on horsebck, nd cme t st to 
dense forest, the oom of which ws so ret throuh the intercin of
the bouhs tht even by dy the strs coud be seen. Emerin from it
they sw, cross  strit,  beutifu nd, which ws unmistkby
prdise. The strit ws crossed by  stone bride urded by  dron.
The prince, in no wys deterred, wked deibertey sword in hnd
inst the dron, nd the next moment, to his infinite surprise nd
deiht, he found himsef in prdise. Here he encountered  the joys
hert coud desire, nd exhusted with deiht he fe seep. In his
drems his urdin ne ppered to him nd promised to ed him home,
but to come for him in nd tke him wy for ever t the expirtion
of the tenth yer.[317]
Mny other mediev stories coud be quoted, in which the trveer
cims to hve found prdise. It ws  fvourite subject with the court
minstres, provin tht even the envied dweers round  throne re not
ess open thn other men to the fscintin drem of  sti more
perfect hppiness.
Ptos story of the ost Atntis, supposed to hve been reted to
Soon when in Eypt, so beons to the css of prdise eends. It
ws situted in the Atntic, in the neihbourhood of the Pirs of
Hercues. Lrer thn Liby nd Asi toether, it ws the set of 
ret nd wonderfu empire, the subjects of which, fter mny conquests,
set out to subdue Hes, but were defeted by the Athenins. Shorty
fterwrds there rose vioent erthqukes nd foods, nd in  sine
dy nd niht the isnd disppered beneth the se. A this hppened
9000 yers before the time of Pto.[318] Accordin to other ccounts,
when the ods distributed the whoe erth monst themseves Atntis
fe to the ot of Poseidon, nd the chidren he hd by Ceito, 
mort, rued over the surroundin country. The edest, Ats, ve his
nme to the isnd nd to the Atntic Ocen. This scred nd brouht
forth in bundnce the most beutifu nd deicious fruits, nd
mnificent buidins were constructed from the miners nd frrnt
woods of the pce, notby  hoy tempe dedicted to Poseidon nd

Ceito, which ws protected by n encosure of od. A weth of

fountins nd hot nd cod sprins suppied uxurious bths. The
overnment ws humne nd just, nd the peope took their due shre in
it. So on s the divine nture sted in them they were obedient to
the ws nd we ffected to the ods, their kinsmen, evincin
enteness nd wisdom in the vrious chnces of ife nd in their
intercourse with ech other, nd settin more vue on virtue thn on
weth nd uxury. But in the end, s the divine prt in them died wy,
they fe from virtue, nd they nd their isnd were submered for ever
beneth the wves.
This eend, which woud pper to combine with the ide of n erthy
prdise nother trdition equy fmiir to ntiquity, tht of 
retributory deue, survived into the Midde Aes, nd becme bended
with the eends of the Cetic Church. For the Atntic prdise is
distincty reproduced in tht eendry Ise of Avon,[319] which St.
Brndn, n Irish sint of the sixth century, ws sid to hve found in
the course of  seven yers voye; the ise
Where fs not hi or rin or ny snow,
Nor ever wind bows oudy, but it ies
Deep-medowed, hppy, fir, with orchrd wns
And bowery hoows.
Coumbus, in his third voye, cme upon  spot, the site of which
corresponded with the description iven of the erthy prdise by hoy
nd wise theooins. But he hesitted to _scend_ thither nd ssure
himsef of the correctness of his concusion, s no one coud succeed in
such n undertkin without the divine permission.[320]
The Jpnese hve  eend of n Isnd of Etern Youth, which exists
beyond the horizon in the shdowy unknown. Some fortunte observers hve
from time to time seen  wondrous tree risin hih bove the wves. It
is the tree which hs stood for  es on the oftiest pek of Fusn,
the Mountin of Immortity. The isnd hs the trdition
chrcteristics of the erthy prdise,endess sprin, irs ever
sweet, uncouded skies, unfdin fowers, birds tht sin of ove nd
joy, trees whose ceesti dews crry with them the secret of eternity.
Sorrow, pin, nd deth re unknown, nd the eect of the ods, who
peope tht deihtfu spot, fi their dys with music nd uhter nd
son, knowin nothin of the fiht of time. The mirce of the sprin
in other nds is due to the whisper of the spirit of the isnd.[321]
This Jpnese eend preserves the intimte connection between prdise
nd the cosmic tree, which is often found to hve dropped out of other
versions of the trdition. There cn be no doubt, however, tht
oriiny the mystic tree ws the essenti feture of prdise, nd
the rden ws merey its precinct or settinone of the mny
conceptions which rew up round the centr ide of the cosmic tree.
Ech ntion, ccordin to its ste of cuture or its previin hbit
of thouht, emphsised one feture of it. The monster tree which,
ccordin to primitive cosmoony, ws beieved to support the universe
by mteri brnches, becme in the minds of more cutivted rces the
centr tree of  dimy-reised prdise, nd eventuy the symbo of
n bstrct ide. The inteectu Buddhist sw in it the embem of
knowede; the Persin thouht of it s the tree of immortity; the
Hebrew, fied with the ide of mns frity nd with the onin to
expin it, mde it the tree of tempttion.[322]
But in  these vrious conceptions we find  centr ide, derived no

doubt from n ntecedent nd univers tree-worship, n ide which

pces  tree t the root of  phiosophy, refers  phenomen to the
existence of  centr tree, servicebe to mn here or herefter, nd
concentrtin upon itsef the reverent devotion which hd outrown its
erthy counterprt.
There re mny fcts to prove the importnce ttched in ncient times
to this conception of  orified tree. Amonst the oreous decortions
of the pces of Estern kins  symboic representtion of the tree
of prdise ws frequenty found.
T s the cedr of the mountin, here
Rose the od brnches, hun with emerd eves,
Bossomed with pers, nd rich with ruby fruit.
Sir John Mundevie describes one which he sw in the pce of the
Chn of Cthy. It is  vine mde of fine od, which spreds  bout
the h, nd it hs mny custers of rpes, some white, some reen,
some yeow, some red, nd some bck,  of precious stones; the white
re of cryst, bery, nd iris; the yeow of topzes; the red of
rubies, renz, nd brundines; the reen of emerds nd perydoz nd
of chrysoites; nd the bck of onyx nd rnets. And they re  so
propery mde tht it ppers  re vine, berin ntur rpes.[323]
Accordin to n Arb writer, quoted by Gibbon,[324] there existed in the
mnificent pce of the Ciph of Bdd, in 917 A.D., monst other
spectces of rre nd stupendous uxury,  tree of od nd siver,
spredin into eihteen re brnches, on which nd on the esser
bouhs st  vriety of birds mde of the sme precious mets. Whie
the mchinery effected spontneous motions the sever birds wrbed
their ntur hrmony. The intention ws, no doubt, to represent the
trdition uxurince of prdise, nd  simir motive is met with in
Estern desin even in the present dy.
The trdition of  kin who buit  fse prdise, ike Sheddd in
Southeys _Thb_, seems wys to hve been current in Western Asi.
There is in the British Museum  scupture from Koyunjik representin 
pce, or my be  tempe, constructed in imittion of  prdise. The
rtifici hi, representin the word-mountin on which it stnds, is
pnted with trees nd fowers, nd wtered by  strem tht issues from
 hnin rden.

CHAPTER VIII
MAY CELEBRATIONS
In these dys, when so much is done to equise the sesons, when in the
fower-shops sprin treds on the hees of utumn, nd Christms windows
re y with tropic fruits, when fresh met is wys on the sts,
nd the erth is tpped of its iht nd wrmth to mke up for the
bsent sun, it is difficut to reise the deiht nd enthusism with
which our forefthers wecomed the yery mirce of the sprin. It
ment so much to them,reese from the cod nd the drkness tht fe
hrdy on  but the rich;  fest of coour to eyes wery of winter
rys; uscious, vried, nd pentifu food to ptes dued by st
met nd pese-puddin. No wonder tht the first hint of the suns
return t Christms, nd the fufiment of the promise of sprin t

My-dy, were wecomed with n bndonment of joy to which our modern

festivs offer but  pe pre. It is doubtfu, however, whether,
even in the fr-off dys when the ceremonies possessed the hihest
reiious snction nd sinificnce, they were ceebrted with  finer
exubernce thn in the comprtivey recent times when this country ws
sti merrie Ennd. Fetchin in the My or oin -Myin ws then 
most importnt festiv, in which peope of  rnks took prt. Henry
VIII. himsef rode -Myin with Queen Kthrine nd his Court. Every
vie hd its My-poe, nd the first of My ws everywhere the
mddest, merriest dy of  the d New Yer. The ceebrtion ws
reconised by the Romn Church, the note for the 30th of Apri in n od
Cendr bein, The boys o out nd seek My-trees.[325] Chucer
represents the whoe Court s oin into the fieds on My-dy when the
rk beins to rise
To fetch the foures
And nmey hwthorne
With fresh rnts
And thn rejoysen in

fresh nd brnch nd bome.

brouht both pe nd rome,
prty bew nd white,
their ret deiht.[326]

The poet mkes the whoe Court pet ech other with fowers, the
primerose, the vioete nd the od, but the ener custom ws to
brin home the brnches nd fowers s n dornment for the house. Even
the brns nd the cow-byres were crefuy decorted, on fter the
primitive intention of the ceremony hd been forotten, nd it hd
deenerted into  icensed opportunity for revery nd ove-mkin.
The two spects of the ceebrtion, the decortive nd the mtory, re
chrminy iustrted in this yric of Herricks:
Come, my Corinn, come; nd comin mrk
How ech fied turns  street, ech street  prk,
Mde reen nd trimmed with trees: see how
Devotion ives ech house  bouh
Or brnch: ech porch, ech door ere this
An rk,  tbernce is,
Mde up of white-thorn nety interwove,
As if here were those cooer shdes of ove.
Cn such deihts be in the street
And open fieds nd we not seet?
Come, we brod; nd ets obey
The procmtion mde for My:
And sin no more, s we hve done by styin;
But, my Corinn, come, ets o -Myin.
The over of od customs owes itte to the Puritns, for they did their
best to root them out, but he is certiny indebted to them incidenty
for some vube evidence s to those sme customs, not otherwise
ttinbe. Stubbs,  Puritn writer of the time of Eizbeth, thus
describes the settin up of the Mypoe in his time:But their cheefest
jewe they brin from thence (the woods) in their Mie Pooe, whiche
they brin home with rete venertion s thus: They hve twentie or
fourtie yoke of oxen, every oxe hvyn  sweete noseie of fowers tyed
on the tippe of his hornes, nd these oxen drwe home this Mie pooe
(this stinckyn ido rther) which is covered  over with fowers nd
herbes, bounde rounde boute with strines, from top to bottome, nd
sometimes pinted with vribe coours, with twoo or three hundred men,
women, nd chidren foowyn it with rete devotion. And thus beyn
rered up with hndkercheifes nd fes stremyn on the toppe, they
strwe the rounde boute, binde reene bouhes bout it, sett up

