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Ask and Embla, the first human beings in Norse mythology, created from trees and whose names may mean "ash" and "elm" Dream of the Rood, an Old English poem describing the crucifixion of Jesus from the point of view of a sentient tree; Hlín, a Norse goddess whose name some scholars have suggested may mean 'maple tree'
Nevertheless, scholarly opinions regarding the precise meaning of the name Yggdrasill vary, particularly on the issue of whether Yggdrasill is the name of the tree itself or if only the full term askr Yggdrasil (where Old Norse askr means "ash tree") refers specifically to the tree.
A tree deity or tree spirit is a nature deity related to a tree. Such deities are present in many cultures. They are usually represented as a young woman, often connected to ancient fertility and tree worship lore. [1] The status of tree deities varies from that of a local fairy, ghost, sprite or nymph, to that of a goddess. [2]
Various folk cultures and traditions assign symbolic meanings to plants. Although these are no longer commonly understood by populations that are increasingly divorced from their rural traditions, some meanings survive. In addition, these meanings are alluded to in older pictures, songs and writings.
Ken Dowden notes that behind this great oak dedicated to Donar, the Irminsul (also felled by Christian missionaries in the 8th century), and the Sacred tree at Uppsala (described by Adam of Bremen in the 11th century), stands a mythic prototype of an immense world tree, described in Norse mythology as Yggdrasil. [5]
Ashen tree, ashen tree, / Pray buy these warts of me was a rhyme one had to sing whilst sticking a pin first into one's warts and then into the tree. [14] The Wishing Tree or Kissing Tree was made at Christmas or Yuletide before pine trees were introduced by Prince Albert in 1840. An evergreen bough was hung with apples, sweetmeats, and candles ...
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W. B. Yeats describes a "holy tree" in his poem "The Two Trees" (1893). In George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, one of the main religions, that of "the old gods" or "the gods of the North", involves sacred groves of trees ("godswoods") with a white tree with red leaves at the center known as the "heart tree".