RESOURCES FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE:
CELTIC TREE
SYMBOLS
By Eva Gordon, FoDLA Youth Religious Education Coordinator
We often go about our busy lives without thinking much about the trees that grow all around us. Many people can’t even name the trees growing in their own yards or on the streets where they live. But trees are incredibly important in the life of our world. They give us fruit, wood and paper. They are home to many types of birds, animals and insects. They provide shade and store moisture, give off life-sustaining oxygen, and soak up the carbon dioxide gas that drives global warming. Without trees, life on earth would be very unpleasant and much poorer.
Many areas of Ireland and Scotland are quite bare of trees now. They were cleared from the land by people there in ancient times. However, there are many very old Gaelic traditions dealing with trees, that show how important trees were in people’s minds in ancient times.
The idea of a Sacred Tree marking the center of the world is common to many traditional beliefs. The four Provinces and Center of Ireland symbolized by five trees: three ash trees, a yew tree and an oak. The Sacred Tree at the center of Ireland was an Ash, that grew on the Hill of Uisneach (USH-nekh). The word for this central tree that stands for the land and its people is Bile (“BEE-la”). In the Highlands of Scotland, at Duneaves, there is a yew tree said to be the oldest living yew in Europe, the Yew of Fortingall. This has been considered to be the sacred tree at the center of Scotland. Yew trees are associated with graveyards and ancient burial sites, and also with the Sidhe (“SHEE”) or Fair Folk.
The hazel (not really a tree, but more like a bush) is also important in Irish lore. Nuts dropped from the hazel into Connla’s Well, and were eaten by the Salmon of Knowledge, making the well a source of wisdom and inspiration. Apple trees that were always in blossom and bearing fruit were found in the Celtic Otherworld, and an apple branch could make sweet music to heal and lull people to sleep.
Oak trees, famous for their connection with Druids and magic, may have been more important in Gaul in ancient times, than in Ireland or Britain, but in our time, the Sacred Oak with mistletoe are probably the first thing that comes to mind when Druids are mentioned.
Trees can have special symbolism—both good and bad-- in Scottish Gaelic poetry. When the poet wanted to praise a clan chieftain or nobleman, he compared him to an oak, yew, holly or apple tree. But when he wanted to make a satire, he might call him an aspen, hawthorn, alder, or elm, which have an “ignoble” nature.
There is even a “Celtic Alphabet of Trees.” The Ogham is an ancient alphabet system that was used in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the Isle of Man. Legend says that this writing system was invented by the god Oghma, champion of the Tuatha Dé Danann and god of eloquent speech. There must have been a magical side to this alphabet from long ago, as we can see in some of the traditional tales. In the Táin Bó Cuailgne (Cattle Raid of Cooley), the hero Cú Chulainn made a hoop from an oak sapling, cut an Ogham inscription on it to hold off his enemies, and placed it on a standing stone in their path. He had made the hoop with one eye closed, using one foot and one hand—which is the traditional way that Druids cast spells in the Irish myths!
Unfortunately, the actual Ogham inscriptions that have been found are mainly on stone boundary markers, and seem to represent personal names. They date back to the 3rd to 7th Centuries CE. There are medieval manuscripts that map out and explain the Ogham, notably the “Auraicept na n-Eces,” or “Scholars’ Primer.” The letters in the Ogham look like groups of hatch-marks on a long stem (like short branches on the trunk of a tree), read from the bottom up when on a standing stone, or from left to right on a horizontal line on a manuscript.
The first 20 letters of the Ogham are 15 consonants and 5 vowels, each matched to a tree name (or other plant). There are 5 other symbols that do not quite match sounds in Irish, and whose matching trees are somewhat different, depending on what source you read. The Ogham alphabet is also called the Beith–Luis–Nuin = B-L-N (Birch-Rowan-Ash,) or Beith–Luis-Fearn = B-L-F(Birch-Rowan-Alder), based on the first 3 letters. (The second version is the most common one.)
Beyond the tree connected with each letter, there are “Word Oghams,” or short sayings that go with each. To make matters more complicated, there are three different “schools” of Ogham, all in the Scolars’ Primer—so each letter with its tree has three different “kennings” or meanings. For example,
B: Beith = Birch: 1)withered/faded trunk with fair hair; 2)greyest of skin; 3)beauty of the brow.
Some modern Druids use the Ogham for divination or forecasting the future, by casting pieces of wood with ogam letters carved on them, or with special sets of cards illustrated with the Ogham trees. They might meditate on one of the traditional kennings of the letter or tree, or use some other interpretation based on the nature of the tree. For example, Birch is one of the first trees to grow in an area where there were no trees, and its decaying leaves and branches can support the growth of other trees that grow up there later. This might make the Birch a symbol for new beginnings. Whether or not Ogham divination can really tell the future is not something that can be settled in this article. However, with study, it can help a person to think about his or her situation or question in a creative way.
For further information about the Ogham, with illustrations of all the letters and facts about the trees, you can visit these websites:
Everything Ogham on the web (in English and Irish)
http://www.evertype.com/standards/og/ogmharc.html
Natural History of the Trees of the Celtic Ogham
http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/ogham/ogh-tree.html
For information on how you can help plant trees or support tree-planting in your area,
www.treepeople.org (in the Los Angeles area)
Other References:
The Táin, translated by Ciaran Carson. Penguin Books, Ltd., London 2007. A very readable version.
Ellis Davidson, HR. Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe. Syracuse University Press, Syracuse NY, 1988
Newton, Michael, A Handbook of the Scottish Gaelic World. MPG Books, Bodmin, Cornwall, 2000.