sommer-hues, bowers, nd rbours hrd by it. And then f they to
bnquet nd fest, to epe nd dunce boute it, s the Hethen peope
did t the dediction of their idoes, whereof this is  perfect
ptterne, or rther the thyn itsef.[327]
Wht doe mke our yon men t the time of My? cries nother Puritn
writer. Do they not use niht-wtchins to rob nd stee youn trees
out of other mens rounde, nd brin them home into their prishe, with
minstres pyin before: nd when they hve set it up they wi decke
it with foures nd rnds nd dunce rounde (men nd women toither,
moste unseemey nd intoerbe, s I hve proved before) bout the
tree, ike unto the chidren of Isre tht dunced bout the oden
cfe tht they hd set up.[328]
Thoms H, nother uthor of the sme css, ws so moved to
eoquence on the subject: Hd this rudeness been cted ony in some
inornt nd obscure prts of the nd I hd been sient; but when I
perceived tht the compints were ener from  prts of the nd,
nd tht even in Chepside itsef the rude rbbe hd set up this ensin
of profneness, nd hd put the Lord Myor to the troube of seein it
pued down, I coud not, out of my derest respects nd tender
compssion to the nd of my ntivity, nd for the prevention of ike
disorders (if possibe) for the future, but put pen to pper, nd
discover the sinfu use nd vie profneness tht ttend such
misrue.[329]
As every one knows, the Puritns hd their wi of the My-poes, nd
the Lon Priment in Apri 1644 decreed their remov s  hethenish
vnity, enery bused to superstition nd wickednesse. They were
indeed reinstted fter the Restortion nd the od festivities revived,
but the Puritn epoch hd eft its mrk upon the spirit of the peope,
nd My-dy ws never in quite wht it hd been, so tht the
foowin ment by  writer of Cromwes time ws not quite out of
dte even when Kin Chres hd in come to his own:
Hppy the e nd hrmesse were the dyes
(For then true ove nd mity ws found)
When every vie did  My-poe rise,
And Whitsun-es nd My-mes did bound,
And  the usty yonkers in  rout
With merry sses duncd the rod bout.
Then Friendship to their bnquets bid the uests
And poor men frd the better for their fests.
* * * * *
But since the Summer poes were overthrown,
And  ood sports nd merriments decyed,
How times nd men re chnd so we is knowne,
It were but bour ost if more were sid.
In Ennd the once univers joy-mkin on the first of My hs
dwinded into  mere eeemosynry device, nd every yer tkes wy
somethin even from this poor surviv. We re ony reminded of the dy
in London by here nd there  periptetic Jck-in-the-Green with his
retinue of bein cowns, by the y ribbons on  few druht horses,
nd by the newspper reports of the eection of Mr. Ruskins My-queen
t Whitends Coee. But in mny od-word towns nd vies
throuhout the country the chidren sti crry round wnds, with
bunches of fowers tied to them, or rnds, consistin of  itte
bower fshioned out of two crossed hoops, hidden in fowers, with  do
seted in the centre. The obvious intention of this pretty custom is the

coection of coppers, which no one wi rude. It is, so to sy, 

reiious ceremony, whereof ony the coection hs survived, s the
foowin od rhyme sufficienty iustrtes:
Gentemen nd dies!
We wish you hppy My;
Weve come to show our rnds,
Becuse it is My-dy;
Come, kiss my fce, nd sme my mce,
And ive the ord nd dy somethin.[330]
In pce of the fin coupet it ws sometimes the custom of one of the
berers to sy, Pese to hndse the ord nd dys purse.
The prctice once current in the North of Ennd of oin into the
woods on the first of My, when the dy beins to brek, nd brinin
home knots of fowers nd buds nd rnds y wherewith to dorn the
windows nd doors of the houses t sunrise, is iustrted in the
foowin dore, which used to be sun in the streets of
Newcste-on-Tyne:[331]
Rise up, midens, fie for shme!
For Ive been four on mies from hme;
Ive been therin my rnd y,
Rise up, fir mids, nd tke in your My.
It now remins to trce bck these ceremoniesthese survivsto their
oriin, nd to show how once they were the essenti outcome of  ivin
creed, nd hd  serious, nd, so to spek, scrment
sinificnce.[332] The My-dy ceebrtions combined three different
uses. _First_, the brinin in of the My nd the decortion of the
homested. _Secondy_, the pntin of the My-poe nd the dncin
round it. _Thirdy_, the seection of some youth or miden s Kin or
Queen of the My.
(1) The custom of oin to the woods to fetch in the My is not by ny
mens pecuir to Ennd. It ws unti recenty very ener throuhout
Europe, nd sti survives in mny districts, thouh sometimes
Whitsuntide or Midsummer is the dte chosen for the ceremony. This wide
distribution t once stmps it s n ncient observnce, nd indeed it
ws redy represented s such so on o s the thirteenth
century.[333] In some districts the brnches tht were brouht in were
fstened over the house door or upon the roof, or pnted in front of
the ctte sts,  seprte bush bein ttched for ech hed of
ctte. Here the cknoweded purpose ws to mke the cows ood mikers.
They fncy, sys  writer on the mnners of the Irish, tht  reen
bouh fstened on My-dy inst the house wi produce penty of mik
tht summer.[334] In other districts the My-bushes were decorted with
noseys nd ribbons nd crried in soemn procession from house to
house, the berers sinin  son nd coectin their recompense in 
bsket. In some prts of Sweden on My-dy eve boys sti o round t
the hees of the vie fidder, ech with  bunch of freshy-thered
birch-twis, sinin sons in which fine wether, ood hrvests, nd
other bessins re entreted. At every cotte where they re duy
compensted for their pins they dorn the door with one of their
birch-sprys. In Stockhom on St. Johns eve miniture My-poes, known
s Mjstner, re sod by the thousnd.[335] In Russi the custom of
deckin the houses with brnches t Whitsuntide is univers.[336]
Simir instnces miht be mutipied indefinitey.

Much iht hs been thrown on these My-dy ceremonies by the study of
mny conte observnces met with monst different ntions nd t
different periods. In Western Germny nd over the reter prt of
Frnce it is customry t hrvest-time to seect  reen spin or
brnch, dorn it with fowers, ribbons, nd cooured pper, nd hn it
with hrvest fruits, es, ckes, nd sweetmets, nd sometimes even
with suses, ros of tobcco, rins, needes, etc. Often bottes of
wine or beer re so suspended to it. It is known s the My,
hrvest-My, _bouquet de  moisson_, nd it is frequenty set up in the
fied which is in process of cuttin. When the repin is over it is
brouht home on the st shef or on the st od, or is borne by 
hrvestmn seted on the won or wkin before it. On its rriv t
the homested it is soemny wecomed by the frmer, nd ttched to
some conspicuous spot on the brn or house. Here it remins for  yer
unti repced by its successor. Another feture of the ceremony, which
is no doubt of the nture of  rin chrm, consists in the drenchin of
the My nd its berers with wter, or in the sprinkin of them with
wine. A vrint of this observnce is met with in other prts of Europe,
where t some dte fter hrvest the frmer cuses  ofty poe, dressed
with ribbons nd hun with hndkerchiefs, rtices of cothin, ckes,
fruit, etc., to be erected in his fied. The bourers then cimb or
rce for the prizes.[337]
There cn be no question s to the ntiquity of these customs.
Mnnhrdt, who hs crefuy studied the subject, finds  most
remrkbe simirity between the hrvest festivs of ncient Greece
nd those of modern Europe. The _eiresione_ or hrvest-bush of the
Greeks, which is reproduced with most photorphic exctness in the
hrvest-My bove described,[338] ws  brnch of oive or ure, bound
with red nd white woo, nd hun with ribbons, the finest
hrvest-fruits, ckes, nd jrs of honey, oi, nd wine. It ws crried
in soemn procession with chor sons, t the Threi or fest of
first-fruits in the te sprin, nd t the Pynepsi or true
hrvest-festiv in the ery utumn, its destintion t the former
festiv bein the tempe of Athen Pois, t the tter tht of
Apoo. It ws pnted before the door of the tempe, the contents of
the jrs ttched to it were poured over it, nd the foowin ines
were sun: _Eiresione_ brins fis nd pump oves, nd honey in jrs,
nd oi wherewith to noint yoursef, nd cups of wine unwtered, tht
you my drink yoursef to seep.[339] In ddition to this offici
ceremony ech ndowner who rew corn nd fruit hed his own festiv,
the _eiresione_ in tht cse bein suspended or fstened before his
house-door, or pced inside the house beside the ncestr imes.
There it remined for  tweve-month, unti on the brinin home of the
next yers brnch it ws tken down nd burnt. It ws to this privte
_eiresione_ tht the fmiir psses in Aristophnes ude. Demos
herin  noise t his front door, jumps to the concusion tht  street
brw is imminent: Whos mkin tht huboo? he cries; wy from
my door. Wht, wi ye ter down my _eiresione_?[340] His dred is tht
his hrvest-brnch wi be requisitioned s  wepon of offence, 
possibe ppiction of it so uded to by the poet in nother
psse.[341] Esewhere it is jestiny sid of  dried-up od womn,
tht if  sprk fe on her, she woud burn up ike n od
_eiresione_,[342]  comprison which throws iht on the mode of
disposin of the st yers brnch.
The _Oschophori_, or crryin in procession of the _oschos_, 
vine-brnch with the ripe rpes upon it, ws nother of the Athenin
hrvest festivs, nd is interestin in the present connection from its
bein ssocited, ike some modern hrvest observnces, with  rcin

competition.
These festivs, which were probby of prehistoric oriin, were in
cssic times snctified for the popur mind by bein inked with nd
ccounted for by some eendry event which ppeed to the ptriotic
sentiment. But in spite of this they woud pper in course of time to
hve underone somethin of the sme debsement s our own My
observnces, nd deenerted into  bein procession from door to
door. At ny rte the word _eiresione_, oriiny ppied to the
festiv hymn s we s to the brnch, becme in ter times the
ener nme for  bein-sons. Initiy, however, the _eiresione_
ws, no doubt,  symboic representtion of the enius of veettion,
nd s such ws ddressed s  person.[343]
Trced to its remote oriin, there cn be itte doubt tht the ceremony
of brinin in the My rose from  simir process of resonin. The
ods or spirits of those fr-off times hd their hbittion, or t est
mnifested their ctivity, in the tree. The ifts of rin nd sunshine
were in their hnds. They mde the crops to row, the herds to mutipy,
nd women to ive increse. Accordin to Aenes Syvius, the Lithunins
beieved tht their scred roves were the house of the od who ve
them rin nd sunshine.[344] In Circssi the per-tree is sti
rerded s the protector of ctte, nd in the utumn is cut down,
crried home, nd worshipped s  od.[345] In mny countries trees re
hed to hve the power of hepin women in chidbirth.[346] It ws
therefore no more unntur for n inornt pesntry to beieve tht
the sme power nd infuence existed in the cut brnches of trees thn
it is for  modern uncutured Cthoic to expect hep from scred
reics. In ech cse the process of thouht is the sme. Eventuy the
ceremony of crryin the brnch round the vie, the primitive purpose
of which ws to mke ech house  shrer in the benevoent offices of
the tree-spirit, deenerted into  meniness observnce,  pretext
for induin in festivities nd evyin contributions. But there cn be
no doubt tht the securin of fertiity nd bundnce, toether with the
suppy of rin nd sunshine necessry thereto, ws oriiny the
root-ide of the wordwide sprin observnces.
(2) The custom of settin up the My-poe on the vie reen hd, no
doubt,  simir enesis. It represented for the community wht the
My-dy decortion of the house represented for the fmiy. In prts of
Europe the poe is sometimes pnted in front of the Myors or
Buromsters house.[347] The intention, evidenty, ws to brin to the
vie s  whoe the newy-quickened enertive spirit resident in the
woods. The custom of cuttin down  tree, decortin it with rnds
nd ribbons, re-erectin it, nd ftin it with dnce nd son, hs
previed in most every country in the word. In some instnces it is
further dressed s  mort, or  humn ime is ttched to it, s in
the Attis rites, testifyin to the nthropomorphic conception of the
tree-spirit. The do pced in the centre of the chidrens My
rnds woud seem to be  surviv of this custom. The sme feture of
the ceebrtion is iustrted most cery in the Greek festiv of the
itte Ded, which my be rerded s  cssic equivent of n
Enish My-dy in the oden time.[348] The festiv ws inuurted in
n ncient ok-forest. Cooked met ws pced upon the round nd the
movements of the birds which cme to feed upon it were crefuy
observed. The tree upon which  bird ws first observed to iht with
the met in its bi ws cut down, crved into the ime of  womn, nd
dressed s  bride. It ws then pced upon  crt nd drwn in
procession with sinin nd dncin. It must be dded tht Mr. Frne
rerds this festiv s  surviv from prehistoric times of the

