Trees have been considered sacred and are venerated throughout cultures and across centuries. They have medicinal and religious significances and in some cases- they also forewarn of impeding dangers.
Here are such 10 sacred trees with mythological powers.
1. Banyan Trees:
These are considered to be one of the most glorious trees and are venerated. Married women in India pray these trees for the well-being of their husbands. The belief persists among many today that the banyan roots never stop growing; they continue down into the Earth and lead to a truly eternal tree. If a banyan tree is hacked down, the legends say it will use its powerful roots deep below the ground to return to its former glory.
2. Jinmenju:
These trees are said to grow in mountainous areas, usually rarely and far away in the middle of nowhere. The unique part of these trees is that their fruit is actually human faces that laugh as people walk by. Fortunately, the Jinmenju isn’t really known to attack humans, and if you laugh at the tree, the fruit will shake and drop to the ground and again, you’re in luck, because according to the legends, the heads taste just like citrus fruits.
3. Jubokko:
Jubokko trees were once normal trees, until one day the land they lived on, was soaked in blood, after the trees’ roots were drenched in blood, they transformed into ethereal, malicious spirit trees that get their only sustenance from blood. If you get too close to one of these trees, it will snatch you and forcefully jam its branches and then remove all the blood from your body to satisfy its hunger.
4. Kalpa Trees:
The Kalpa Tree, known as the Kalpavriksha, is known as a wishing tree, but its mythology is much more complicated than that. The Kalpa Tree isn’t just one specific tree in Indian mythology—it’s a spiritual concept. Kalpa Trees are prayed as it is believed that they have a divine connection.
5. Nariphon:
The legend goes that the wife of a prince was once exiled in the Himvanti forest, where she came across trees growing miniature women. However, these trees were said to be very dangerous for men. If a man were to pluck a Nariphon, or fruit maiden, and then have intercourse with her, he would become sterile.The strangest part of the tale is that these fruit maidens are described in many of the stories as only being about 20 centimeters (8 in) long
6. Sky-High Tree:
A shepherd boy once snuck into the king’s garden, and saw a magnificent tree an started climbing it, as he went further up, he was met with some of the most fantastic things he had ever seen. Way up in the sky, at the top of the tree, he found entire churches, castles, and beautiful landscapes. In Siberian myth, the legend of a tree that reaches to the heavens is quite popular and it quite literally holds the sky up. However, both tales do support the tree as being a portal to other worlds. If you can reach the very top of the Sky-High Tree, you should find the entrance to some version of heaven.
7. The Lotus Tree:
The lotus tree is a strange myth- varying amongst cultures. In the Greek myth, there’s a young goddess named Lotus, and she ends up turning into a tree to protect herself from the unwanted sexual advances of another a god named Priapus.The fruit from the lotus tree also appears in Homeric legends when Odysseus and his men landed on the land of the Lotus Eaters. When these men ate the fruit from the tree, it was so good that it made them forget everything that was important to them in life. This myth led to the creation of the term “Lotus Eater” to describe people who live a decadent lifestyle, but otherwise have vapid and meaningless lives.The lotus name itself has a lot of significance in many religious beliefs, and is in conjunction with God. Some myths claim that there is a lotus tree at the right hand of God in heaven. While, some myths attribute symbolic importance to the idea of the tree and the presence of the divine—essentially, the symbol of God above a lotus show how the divine can overcome the material world.
8. Tree of Zaqqum :
The Tree of Zaqqum is mentioned in the Quran and is said to exist only in hell, consisting extremely bitter fruit that is fed to those in hell who beg for something to eat. This demonic tree gains its sustenance from the flames of hellfire itself. After the people in hell eat the fruit it causes their faces to fall off and then they are given a horrible concoction of boiling liquid to drink, which causes their bodies to disintegrate into a melted heap of flesh and bone. Then they go straight back into the hellfire and repeat the process.
9. Whispering Oak Tree:
This mythical oak tree comes from Greek mythology and was one of the first oracles of Zeus in the ancient days. The tree itself could not speak in a human tongue, but like any tree out there, its leaves would rustle in the wind and make noise. The first oracle of Dodona was likely an Egyptian priestess who was kidnapped and brought to the area.In the story of the Argonauts, Jason is told by the gods to use a branch from the tree as part of the construction of his ship, to make his journey safer. Achilles also goes to Dodona for guidance in the Iliad. Unfortunately, the real tree was cut down after Christianity became the dominant religion in the area.
10. Yggdrasil:
Yggdrasil is the ancient Norse tree of life, and according to the myths, while Odin was looking to obtain further wisdom, he hanged himself on the world tree for a total of nine days and nine nights and exacts injuries upon himself and after his long ordeal, Odin was able to gain the wisdom that he was seeking from magical runes.The tree of life is more than just a symbolic tree upon which Odin hanged himself it’s an interpretation of the heavens themselves. It is sometimes described with an eagle at the top, which is associated with Odin, and a serpent at the bottom, which represents the underworld.
By: Archa Dave
