Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Worship or religious veneration paid to trees by primitive races of men, from the belief that they were the fixed abode or a favorite resort of spirits capable of influencing human destiny. Many different kinds of trees have been specific objects of worship, but particularly the oak, as among the Druids. In Greek mythology some special tree was in many cases sacred to an individual deity, as the oak to Zeus (Jupiter) and to Cybele, the laurel to Apollo, the ash to Ares (Mars), the olive to Athena (Minerva), the myrtle to Aphrodite (Venus), etc. Tree-worship was practised by the early Buddhists. though not enjoined by their scriptures, and traces of it remain among them, as among many other pagan peoples; and it existed throughout Europe before the introduction of Christianity. The Old Testament has many indications of its existence among the peoples surrounding the Jews, and of lapses into the practice of it by the Jews themselves.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the worship of trees
Examples
“[Link] I don't know about this "dendrochronology" stuff (sounds to me like some sort of pagan tree-worship), but I do know that the Balch House (pictured below in a very, very old photograph) looks very, very old to me.”
“Down the centuries from the Druid tree-worship comes the spell of the walnut-tree.”
“The older mythologists, who only saw in it a sun-myth, overlooked the fact that since any weapon would have done to kill the God with, the mistletoe must have some special significance; and if it is a genuine part of the story, as we have no reason to doubt, it will be hard to overturn Dr. Frazer's theory that the Baldr-myth is a relic of tree-worship and the ritual sacrifice of the God,”
“Before leaving the Continental historians, reference may be made to the abundant evidence of Germanic tree-worship to be gathered from them.”
“_The World-Ash_, generally called Yggdrasil's Ash, is one of the most interesting survivals of tree-worship.”
“Many factors played a part in the development of tree-worship but it is probable the origin of the sacredness of trees must be assigned to the fact that it was acquired from the incense and the aromatic woods which were credited with the power of animating the dead.”
“Proofs of the prevalence of tree-worship in ancient Greece and Italy are abundant.”
“Sacred groves were common among the ancient Germans, and tree-worship is hardly extinct amongst their descendants at the present day.”
“However that may be, tree-worship is well attested for all the great European families of the Aryan stock.”
“It was very instructive -- about sun-myths and bronzes and the growth of the epic, you know, and tree-worship and moon-goddesses.”
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