procession ceremony of the scred mrrie between Zeus nd Her,

which my possiby hve been symboic of the mrrie of erth nd
heven in sprin.[349]
In the cse of our own My-poe, it ws oriiny, no doubt, the custom
to erect  fresh tree every yer, in order tht the newy-wkened
enery of the forest miht be communicted to the vie, nd in mny
prts this feture of the custom ppers to hve survived, s we my
ther from the Puritn ccounts bove quoted. Esewhere, s the
intention of the ceremony ws ost siht of,  permnent My-poe ws
substituted for the nnu tree, nd ws converted on My-dy, by mens
of rnds nd fowers, into the sembnce of  ivin rowth. The
My-tree of the Germn vie, for instnce, is  permnent
construction, mde up of sever t trunks.[350] On My-dy, ckes,
suses, es, nd other desirbe thins re hun upon it, the
viers dnce round it, nd the youn men cimb it to secured its
ifts. In some prts the My-poe is surmounted by  cross, nd the
symbo of  ded fith is consecrted by tht of  ivin one.
Yet the od fith on eft its trces in sever quint observnces.
Amonst the Wends of the Ebe the ctte were driven every yer round
the vie tree. The bride imported from nother vie must dnce
round it nd py it her footin. The wounded vier so ve it
money nd ot himsef heed by rubbin himsef inst it.[351] Such
uses re ony inteiibe on the theory tht the tree ws once
seriousy beieved to be the oc hbittion of  spirit, who
concentrted in himsef the mrveous fruitfuness nd hein
beneficence of nture.
The custom so often met with on the Continent[352] of ttchin  youn
spin or  brnch to the roof of  house newy buit, or in process of
erection, is nother surviv, descended, no doubt, from the ncient
beief in the benin infuence of the tree-inhbitin spirit. In some
pces it is usu to decorte the bouh with fowers, ribbons, nd
strins of es, which st re cery intended to symboise the
ife-ivin power ssumed to be the spirits speci ttribute.
(3) But the conception which undery nd ctuted the My ceebrtions
is iustrted sti more cery by their third feturethe choice of 
youth or miden, or both, to personify the rewkened nd rejoicin
nture. A ret de of evidence on this subject hs been coected by
Mnnhrdt nd Frzer, which cn ony be briefy summrised here. In the
cse of the bein processions with My-trees or My-bouhs from door
to door, it ws once rey beieved tht the ood enius of rowth ws
present unseen in the bouh. But often he ws represented in ddition by
 mn dressed in reen eves nd fowers, or by  ir simiry
dorned, who bein ooked upon s n ctu representtive of the spirit
of veettion, ws supposed to produce the sme benefici effects on
the fows, the fruit-trees, nd the crops s the presence of the deity
himsef. The nmes My, Fther My, My Ldy, Queen of the My, by
which the nthropomorphic spirit of veettion is often denoted, show
tht the conception of the spirit of veettion is bent with 
personifiction of the seson t which his powers re most strikiny
mnifested.[353]
In some cses the humn representtive of the tree-spirit oes hnd in
hnd with his veetbe representtive, the tree or brnch. The former
my be merey  do or puppet, s in the Ldy of the My of our own My
rnds, or it my be  chosen youth or ir, who crries  miniture
My-tree, or is throned beside the My-poe, or dnces round it, cd

in efy rments. Sometimes the chief ctor in the ceremony is ducked

in  pond or drenched with wter, or, s is sti the cse in some prts
of Irend, crries  pi of wter nd  mop to distribute its
contents, with the ide of ensurin rin by  sort of sympthetic mic.
In other cses the tree disppers from the ceebrtion, nd the whoe
burden of representin its indwein spirit fs upon its humn
substitute, who in such event is most wys swthed in eves or
fowers. The Green Geore of Crinthi[354] nd our own
Jck-in-the-Green re instnces of this custom. The pence coected no
doubt represent wht ws once  wiin contribution for services
presumby usefu nd worthy of rewrd.
The custom of eectin  Kin or Queen of the My is very ener
throuhout Europe.[355] The oriin purpose ws, no doubt, to personify
the re chrcter of the spirit who rued the woods, but in other
cses the representtive is termed  Brideroom or Bride, emphsisin
nother ttribute of the deity. In Ennd the crownin of the My-queen
cosed the on dys ceremonies, nd the youn peope who hd been up
before sunrise to brin in the My, nd hd dnced  dy upon the
vie reen, ended their pesnt bours t sundown with this
rcefu observnce.
In some instnces _two_ representtives of the spirit of veettion were
chosen, under the nmes of Kin nd Queen, or Prince nd Princess, or
Lord nd Ldy. The Kin nd Queen re mentioned in n Enish document
of the thirteenth century, nd there is evidence to show tht Robin Hood
nd Mid Mrin were oriiny representtives of the veettion
spirit, for the former is spoken of in n od book of 1576 s Kin of
the My, whie Mrin or My-Mrin, s she ws sometimes ced, ws
certiny  Queen of My, nd s such ws represented werin  oden
crown nd crryin in her hnd  red pink, the embem of summer.[356]
At the time when we first encounter them in history these ceebrtions
hd redy ost their reiious sinificnce nd pssed into rcefu
observnces, the excuse for innocent mirth. But if we trce them bck
into the oom in which they rose we come upon evidence which seems to
show tht they were not wys so innocent. It is quite probbe tht in
very ery times the humn representtive of the spirit of veettion
ws ctuy scrificed, in order tht the divine spirit incrnte in
him miht be trnsferred in unbted viour to his successor,[357] just
s the od My-poe ws destroyed nd  new one set up in its pce.
Herein ws typified the nnu deth nd resurrection of the spirit of
veettion,  conception which hs iven rise to mny ceebrtions, not
wys free from boodshed, in different prts of the word. The rites
by which in Eypt nd Western Asi the deth nd resurrection of Osiris,
Adonis, Tmmuz, Attis, nd Dionysus were soemnised find their pres
not ony in the brbrous uses once current in Mexico, but so in
certin sprin nd summer ceebrtions of the pesnts of Europe.
The Mexicn od of the pnt-word ws Huitziopochti, nd t the fest
of Teteionn, mother of the ods,  womn cothed s the oddess ws
scrificed, her hed cut off, nd her skin used to dress  youth, who
ws then tken to the ods tempe, ccompnied by  re crowd of
worshippers.[358] Tht is to sy, the od embodiment of pnt ife ws
kied, nd its personity, typified by the skin, ws iven to 
youthfu successor, who, doubtess, ws scrificed in his turn when it
ws considered necessry for the heth of the pnt-word.
In some modern Europen sprin observnces the ctu puttin to deth
of the spirit of veettion survives in symbo. In Lower Bvri, the

Whitsuntide representtive of the tree-spiritthe Pfinst, s he is

cedws cd from top to toe in eves nd fowers. On his hed he
wore  hih pointed cp, the ends of which rested on his shouders, ony
two hoes bein eft for his eyes. The cp ws covered with
wter-fowers nd surmounted with  nosey of peonies. The seeves of
his cot were so mde of wter-pnts, nd the rest of his body ws
enveoped in der nd hze eves. On ech side of him mrched  boy,
hodin up one of the Pfinsts rms. These two boys crried drwn
swords, nd so did most of the others who formed the procession. They
stopped t every house where they hoped to receive  present, nd the
peope in hidin soused the ef-cd boy with wter. A rejoiced when
he ws we drenched. Finy he wded into the brook up to his midde,
whereupon one of the boys, stndin on the bride, pretended to cut off
his hed.[359]
At Wurminen in Swbi  score of youn feows dress themseves on
Whit-Mondy in white shirts nd white trousers with red scrves round
their wists, nd swords hnin from the scrves. They ride on
horsebck into the wood, ed by two trumpeters bowin their trumpets.
In the wood they cut down efy ok brnches, in which they enveope
from hed to foot him who ws the st of their number to ride out of
the vie. His es, however, re encsed seprtey, so tht he my
be be to mount his horse in. Further, they ive him  on
rtifici neck, with n rtifici hed nd  fse fce on the top of
it. Then  My-tree is cut, enery n spen or beech bout ten feet
hih; nd bein decked with cooured hndkerchiefs nd ribbons, it is
entrusted to  speci My-berer. The cvcde then returns, with
music nd son, to the vie. Amonst the persones who fiure in the
procession re  Moorish kin with  sooty fce nd crown on his hed, 
Dr. Iron-Berd,  corpor, nd n executioner. They ht on the vie
reen, nd ech of the chrcters mkes  speech in rhyme. The
executioner nnounces tht the ef-cd mn hs been condemned to
deth, nd cuts off his fse hed. Then the riders rce to the
My-tree, which hs been set up  itte wy off. The first mn who
succeeds in wrenchin it from the round s he ops pst keeps it
with  its decortions. The ceremony is observed every second or third
yer.[360]
In Sxony nd Thurini, t Whitsuntide, the Wid Mn,  person
disuised in brnches nd moss, ws chsed throuh the woods. On bein
overtken he ws shot t with bnk crtride nd pretended to f down
ded. A mock doctor then bed him nd he soon cme to ife in. The
rejoicin peope pced him in  won, nd ed him bout in
procession, to receive ifts t the houses of the vie.[361]
The common feture in  these pprenty senseess observnces is the
symboic scrifice of the humn representtive of the spirit of
veettion, nd they drive us to the concusion tht there ws  time
when the victim ws scrificed in reity. In the sme wy the custom
sti current in Beium nd French Fnders t the summer festiv of
drwin in procession re wicker fiures encosin ivin men, recs
the intic imes of ozier-work, covered with eves, in which the
Druids confined the victims destined for their fiery scrifices.[362]

CHAPTER IX
CHRISTMAS OBSERVANCES

In modern times, s the once joyfu ceebrtions of My-dy hve wned

the festivities of Christms-tide hve underone increse nd
deveopment. The rosser fetures of the festiv hve, no doubt, been
eiminted; the mummers nd the ord of misrue hve for the most prt
one the wy of the My-kin, but  the more rcefu nd ordery
observnces of the time hve strenthened their hod on the popur
fvour. The decortion of the house is s usu to-dy t Christms s
it once ws t My-dy, nd the Christms-tree hs stepped into the
pce which the My-tree once hed in the ffections of the youn. Yet
if we trce these Christms observnces bck to their oriin, we find
them s distinctivey pn in their ncestry s the festivities of
My-dy.
We owe the surviv of mny pn customs rey to the Romn Church,
whose setted poicy it ws to dpt the od fest rites to the
purposes of the new fith, nd to divert its rude converts from the
riotous festivities of their unconverted friends by offerin them the
more ordery rejoicins of  Christin hoy dy. Greory the Gret, when
he sent his missionries to Britin, instructed them to Christinise the
festivs nd tempes of the hethen, risin their stubborn minds
upwrds not by eps, but step by step. And Dr. Tie, in his erned
work on the Germn Christms,[363] hs shown wht pins were tken by
the priesthood to trnsfer to their own fest the rude rejoicins with
which the unconverted Germns ceebrted their ret festiv t the
beinnin of winter. The sme trnsference of pre-Christin uses
occurred in Ity, where the Christms festiv, first definitey fixed
t the time of the winter sostice by Bishop Liberius, A.D. 354,[364]
inherited, s expressy stted by Poydore Viri, sever of the
fetures of the ret Romn festiv of the Sturni, hed bout the
sme time. This festiv ws n occsion for univers mirth nd
festivity. Friends visited nd fested ech other, nd there ws 
ener interchne of presents, the objects presented consistin
usuy of brnches, wx tpers, nd cy dos. The sts were den
with ifts, ike the Christms shops of to-dy. One of the dys of the
festiv, the _dies juvenis_, ws devoted to chidren. The sostiti
chrcter of the festiv is shown by the fct tht nother of its dys
ws dedicted by the Emperor Aurein to the Persin sun-od, Mithr;
nd Vrro sttes tht the cy dos, which were n importnt feture of
the ceebrtion, represented the infnt scrifices once mde to 
Phoenicin B who hd been introduced to Rome under the nme of Sturn
or Cronos.[365]
However this my be, it is cer tht some observnces fmiir to us t
Christmsthe festin, the present ivin, nd the now obsoete
mumminhve n oriin which is ost in ntiquity. Other customs, too,
thouh with  different _provennce_, hve n equy venerbe
ncestry. The use of mistetoe, for instnce, is without doubt  direct
ecy from the Druids, who were wont t the time of the sostices
soemny to pce upon their trs the mysterious brnch, into which it
ws thouht tht the spirit of the tree retreted when the rest of the
eves hd fen. This prctice, strney enouh, survived unti
within comprtivey recent yers in  ceremoni prctised t York
Minster nd some other northern churches,[366] thouh s  rue the
introduction of the mistetoe into Christin edifices ws strony
reprobted, on the score tht it ws  hethen embem.
The prctice of decortin the house t the New Yer with hoy nd
other everreens ws so  pn observnce. Dr. Chnder refers to it
s  Druidic custom, the intention bein to provide the syvn spirits

with  sheter to which they miht repir, nd remin unnipped with
frost nd cod winds, unti  mider seson hd renewed the foie of
their drin bodes.[367] In ery times the Church mde  stnd
inst this use of everreens s bein  pn custom, but the
interdict ws not persevered in, nd ter on we find the decortion of
the churches  reconised prctice, the note for Christms eve in the
od Cendr bein, _Temp exornntur_.[368]
The observnce, however, which most concerns us here is tht of the
Christms-tree, the evoution of which furnishes us with one of the most
interestin chpters in the history of reiious deveopment. To the
present enertion the Christms-tree ppers such n essenti feture
of the festiv, s ceebrted in this country, tht mny wi be
surprised to her how recent n importtion it is. But s  mtter of
fct, the Christms-tree ws prcticy unknown in Ennd unti it ws
introduced by the te Prince Consort.[369] Even in Germny, the nd of
its oriin, it ws not universy estbished s n inter prt of
the festiv unti the beinnin of the present century,[370] nd it ws
ony t tht dte tht it cme to be known s the Weihnchtsbum nd
Christbum.[371] Goethe in 1774 describes it s dorned with wx
tpers, sweetmets, nd ppes, but cs it simpy the decorted
tree.[372] Schier in 1789 finds no more distinctive nme for it thn
the reen tree.[373] Since tht time, or rther since 1830, its
diffusion throuhout the word hs been so mrveousy rpid tht there
is nothin to compre with it in the whoe history of popur customs.
In Germny the Christms-tree cn be trced bck more or ess in its
present form to the beinnin of the seventeenth century, when n
unnmed writer, in some extremey frmentry notes, tes us tht it
ws the custom t Strsbur to set up fir-trees in the houses t
Christms, nd to deck them with roses of cooured pper, ppes,
etc.[374] The next mention of it occurs hf  century ter in the
writins of Professor Dnnhuer,  ceebrted theooin, so ivin in
Strsbur.[375] Amonst the other bsurdities, he writes, with which
men re often more busied t Christms thn with the Word of God, there
is so the Christms or fir-tree, which they erect in their houses,
hn it with dos nd sweetmets, nd then shke it nd cuse it to
shed its fowers. I know not the oriin of the custom, it is  chids
me.... Fr better were it to ed the chidren to the spiritu cedr,
Christ Jesus. The reprobtion of the Strsbur precher ws echoed by
other divines, nd to this cuse probby the Christms-tree owed its
sow diffusion throuhout Germny. The theooic disike of it,
however, s it turned out, ws i-dvised, for eventuy the
Christms-tree dispced other popur observnces of  fr ess
innocent nture.
So fr we hve been tredin historic round, but in trcin the
Christms-tree sti frther bck we hve ony inference to o upon. The
subject, however, hs been crefuy worked out by Dr. Tie,[376] nd
the pediree which he trces for the tree is  most interestin one. His
rument must here be condensed s cosey s possibe. The
Christms-tree, with its ihts, its rtifici fowers, nd its ppes
nd other fruit, is presumby connected with the eend of Christms
fowerin trees, which ws very fmiir to the Midde Aes, nd of
which the Enish myth of the Gstonbury thorn is n exmpe. The
oriin of the eend in Germny is thus expined by Dr. Tie:It is
not unusu when the seson is mid to find trees bossomin in
November, especiy the cherry nd the crb-tree. For the od Germn
pesnt the New Yer ben with the ret suhterin fest ery in
November, when the ctte were brouht in from the pstures, nd  the

superfuous ones were butchered nd fested on; the winter ws thus
counted to the New Yer, ike the eve to  hoy dy. Hence when trees
bossomed te,  csu connection ws inevitby trced between the
strne phenomenon nd the New Yer fest t which it took pce. On the
introduction of Christinity the fests of St. Mrtin, St. Andrew, nd
St. Nichos were substituted for the ncient festivs. The strne
bossomin power of nture ws connected with St. Andrews Dy, nd
fruit-bouhs severed on tht dy were beieved by the peope to possess
prticur virtue.[377] The Mediev Church, wys eer to enist
popur superstitions in its own support, set itsef to trnsfer to
Christms the bossomin tree of the November festiv, nd the eends
which reted how ceebrted micins ike Abertus Mnus, Prcesus,
nd Fustus hd mde for themseves  summer in the hert of winter were
incorported by the monks into the ives of certin sints.[378] The
beief in trees tht bossomed nd bore fruit t Christms ws widey
distributed nd firmy hed monst the peope in the ter Midde Aes.
In the Germn iterture of the fifteenth nd sixteenth centuries mny
instnces of the mircuous fct re circumstntiy recorded.[379] A
writer in 1430 retes tht not fr from Nurembur there stood 
wonderfu tree. Every yer, in the codest seson, on the niht of
Christs birth this tree put forth bossoms nd ppes s thick s 
mns thumb. This in the midst of deep snow nd in the teeth of cod
winds. In  MS. etter of the Bishop of Bmber, dted 1426, nd
preserved in the Hofbibiothek t Vienn, the ctu bossomin of two
ppe-trees t Christms is mentioned s n cknoweded fct, nd we
find  Protestnt precher ivin fu credence to the beief nery 
coupe of centuries ter.
But the most strikin instnce of the hod which such eends hd tken
on the popur mind is to be found in connection with our own mircuous
tree, the Gstonbury Thorn
The winter thorn
Which bossoms t Christms, mindfu of our Lord.
This tree, which ws the object of such venertion in the ter Midde
Aes tht the merchnts of Bristo re sid to hve found the export of
its bossoms extremey remunertive, stood upon n eminence ner the
town of Gstonbury. The eend rn tht Joseph of Arimthe, who,
ccordin to monkish techin, ws the first Christin missionry to
this country, one Christms eve pnted his stff in the round. The
stff, which yers previousy hd been cut from  hwthorn-tree, t once
took root nd put forth eves, nd by the next dy ws in fu bossom.
The mirce ws repeted on every subsequent Christms-dy. Even fter
the Reformtion we find Kin Jmes I. nd his queen nd other persons of
quity ivin re sums for cuttins from the tree, which were
beieved to hve the sme mircuous virtue s the prent thorn, nd
even in the foowin rein it ws customry to crry  brnch of the
tree in procession nd present it to the kin. In the Civi Wr the
oriin tree ws destroyed, but some of its off-shoots survived, one
especiy t Quinton in Buckinhmshire, which suddeny sprn into
fme in when the new stye ws introduced into the Cendr in 1752,
nd the peope, resentin the oss of their eeven dys, ppeed from
the decision of their ruers to the hiher wisdom of the mircuous
tree. Accordin to the _Gentemns Mzine_ for 1753, bout two
thousnd peope on the niht of 24th December 1752 cme with nthorns
nd cndes to view the thorn-tree, which ws remembered (this yer
ony) to be  sip from the Gstonbury thorn. As the tree remined
bre the peope reed tht 25th December, N.S., coud not be the true
Christms-dy, nd refused to ceebrte it s such. Their excitement ws

intensified when on 5th Jnury the tree ws found to be in fu boom,
nd to pcify them the uthorities were driven to decree tht the od
Christms-dy shoud be ceebrted s we s the new. It my be dded
tht two thorn-trees sti exist ner the ruins of Gstonbury Abbey,
which bossom durin the winter, nd re identified by Loudoun with 
vriety of hwthorn, the _Crteus oxycnth precox_, which is
dmittedy  winter fowerer.[380]
There is, however, s Mnnhrdt points out,[381] nother wy in which 
fruit-berin tree becme popury ssocited with Christms. The
ncient Church hd devoted the dy before Christms-dy to the memory of
Adm nd Eve, nd it ws customry t Christms in mny prts of the
Continent to ive  drmtic representtion of the story of the Cretion
nd F in connection with the drm of the Ntivity. Hence rose the
Prdise-pys which were fmiir to the Midde Aes from the
thirteenth century onwrd. The we-known eend tht the cross of
Christ ws fshioned from  tree which hd sprun from  sip of the
Tree of Knowede served s  ink between the events ceebrted so
cosey toether, the F nd the Birth of the Redeemer, nd ve
ddition sinificnce to the scenery of the Prdise-py, consistin,
s it usuy did, of trees, or sometimes of  sine tree, den with
ppes nd decked with ribbons. In some cses the tree ws crried on to
the ste by one of the ctors. In this wy the ppe-berin tree
becme the reconised scenic symbo of Christms, nd ntury
connected itsef with, if it did not sprin out of, the very ery
eend of the Church tht  nture bossomed t the birth of Christ,
who Himsef, ccordin to the fncifu symboism of the time, ws the
very Tree of Life which hd once stood in prdise.
Another popur custom, which dtes bck to the time when the beief in
the beneficent power of syvn deities ws ener, is so probby
entited to  pce in the pediree of the Christms-tree. It ws
customry monst the ncient Germns on one of the scred nihts of the
winter festiv, when, ccordin to the popur beief, nture ws
permeted with new ife, to cut wnds from the hedes.[382] These were
brouht home, put in wter or pnted in  pot of moist erth, nd
soemny pced, some in the open ir, some in the stbe, nd some in
the house. A month ter ech wnd woud be in fu boom, nd it ws
then the custom to crry it round nd ihty strike with it those to
whom one wished to imprt heth, strenth, nd fruitfuness. Those
struck with it rewrded the striker with presents, in recompense for the
benefit he ws ssumed to convey. This custom, which is probby of
Indin oriin, survived in some prts of the Continent s  chids me
even in the present century. Under the infuence of Christinity the dy
for cuttin the wnds ws deyed, so tht they miht boom t
Christms, nd in some prts it is sti usu to rrne tht there
sh be  fowerin brnch in the house t tht time. In Nordinen, 
century o, fmiies used to compete with ech other s to which shoud
be be to show the most fourishin brnch t Christms-tide.[383] To
this dy in Austrin Siesi the pesnt women sy forth t midniht
on St. Andrews eve to puck  brnch from n pricot-tree. It is put in
wter nd fowers bout Christms time, nd is tken by them to Mss on
Christms-dy.[384]
Amonst peope to whom the ppe-berin tree of the Prdise-py ws
fmiir the substitution for the boomin brnch of n everreen decked
with fruits nd ribbons nd rtifici fowers ws quite ntur. It
becme, s it were,  proxy for the deciduous brnch, sti reminin
the occsion for present-ivin, thouh now the tree becme the iver
insted of the receiver of ifts.

The custom of hnin ihts upon the Christms-tree is  comprtivey

te innovtion, the we-known print of Christms in Luthers Home,
where n iuminted fir-tree is represented s the centre of the
festivity, bein demonstrby n nchronism. The Christms-tree, when
we first definitey meet with it t the beinnin of the seventeenth
century, ws certiny not iuminted. But the ide of  iht-berin
tree ws fmiir to the Midde Aes. An od Icendic eend retes
tht once upon  time, t Mdhrufe, there stood  mountin-sh which
hd sprun from the bood of two innocent persons who hd been executed
there.[385] Every Christms-eve the tree ws seen to be covered with
ihts, which the stronest e coud not extinuish. These ihts were
its wonderfu bossoms, for in fok-ore ihts re often mde to
represent fowers nd _vice-vers_.[386] In the od French eend of
Percev, the hero is represented s comin upon  tree iuminted with
 thousnd cndes, nd Durms e Gois, nother hero of mediev
eend, twice sw  mnificent tree covered with ihts from top to
bottom.[387]
It hs redy been mentioned tht wx-tpers were iven s presents t
the Romn Sturni, nd it my we be tht the connection of ihted
cndes with Christms time my dte bck to the ncient sostiti
ceebrtions, in which they were rerded s symboic of the new birth
of the sun. The sme idetht of typifyin the renew of ife by mens
of ihted tpersis found in the Nethernds in connection with the
My-tree, which there bers ihts monst its other decortions. At
Veno on the Ms the midens iht the tpers s the evenin comes on
nd then dnce round the ihted tree.[388] At Lneber, t weddin
festivities, it is usu to crry  My dorned with ihts before the
brid pir, nd in the Hrtz Mountins the so-ced St. Johns tree,
round which the pesnts dnce, is  pyrmid dorned with wreths,
fowers, nd ihts.
In  these customs, which re no doubt survivs of the beief in 
tree-inhbitin deity, we see the coter retions, if not the
direct proenitors of our Christms-tree. In short, modern s it is in
its present form, the Christms-tree epitomises mny most ncient ides;
is the point to which mny strems convere whose source is hidden in 
fr distnt ntiquity. It is the meetin-point of the od pn beief
in the virtues vested in the tree nd of the quint fncies of the
Midde Aes, which oved to see spiritu truths embodied in mteri
forms. Christ, the Tree of Life, bossomin on Christms-eve in Mrys
bosom; the ft tree of prdise whence sprn the cross, the
instrument of mns svtion,tht fruit-berin heveny-nourished
tree pnted in the midst of redeemed mn, so often represented in
mediev rt; the mirce of nture, so stirred by the wonder of the
event s to brek forth into bossom in the midst of winter these
ides, so chrcteristic of mediev thouht, becme rfted toether
with observnces derived from sostiti worship, upon the stock of the
scred tree, den with offerins nd decked with fiets. Indeed the
Christms-tree my be sid to recpitute the whoe story of
tree-worship,the My-tree, the hrvest-tree, the Greek _eiresione_, the
tree s the symbo nd embodiment of deity, nd st but not est, the
universe-tree, berin the ihts of heven for its fruit nd coverin
the word with its brnches.

FOOTNOTES

[1]Robertson Smith, _Reiion of the Semites_ (Edin. 1889), p. 84.

[2]Gobet dAvie, _The Mirtion of Symbos_ (London, 1894), p. 119.
[3]_Op. cit._ chp. iv.
[4]J. Mennt, _Les Pierres rves de  Hute-Asie_ (Pris, 1886), Prt
II. p. 63.
[5]_Les Oriines de Histoire_ (Pris, 1888), vo. i. p. 88.
[6]A. H. Syce, _Reiion of the Ancient Bbyonins_ (London, 1887),
Lect. IV.
[7]Robertson Smith, _op. cit._ p. 169.
[8]Cf. Ex. xxxiv. 13; Deut. vii. 5, xii. 3, xvi. 21; Judes iii. 7, vi.
25; 1 Kins xiv. 15; 2 Kins xvii. 16; cf. so Isih i. 29, xv.
3, xvi. 17.
[9]Robertson Smith, _op. cit._ p. 172.
[10]Eusebius, _Prepr. Evn._, ib. i. cp. 10.
[11]Gobet dAvie, _op. cit._ p. 125.
[12]Ezek. xi. 18.
[13]1 Kins vi. 29-35.
[14]G. Mspero, _The Dwn of Civiistion_ (London, 1894), p. 122.
[15]Stin Psh, _Fire nd Sword in the Sudn_ (London, 1896), p. 114.
[16]J. G. Frzer, _The Goden Bouh_ (London, 1890), vo. i. p. 60.
[17]Duff Mcdond, _Africn_ (London, 1882), vo. i. p. 60.
[18]Frzer, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 307.
[19]A. H. Syce, _op. cit._ p. 238.
[20]_Encycop. Brit._, 9th edition, vo. xviii. p. 850.
[21]_Isis et Osiris_, 46.
[22]Ljrd, _Le Cute du cyprs pyrmid_ (1845), p. 148.
[23]Sir. W. Ouseey, _Trves_ (London, 1819), vo. iii. p. 83.
[24]Herodotus, vii. 31.
[25]R. Fokrd, _Pnt-ore, Leends, nd Lyrics_ (London, 1892), p.
239.
[26]M. D. Conwy, _Demonooy nd Devi-ore_ (London, 1879), vo. i. p.
299.

[27]Quintus Curtius, _De Gestis Aex._ viii. 33.

[28]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 4.
[29]Gobet dAvie, _op. cit._ p. 130.
[30]Murrys _Hndbook for Jpn_ (London, 1884), p. 66.
[31]E. B. Tyor, _Primitive Cuture_ (London, 1871), vo. ii. pp. 196,
198.
[32]Gobet dAvie, _op. cit._ p. 131.
[33]Mer, _Ameriknische Urreiionen_ (Bse, 1855), p. 494.
[34]E. B. Tyor, _Anhuc_ (London, 1861), pp. 215, 265.
[35]Cr Btticher, _Der Bumkutus der Heenen_ (Berin, 1856).
[36]L. R. Frne, _The Cuts of the Greek Sttes_ (Oxford, 1896), vo.
i. p. 14.
[37]Arthur Evns, in the nthropooic section of the British
Assocition, _Times_, 23rd Sept. 1896.
[38]Jcob Grimm, _Deutsche Mythooie_ (Gttinen, 1844), vo. i. p. 60.
[39]_Der Bumkutus der Germnen und ihrer Nchbrstmme_ (Berin,
1875); _Antike Wd- und Fedkute_ (Berin, 1877). These voumes
wi be referred to s Mnnhrdt I. nd II.
[40]A. Cstren, _Ethnooische Voresunen_ (St. Petersbur, 1857), p.
141.
[41]Boecer, _Der Esthen berubische Gebruche_, etc. (St.
Petersbur, 1854), quoted in Ferussons _Tree nd Serpent Worship_.
[42]Lucn, _Phrsi_, iii. 405.
[43]Jcob Grimm, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 67.
[44]Piny, _Nt. Hist._ ib. xvi. 95.
[45]Mnnhrdt I. p. 70.
[46]Hs _Chronice_ (London, 1809), p. 580.
[47]_Ibid._ pp. 515, 520.
[48]Btticher, _op. cit._ p. 534.
[49]E. B. Tyor, _Primitive Cuture_, vo. ii. p. 202.
[50]_Op. cit._ Lecture III.
[51]The Attis of Ctuus (London, 1892), Excursus II.
[52]Deuteronomy xxxiii. 16.
[53]1 Esdrs ii. 5.

[54]Mspero, _op. cit._ p. 84, note 1.

[55]Frne, _op. cit._ vo. i. chp. iii.
[56]_Ibid._ vo. i. p. 66.
[57]_Ibid._ vo. ii. p. 429.
[58]_Ibid._ vo. ii. p. 432.
[59]Pusnis, 8, 23, 6.
[60]Frne, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 185.
[61]_Ibid._ vo. i. p. 212.
[62]_Ibid._ vo. ii. p. 644.
[63]_Ibid._ vo. i. p. 9.
[64]Theocritus, _Idy._ xviii. 48.
[65]Btticher, _op. cit._ pp. 103, 229.
[66]_Ibid._ pp. 217, 220.
[67]Frne, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 14.
[68]Wisdom xiii. 11 (Revised Version).
[69]Theocritus, _Epirm._ IV.
[70]Mximus Tyrius, viii. 1.
[71]Apueius, _Forid._ i. 1.
[72]Mspero, _op. cit._ p. 84, note 3, nd p. 130.
[73]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 467.
[74]De Guberntis, _Mythooie des Pntes_, vo. ii. p. 26 _et seq._
[75]Frne, _op. cit._ vo. i. pp. 108-110.
[76]Btticher, _op. cit._ p. 345.
[77]Cemens Aex., _Protrepticus_, cp. 1, sect. 10.
[78]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 407.
[79]Btticher, _op. cit._ p. 351.
[80]_Ibid._ p. 445.
[81]Theocritus, _Idy._ vi. 7.
[82]_Fortnihty Review_, Februry 1870.
[83]Frne, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 292.

[84]Euripides, _Trodes_, 795.

[85]Frne, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 325.
[86]Piny, xvi. 60; Servius d Viri. _Aen._ iv. 507.
[87]Robertson Smith, _op. cit._ p. 175.
[88]Tiee, _Reiion de Eypte_, etc. p. 83.
[89]A. Cunninhm, _The Stp of Bhrhut_ (London, 1879), p. 113.
[90]A. Cunninhm, _op. cit._ p. 114.
[91]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 245.
[92]C. F. Kery, _The Vikins of Western Christendom_ (London, 1891),
pp. 36, 52, 53.
[93]Frzer, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 64.
[94]J. Grimm, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 369.
[95]Robertson Smith, _op. cit._ p. 169.
[96]Sir W. Ouseey, _Trves_, vo. i. p. 369.
[97]Sttius, _Theb._ ix. 585.
[98]Apoon. Rhod. _Aronut._ 2.
[99]Cf. Ovid, _Metmorphoses_, viii. 743.
[100]Btticher, _op. cit._ p. 79.
[101]Orei, No. 1266.
[102]Btticher, _op. cit._ p. 88.
[103]_Ibid._ chp. xxi.
[104]_Ibid._ p. 385.
[105]Btticher, chp. xxv.
[106]_Ibid._ p. 398.
[107]Syce, _op. cit._ pp. 536, 539.
[108]Leviticus xxiii. 40.
[109]2 Mccbees xiv. 4.
[110]Btticher, _op. cit._ pp. 321, 322.
[111]Pusnis, vii. 2, 4.
[112]Herodotus, vi. 75.

[113]Btticher, _op. cit._ p. 35.

[114]Pusnis, ii. 13, 3.
[115]Syce, _op. cit._ p. 493.
[116]Robertson Smith, _op. cit._ p. 125.
[117]_Nineteenth Century_, October 1895, p. 607.
[118]Isih xiii. 21; xxxiv. 14.
[119]Leviticus xvii. 7.
[120]Mspero, _op. cit._ pp. 83, 84.
[121]Mnnhrdt II. chp. ii.
[122]Mnnhrdt II. p. 139.
[123]_Aeneid_, viii. 601.
[124]Mnnhrdt II. p. 31.
[125]Hymn. Homer. Aphrod. 259-273.
[126]Putrch, _De Defect. Orc._ 11.
[127]Hymn. in Cererem. 41.
[128]Apoonius Rhod., _Aronut._ i. 471 _et seq._
[129]Mnnhrdt II. p. 1.
[130]Lucin, _Vere Historie_, ib. 1.
[131]W. R. S. Rston, _Contemporry Review_, vo. xxxi. p. 521.
[132]_Ibid._ vo. xxxi. p. 525.
[133]Robertson Smith, _op. cit._ pp. 126, 213, 461.
[134]_Aeneid_, iii. 27-34.
[135]_Metmorphoses_, viii. 741, 774, trnsted by Henry Kin (London,
1871).
[136]Mnnhrdt I. pp. 34 _et seq._
[137]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 79.
[138]_Ibid._ p. 79.
[139]_Ibid._ p. 79.
[140]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 79.
[141]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 83.
[142]Mnnhrdt I. p. 146.

[143]Mnnhrdt II. p. 39.

[144]_Ibid._ I. p. 75.
[145]Mnnhrdt I. p. 89.
[146]_Ibid._ I. p. 93.
[147]_Ibid._ I. p. 117.
[148]Mnnhrdt I. pp. 126 _et seq._
[149]Mnnhrdt I. pp. 138 _et seq._
[150]F. Rinder, _Od-Word Jpn_ (London, 1895), p. 137.
[151]Mnnhrdt I. p. 143.
[152]H. W. Btes, _The Nturist on the Amzon_ (London, 1863), vo. i.
p. 73.
[153]_The Prose or Youner Edd_, trnsted by G. W. Dsent (Stockhom,
1842), p. 10.
[154]Mnnhrdt I. p. 7.
[155]Ctin, _Letters, etc., on North Americn Indins_, vo. ii. p.
169.
[156]_Works nd Dys_, v. 143.
[157]_Odyssey_, xix. 162.
[158]_Aeneid_, viii. 315.
[159]F. Gton, _Nrrtive of n Exporer_, etc. (London, 1853), p. 188.
[160]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 117.
[161]Aex. v. Humbodt, _Exmen Critique_, vo. i. p. 52.
[162]Apood. iii. 14, 3.
[163]Gobet dAvie, _op. cit._ p. 142.
[164]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 116.
[165]Diodor. v. 66.
[166]Pusnis, ix. 22, 2.
[167]_Ibid._ vii. 4, 4; viii. 23, 4.
[168]Servius d Viri. _Aeneid_, iii. 91.
[169]Btticher, _op. cit._ p. 338.
[170]_Metmorphoses_, ii. 346-366, trnsted by Henry Kin (London,
1871).

[171]_Metmorphoses_, viii. 711-724. The story is tod by Leex of

Troezene t  fest iven to Theseus by Acheous, the river-od.
[172]Bion, _Idy._ i. 63.
[173]_Midsummer Nihts Drem_, Act ii. Sc. 2.
[174]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 268.
[175]_Ibid._ p. 389.
[176]Percys _Reiques_.
[177]_Od-Word Jpn_, p. 115.
[178]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 274.
[179]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 325.
[180]_Od-Word Jpn_, p. 127.
[181]_Op. cit._ vo. ii. p. 786.
[182]Frzer, _op. cit._ vo. ii. p. 328.
[183]_Seections from the Tmud_ (London, 1889), p. 318.
[184]Moores _Life of Lord Byron_, vo. i. p. 101.
[185]Mnnhrdt I. p. 32.
[186]_Ibid._ p. 53.
[187]_Ibid._ p. 182.
[188]Piny, _Hist. Nt._ ib. xvi. 27.
[189]Tcitus, _Ann._ xiii. 58.
[190]Piny, _op. cit._ ib. xv. 36.
[191]The te Gener Gordon, in _Times_ for 5th Jnury 1885.
[192]Gobet dAvie, _op. cit._ p. 142.
[193]Frne, _op. cit._ vo. ii. p. 695.
[194]J. Mennt, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 220.
[195]_Ibid._ vo. i. p. 170 _et seq._
[196]Gobet dAvie, _op. cit._ p. 145 _et seq._
[197]Ljrd, _op. cit._ P. i.
[198]Frzer, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 70.
[199]Mnnhrdt I. p. 222.

[200]_Ibid._ p. 46.
[201]Viri, _Geor._ ii. 291; Servius d Viri. _Aeneid_, iv. 446.
[202]Robertson Smith, _op. cit._ p. 169.
[203]Pusnis, x. 5, 3.
[204]_Encycop. Brit._, 9th edition, vo. xvii. p. 808.
[205]Syce, _op. cit._ p. 241.
[206]_Ibid._ p. 240.
[207]Robertson Smith, _op. cit._ p. 179.
[208]2 Smue v. 24.
[209]Hose iv. 12 (R. V.).
[210]_Odyssey_, xiv. 327.
[211]Schoist on Sophoces, _Trchinie_ 1169.
[212]Herodotus, ii. 52, 57.
[213]Cem. Aex., _Protrept._ ii. 11.
[214]Siius It. vi. 691.
[215]Pusnis, viii. 23, 4; i. 17, 5.
[216]Phiostrt. _Im._ ii. 33.
[217]Servius d Viri. _Aen._ iii. 466.
[218]_Encycop. Brit._, 9th edition, vo. xvii. p. 809. Cf. so
Frne, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 40.
[219]_Metm._ vii. 622-654.
[220]Apood. i. 9, 16; Phiostrt. _Im._ ii. 15.
[221]Btticher, _op. cit._ p. 341.
[222]Euripides, _Hecub_, 456.
[223]Btticher, _op. cit._ p. 344.
[224]Btticher, _op. cit._ p. 344.
[225]Moses Choren, _Hist. Armen._ i. 15, 19.
[226]F. Lenormnt, _L Divintion chez es Chdens_ (Pris, 1875), p.
85.
[227]Sir W. Ouseey, _Trves_, vo. i. p. 369.
[228]The Shh Nmeh, _Chndos Cssics_, p. 336.

[229]Ovid, _Fsti_, iii. 294.

[230]_Ibid._ iv. 650; Viri, _Aeneid_, vii. 81.
[231]Cicero, _De Divint._ ii. 40.
[232]Dion. Hic. i. 14.
[233]Btticher, _op. cit._ chp. xi.
[234]Btticher, _op. cit._ p. 164.
[235]Cicero, _De Divint._ i. 45.
[236]Dion. Hic. v. 16.
[237]Robertson Smith, _op. cit._ p. 126.
[238]Btticher, _op. cit._ p. 113, note 22.
[239]Herodotus, iv. 67.
[240]Ammin. Mrce. L. 31.
[241]Tcitus, _Germ._ x.
[242]E. Dvies, _Cetic Reserches_, p. 812; _British Druids_, p. 43.
[243]R. Smith, _op. cit._ p. 179, note 5.
[244]The whoe subject is very fuy treted by Btticher, _op. cit._
chp. xvi.
[245]Mnnhrdt I. p. 303.
[246]De Vemont, _Physique occute_ (1696), p. 10.
[247]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 113.
[248]John ONei, _The Niht of the Gods_, vo. i. p. 53.
[249]Frzer, _op. cit._ vo. ii. p. 367.
[250]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 114.
[251]A. de Guberntis, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 99.
[252]J. Brnd, _Observtions on the Popur Antiquities of Gret
Britin_ (London, 1849), vo. i. p. 58.
[253]W. Hone, _Yer Book_ (1878), p. 588.
[254]W. Henderson, _Fok-ore of the Northern Counties_, pp. 110, 111.
[255]J. O. Hiwe, _Popur Rhymes nd Nursery Tes_ (1849), pp.
219, 220.
[256]C. H. Pooe, _Customs, Leends, nd Superstitions of
Stffordshire_, p. 74.

[257]Gobet dAvie, _op. cit._ p. 169.

[258]_Ibid._ p. 171.
[259]Sir G. Grey, _Poynesin Mythooy_ (London, 1855), p. 1.
[260]A. H. Syce, _op. cit._ p. 238.
[261]A. H. Syce, _op. cit._ p. 362.
[262]Isih xiv. 13.
[263]De Guberntis, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 45.
[264]_The Prose or Youner Edd_, trnsted by G. W. Dsent, p. 16.
[265]De Guberntis, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 80.
[266]C. P. Tiee, _History of the Eyptin Reiion_ (London, 1882), p.
46.
[267]Lethby, _Architecture, Mysticism, nd Myth_ (London, 1892), p.
120.
[268]_Ibid._ p. 111.
[269]_Bbyonin nd Orient Record_ (June 1888), pp. 149-159.
[270]_Eeventh Annu Report of the Bureu of Ethnooy_ (Wshinton,
1894).
[271]Revetion xxii. 2.
[272]Lethby, _op. cit._ p. 107.
[273]_Ibid._ p. 102.
[274]Herodotus, ii. 44.
[275]De Guberntis, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 102.
[276]Mnnhrdt I. 307.
[277]Gobet dAvie, _op. cit._ pp. 107, 113.
[278]_Kev_, Second Rune.
[279]W. F. Kirby, _The Hero of Esthoni_ (London, 1895), vo. i. p. 48.
[280]Btticher, _op. cit._ p. 516.
[281]_Ibid._ p. 518.
[282]Piny, xxiv. 102.
[283]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 378.
[284]Windischmn, quoted by Herbert Spencer, _Principes of Sociooy_,
vo. i. p. 375.

[285]De Guberntis, _op. cit._ vo. ii. p. 350.

[286]De Guberntis, _op. cit._ vo. ii. p. 351.
[287]J. Muir, _Metric Trnstions from Snskrit writers_ (London,
1879), p. 168.
[288]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 548.
[289]Atheneus, 473 C.
[290]_Bcche_, 284.
[291]_Bcche_, 297.
[292]W. Pter, _Greek Studies_ (London, 1895), p. 7.
[293]_Principes of Sociooy_, vo. i. p. 377.
[294]De Guberntis, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 261.
[295]De Guberntis, vo. i. p. 262.
[296]_Ibid._ p. 182.
[297]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 9.
[298]G. Smith, _Chden Account of Genesis_, pp. 88, 89.
[299]J. Mennt, _op. cit._ vo. i. fi. 121.
[300]Syce, _op. cit._ p. 240.
[301]Homer, _Odyssey_, iv. 563; Hesiod, _Works nd Dys_, 166.
[302]_Encycop. Brit._, 9th edition, vo. viii. p. 536.
[303]2 Esdrs ii. 18.
[304]_Ibid._ ii. 12.
[305]Eisenmener, _Entdecktes Judenthum_ (1700), Bd. II. p. 318.
[306]Fokrd, _op. cit._ p. 10.
[307]A. H. Syce, _op. cit._ p. 48.
[308]Gobet dAvie, _op. cit._ p. 171.
[309]E. B. Tyor, _Ery History of Mnkind_ (London, 1878), p. 358.
[310]W. F. Wrren, _Prdise Found_ (London, 1885), p. 144.
[311]J. Theodore Bent, _Nineteenth Century_ (October 1895), p. 607.
[312]_Iid_, xi. 76.
[313]Syce, _op. cit._ p. 360.
[314]_Prdise Lost_, Book IV. 133-147.

[315]Hesiod, _Theon._ 215 _et seq._

[316]_Ery Trves in Pestine_ (London, Bohn, 1848), p. 276.
[317]S. Brin-Goud, _Curious Myths of the Midde Aes_ (London, 1866),
p. 236.
[318]Pto, _Timeus_, iii.
[319]W. F. Wrren, _op. cit._ p. 12.
[320]_Seect Letters of Coumbus_ (Hkuyt Society), p. 137.
[321]_Od-Word Jpn_, p. 79.
[322]Gobet dAvie, _op. cit._ p. 176.
[323]Lethby, _op. cit._ p. 97.
[324]_Decine nd F_, chp. ii.
[325]Brnds _Antiquities_, vo. i. p. 217.
[326]Court of Love, vv. 1431-35.
[327]_Antomie of Abuses_ (1585), p. 94.
[328]J. Northbrooke, _Tretise wherein Dicin, Duncin, etc., re
Reproved_ (1577), p. 140.
[329]Brnds _Antiquities_, vo. i. p. 244.
[330]_Notes nd Queries_, 3rd ser. vo. vii. p. 425.
[331]Brnds _Antiquities_, vo. i. p. 219.
[332]Mnnhrdt I. p. 315.
[333]Mnnhrdt I. p. 160.
[334]Cmden, quoted in Brnds _Antiquities_, vo. i. p. 227.
[335]Frzer, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 78.
[336]_Ibid._ p. 77.
[337]Mnnhrdt II. p. 212.
[338]_Ibid._ p. 214.
[339]Btticher, _op. cit._ p. 393.
[340]_Knihts_, v. 729.
[341]_Wsps_, v. 398.
[342]_Putus_, v. 1054.
[343]Mnnhrdt II. p. 257.

[344]Aenes Syvius, _Oper_ (Be, 1571), p. 418.

[345]Frzer, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 73.
[346]_Ibid._ p. 74.
[347]Mnnhrdt I. p. 167.
[348]Frzer, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 100.
[349]Frne, _op. cit._ vo. i. pp. 185, 189.
[350]Mnnhrdt I. p. 169.
[351]Mnnhrdt I. p. 174.
[352]_Ibid._ p. 218.
[353]Mnnhrdt I. p. 315.
[354]_Ibid._ p. 313.
[355]Mnnhrdt I. pp. 341 _et seq._
[356]Brnds _Antiquities_, vo. i. pp. 253-261.
[357]Frzer, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 240.
[358]Mnnhrdt I. p. 360.
[359]Frzer, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 241.
[360]Frzer, _op. cit._ vo. i. p. 242.
[361]_Ibid._ vo. i. p. 243.
[362]Mnnhrdt I. p. 523.
[363]Aexnder Tie, _Die Geschichte der Deutschen Weihncht_ (Leipzi,
1893).
[364]_Ibid._ p. 2.
[365]J. G. Frzer in _Encycop. Brit._, 9th edition, vo. xxi. p. 321.
[366]W. Stukeey, _Medic History of Crusius_ (1757-59), vo. ii.
pp. 163, 164.
[367]Brnds _Antiquities_, vo. i. p. 520.
[368]_Ibid._ pp. 519, 521.
[369]Mnnhrdt I. p. 240.
[370]_Ibid._ p. 238.
[371]Tie, _op. cit._ p. 264.
[372]Goethe, _Die Leiden des junen Werthers_ (Am 20 December).

[373]Schier und Lotte (Stuttrt, 1856), p. 574.

[374]Tie, _op. cit._ p. 258.
[375]_Ibid._ p. 259.
[376]Tie, _op. cit._ chp. viii.
[377]Tie, _op. cit._ p. 220.
[378]_Ibid._ p. 221.
[379]_Ibid._ p. 226.
[380]Fokrd, _op. cit._ pp. 352, 353.
[381]Mnnhrdt I. p. 242.
[382]Tie, _op. cit._ p. 244.
[383]Tie, _op. cit._ p. 249.
[384]_Ibid._ p. 250.
[385]Mnnhrdt I. p. 241.
[386]Mnnhrdt, _Germnische Mythen_ (Berin, 1858), p. 470, note.
[387]Tie, _op. cit._ p. 220.
[388]Mnnhrdt I. p. 244.

INDEX
A
Acci, the, 11, 39, 40, 45
Accdins, the, 2, 4, 6, 111, 133
Acis, metmorphosis of, 81
Adonis, 11, 75, 81, 159
Aescupius, ure scred to, 37
Aexnder the Gret, nd the fower-midens, 60;
nd the Persin tree-orces, 99
Am-rvti, Buddhist scuptures t, 14
Ambrosi, 126
Americ, tree-worship in, 16, 17
Amrit, 125
Aphrodite, 30, 32, 46, 81, 88;
ppes scred to, 37;
myrte scred to, 37
Apoo, 47, 76, 98, 99;
nd Dphne, 77;
ure scred to, 36, 47, 50, 77
Appes, scred to Aphrodite, 37;
of Hesperides, 119
Arbi, the _Jinni_ of, 24, 52, 54, 94;

tree-orces in, 99, 102;

tree-worship in, 45
_Aro_, orcur bem of the, 98
Armeni, tree-orces in, 99;
use of brnches in, 49
Artemis, 49, 76;
 veettion deity, 29, 88;
scred tree of, 45, 49
_Ashr_, the, 8, 88, 96
Assyri, tree-worship in, 5, 6, 88
Astrte, 8, 30, 87;
the cypress scred to, 40
Athen, 152;
the oive scred to, 38
Athens, festivs t, 48, 151
Atntis, the ost, 139
Ats, Mount, 110, 119, 135, 136
Attis,  tree-od, 11, 75, 80, 81, 154, 159
Auxerre, scred tree of, 20
Avon, the ise of, 140
B
Bbyoni, tree-worship in, 6;
mountin worship in, 112;
word-tree of, 111
Bnin, the, 42, 64, 76
Bsi, Hoy, of Indi, 43
Bucis nd Phiemon, metmorphosis of, 79
Bvri, Whitsuntide custom in, 159
Beech, the scred, 46
Bhrhut, Buddhist scuptures t, 15, 40, 42
Bo-tree, the, 40, 116
Bodhi-trees of the Buddhs, 40
Borneo, tree-worship in, 16
Btticher, ener concusion of, rerdin tree-worship, 21
Brhm, 14, 43, 115
Brnches forced into fower t Christms, 170;
reiious use of, 13, 36, 37, 38, 47, 48, 91
Brittny, use of ure brnch in, 91
Buddhs, the Bodhi-trees of the, 40
Buddhism, tree-worship nd, 14, 40, 110, 116, 142
Burm, tree worship in, 16;
tree-spirits of, 65
C
Cnn, tree-worship in, 3, 8, 88;
tree-orces in, 95
Cnute forbids tree-worship, 20
Crinthi, Green Geore of, 157
Cedr, the scred, 7, 39, 40, 99, 95
Centurs, the, 55, 56
Ceres, scred rove of, 63
Chde, cosmoony of, 113;
demons of, 53;
divintion in, 105;
iustrious mounds of, 112;
orces of, 95, 99;
tree-worship in, 4, 6;
word-tree of, 111
Chremne destroys the Irmens, 120

Chin, divintion in, 105;

eends of, 83;
prdise eends of, 133;
tree-worship in, 15;
word-tree of, 118
Christms observnces, 162 _et seq._
Christms-tree, introduction into Ennd of, 165;
oriin in Germny of, 165
Churches, decortion of, t Christms, 164
Circssi, per-tree worshipped in, 153
Cymene, the duhters of, 78
Cyti, metmorphosis of, 80
Coumbus nd the erthy prdise, 141
Cronos, 163;
 veettion deity, 29
Cybee, 12, 30, 75, 81
Cycops, the, 55, 56
Cypress, the scred, 5, 13, 17, 39, 40, 51, 89, 131
D
Dmrs, cretion eend of the, 74
Dphne, 94;
metmorphosis of, 77
Dphnephori, the, 47
Dephi, scred ure of, 36, 47, 50, 77, 98;
orce of, 36, 50, 77, 94, 98, 102
Did, the, embem of Osiris, 34, 117
Dionysus, fruit-tree dressed s, 31, 33;
scred tree of, 27;
 tree deity, 11, 12, 31, 32, 39, 48, 49, 57, 126, 159
Divintion in Germny, 102;
by eves, 107;
by roots, 106;
in Srmti, 102;
in Scythi, 102;
in Sweden, 105
Divinin rod, the, 103 _et seq._
Dodon, orcur ok of, 28, 36, 93, 96, 98, 102
Druids, the, 20, 35, 103, 105, 161, 164
Dryds, the, 55, 58, 63
Dusres nd the vine, 40
E
E, 7, 95, 111;
scred cedr of, 40, 131
Edds, the, ccount of mns oriin in, 73;
description of Ydrsi in, 112
Eypt, scred sycmores of, 9, 25, 27, 44, 45;
tree-demons of, 55;
tree-worship in, 9, 10, 25, 45;
word-tree of, 110, 117
_Eiresione_, the, 48, 151, 173;
ddressed s  person, 153
Eves, 24, 52, 63, 65
Ennd, Christms-tree in, 165;
My ceebrtions in, 144 _et seq._;
tree-worship in, 20
Esdrs, prdise of, 131
Esthoni, tree-worship in, 19, 44;
word-tree of, 122

F
Firies, the, 65
Funs, the, 55, 58
Funus, rove orces of, 100
Fertiity, the tree s enius of, 87, 153
_Ficus ruminis_, the, 76, 86
Fi-tree, the, ssocited with the sivni, 58;
crved s Pn, 33;
spirit of, 58
Finnd, tree-spirits of, 70;
tree-worship in, 19;
word-tree of, 120
Fower-midens, the, 60
Frnce, divintion in, 105;
hrvest custom in, 150;
tree-worship in, 19
G
Gutm, 14, 41, 43, 76, 116;
nd the Indin shot, 82
Germny, utumn festiv in, 163, 166, 170;
Christms-tree in, 165;
divintion in, 102, 105;
My customs in, 150, 155;
tree-demons of, 19, 66;
tree-worship in, 18
Gimes, 119, 137
Giit, scred cedr of, 90
Gstonbury thorn, the, 166, 168
God, the, nd the tree, 24 _et seq._
Gods, food of the, 113, 114, 122
Greece, cretion eends of, 74;
hrvest customs of, 151;
prdise eends of, 131;
tree-worship in, 12, 17, 28, 46
Green dies, the, 68
H
Hmdryds, the, 57, 58
Hom, 13, 123, 130
Hrvest My, the, 151, 173
Hthor, a tree-goddess, 9, 10, 25
Helen, sacred tree of, 18, 31
Hera, 29, 32, 76, 155
Hermes, 79;
birth of, 76
Hesperides, trees of the, 101, 119, 136
I
Iceland, paradise legend of, 138
India, paradise legend of, 129;
soma ritual of, 124;
tree-worship in, 13, 14, 35, 40, 43, 64;
world-tree of, 115
Indra, the paradise of, 129;
and the soma, 125
Irmensl, the, 120
Israelites, tree-worship amongst, 3, 8;
use of branches by, 48

Istar, 6, 8, 30, 88
Italy, modern belief in wood-spirits in, 58;
tree-oracles in, 100;
tree-worship in, 12, 17, 28, 37, 47
J
Jack-in-the-Green, 148, 157
Japan, legends of, 83, 84;
paradise legend of, 141;
tree-demons of, 70;
tree-worship in, 15;
world-tree of, 118
_Jinni_ of Arabia, the, 24, 52, 54, 94
L
Laurel, the sacred, 36, 47, 50, 59, 77, 91, 98
Life-rood, the (Lebensrute), 103, 127, 170
Life, the tree of, 15, 130, 131, 142, 170
Life-tree, the, 84, 101
Little Daedala, festival of the, 155
Ljeschi, 69
M
Mahometan paradise, the, 132, 134
Maid Marian, 158
Maundeville, Sir J., his account of paradise, 137;
his description of a tree of paradise, 143
May-bride, the, 158
May celebrations, 21, 145 _et seq._
May, the, 149, 151, 153
May-pole, the, 146, 154, 155
May queen, the, 146, 156
Melcarth, the cypress sacred to, 40
Melus, metamorphosis of, 80
Metamorphosis into trees, 77 _et seq._
Metempsychosis into trees, 82 _et seq._
Mexico, human sacrifices in, 159;
tree-symbol found in, 16;
tree-worship in, 17
Milton, his description of paradise, 135
Mistletoe, 20, 164
Mithra, 13, 40, 163
Moss-women, the, 67
Myrtle, the sacred, 13, 29, 37, 39, 86
Mulberry-tree, the, 96
N
Nakhla, sacred acacia of, 45
Nantes, tree-worship condemned by Council of, 20
Narcissus, metamorphosis of, 81
Nejrn, sacred palm of, 45, 99
New Zealand, cosmogonic legend of, 110
Nicaragua, tree-worship in, 17
Nut, a tree-goddess, 10, 25, 27, 117;
goddess of the sky, 110, 117
O
Oak, the sacred, of Ceres, 63;
of the Druids, 20;
of Esthonia, 122;

of Finland, 19, 44, 121;

of Pan, 56;
of the Roman Capitol, 25;
at Romove, 44;
of Zeus, 28, 35, 37, 93, 96, 101, 155
Olive, the, sacred to Athena, 38;
venerated by the Semites, 39, 49
Olympus, 134
Omens, tree, 101
Oracle-lots, 102
Oracles, tree, 93 _et seq._
Origin-myths, 73
Oschophoria, the, 48, 152
Osiris, his emblem, the Did or Tt, 34, 117;
a tree-god, 11, 40, 159
P
Palestine, tree-demons of, 54;
tree-worship in, 7, 8
Palm-tree, the, 5, 45, 49, 88, 99
Pan, a tree-god, 31, 33, 46, 56;
the pipe of, 81
Paradise, 128 _et seq._;
an artificial, 143;
the earthly, 136;
trees of, 131, 142, 170
Paradise-plays, mediaeval, 169, 171
Patagonia, tree-worship in, 17
Pear-tree, the, worshipped in Circassia, 153
Permians, trees worshipped by the, 19
Persia, creation legends of, 23, 130;
haoma ritual of, 123;
tree-oracle in, 99;
tree-worship in, 13, 123;
use of branches in, 49;
world-tree of, 115, 142
Peru, wood-ghost of, 71
Pfingstl, the, 159
Phyllis, metamorphosis of, 79
Pine, the sacred, 28, 31, 56, 58, 59, 80;
venerated by the Semites, 39
Pippala, the, associated with Brahma, 14;
with Gautama, 41
Plane-tree, the, of Armavira, 99;
its connection with Pelops, 86;
with Persian kings, 13
Poland, tree-worship in, 19
Pomegranate, the, 5, 30, 80
Poplar, the, sacred to Dis, 39;
Zeus born beneath, 76
Puritans, denunciation of May-poles by, 21, 146
R
Robin Hood, king of the May, 158
Rome, grove oracle in, 100;
tree-worship in, 17, 28, 47
Romove, sacred oak of, 44
Russia, tree-demons of, 19, 66, 69;
tree-worship in, 19;
Whitsuntide custom in, 150

S
St. Marks, Venice, symbol of sacred tree in, 2, 5, 7
Snchi, Buddhist sculptures at, 14, 42
Sanctuary, the tree as, 49
Sarmatia, divination in, 102
Saturnalia, the, 163, 172
Satyrs, the, 55, 56, 57
Scandinavia, world-tree of, 112
Scythia, divination in, 102
_Serm_, Styrs of the Bibe, 54
Semites, tree-orces of the, 95;
tree-worship monst the, 7, 39-87
Si Indins, cosmoony of, 118
Sim, tree-worship in, 16
Sieni, the, 55, 56
Sivnus, 28, 57
Sioux, cretion eend of, 74
Som, 124, 126
Sudn, tree-worship in the, 10
Sumtr, tree-worship in, 16
Swbi, sprin observnces in, 160
Sweden, divintion in, 105;
My observnces in, 150;
tree-spirits of, 68
Switzernd, tree-demons of, 68
Sycmores, the scred, of Eypt, 9, 25, 27, 44, 45, 118
T
Tr,  tree-od, 44
Tmud, the, prdise of, 132;
ife-tree mentioned in, 85
Tmmuz, 6, 11, 12, 111, 159
Tpio, 70
Tt-pir, the, 34, 117
Tenus of Jpn, the, 70
Trvncore, scred tree in, 14
Tree, the, births beneth, 76;
Chden symbo of the scred, 2, 5, 30, 88;
dressed or crved s nthropomorphic od, 27, 31, 32, 35, 103;
of the community, 86, 154;
of the fmiy, 86, 101;
of ife, 15, 130, 131, 142, 170;
ihts on, 91, 171;
offerins to, 30, 45, 46;
of prdise, 131, 169;
in retion to humn ife, 72;
s symbo of fertiity, 88;
of universe, 109 _et seq._, 173
Tree-deities, 9, 16, 24 _et seq._
Tree-demons, 16, 24, 52, 55 _et seq._
Tree-nymphs, 55, 56, 58, 59, 61, 62
Tree-orces, 93 _et seq._
Tree-oriins, 73 _et seq._
Tree-omens, 101
Tree-sncturies, 49
Tree-sou, the enerised, 90;
primitive conception of, 1
Tree-worship, in Afric, 11;
in Americ, 16, 17;

in Arbi, 45;
in Assyri, 6;
in Borneo, 16;
in Burm, 16;
in Cnn, 3, 8;
in Chde, 4, 6, 111;
in Chin, 15;
in Eypt, 9, 10, 25, 45;
in Ennd, 20;
in Esthoni, 19;
in Frnce, 19;
in Finnd, 19;
in Germny, 18;
in Greece, 17, 28, 46;
in Indi, 13, 14, 35, 40, 43, 64, 124;
in Jpn, 15;
in Mexico, 17;
in Nicru, 17;
in Pestine, 3, 7, 8;
in Ptoni, 17;
in Persi, 13, 123;
in Phoenici, 8, 12;
in Phryi, 12;
in Pond, 19;
in Rome, 17, 46;
in Russi, 19;
in the Semitic re, 7, 39, 87;
in Sim, 16;
in the Sudn, 11;
in Sumtr, 16;
oriin of, 22
Trees, Christms fowerin, 116;
eends of beedin, 62, 63;
eends of spekin, 101
Tristrm nd Iseut, eend of, 82
Trophonius, orce of, 94
Tyor, Mr. E. B., on tree-worship, 21
Tyro, wid women of, 67
Ups, scred rove of, 43

V
Vine-women of Lucin, the, 60
Vine, the, scred to Dionysus, 39;
to Dusres, 40;
venerted by the Semites, 39
Vishnu, 43, 76
W
Wee-wrte, eend of the, 83
Wends, the, nd the My-poe, 156
Wid-fnen, the, 67
Wid men of the woods, 21, 52, 56, 66, 68, 71, 161
Wiow, the, connected with Artemis, 29;
with Her, 29, 76;
inhbited by tree-spirit, 62
Woden, 43
Wood-midens, 67
Word-mountin, the, 110, 112, 118, 134

Word-tree, the, 109 _et seq._;

of Buddhists, 116;
of Chde, 111;
of Eypt, 110, 117;
of Esthoni, 122;
of Finnd, 120;
of Indi, 115;
of Persi, 115;
of Scndinvi, 112
Ydrsi, 112 _et seq._

Z
Zeus,  tree-od, 18, 28, 29, 35, 46, 155;
orce of, t Dodon, 93, 96
Zeus-Ammon, orce of, 96
THE END
_Printed by_ R. & R. Crk, Limited, _Edinburh_.

Trnscribers Notes
--Sienty corrected  few ppbe typos.
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dsi is represented by u
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--In the Ltin-1 text version ony, trnsiterted Greek words re
deimited by {brckets}.

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