| Irish Tree Tales  By
Edythe Preet
From space, Earth resembles a big beautiful marble with swirling patterns
of blue (oceans), white (clouds), and green (trees). As global warming
makes weekly headlines, we are warned of the dire future we face should
the delicate balance between the three become irreparably compromised.
In a worst case scenario, plants would disappear.
In 1657AD, the English scholar William Coates wrote: “Trees are
a subject as ancient as creation; yea more ancient than the Sunne or Moon
or Stars, they being created on the fourth daie whereas Plantes were third.”
Coates wasn’t far off the mark. The appearance of land plants was
the third evolutionary stage of our lovely green planet.
Much of the scientific community theorizes that humans settled on grasslands
to facilitate gathering wild grains, but Dr. Michael Rosenburg at the
University of Delaware offers another possibility. Hunter-gatherers may
have made their first homes among forests that provided predictable nut
harvests. Discoveries at the world’s oldest village, Hallan Cemi,
in Turkey’s eastern highlands, indicate that 10,000 years ago life
there revolved around harvesting wild nuts.
The timing predates grain-based settlements by a few hundred years. Skeptics
scoff at such a minute blip on the evolutionary clock and question the
need to determine whether it was nuts or grain
that inspired humanity to settle down. Rosenburg holds that giving up
tracking a migrating food supply was a bold decision that early humans
would have made only if a sure food source lay at hand.
Nuts have always been important foods for folk the world over. Australian
aborigines foraged for macadamias. Coconuts were a dietary mainstay for
South Pacific islanders. Amazonians gathered cashews. Native Americans
harvested butternuts, black walnuts, hickory nuts, and pecans. Europe’s
forests yielded white walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, and chestnuts. In
Ireland, the hazelnut reigned supreme.
As one of very few living things that can survive beyond a human lifespan,
trees figure prominently in world folklore. Most cultures have some story
concerning the Tree of Life, but with legends, lore, myths, and mysteries
for every tree found on their small island, the Irish get the Tree Tales
blue ribbon.
Druids prized the Oak for its ability to withstand a lightning strike;
mighty and majestic, it symbolized kingship. While Ireland’s great
oak forests were felled to build England’s armada, in Trees of Ireland
(Dublin, 1993), botanist Charles Nelson wrote that more than 1,600 town
names still contain the word doire (oakwood) with Derry (Doire Cholmcille
– Colmcille’s Oakwood) and Kildare (Cill Dara – Church
of the Oak) being the most famous.
Holly, which grows well in the acidic soil found in oak forests, was also
prized by Druids who constructed ritual circles from a ring of holly bushes
with an oak anchoring the point of entrance and exit. Each tree bears
what appears to be fruit in the dead of winter. Holly has red berries;
oak supports a symbiotic relationship with white-berried mistletoe. The
power embodied in both trees was evidenced by the fact that their fruits
are poisonous.
The long-lived Yew grows upright and tall. For its longevity, it was revered
as a guardian of the dead, a realm to which warriors were frequently dispatched
with bows and arrows made from its strong straight limbs. Hawthorn, often
found growing alongside holy streams and wells, was believed to be a reservoir
of good fortune. For that reason it is even now frequently used as a Wish
Tree by people who tie their hopes and dreams onto branches with strips
of gay-colored cloth. The bushy Rowan was prized as a tool for auguring
the future. Symbol-inscribed rods made from its branches were tossed into
the air and allowed to fall randomly, whereupon adepts could decipher
the meaning.
One of Ireland’s greatest sagas concerns the Hazel, which because
it bore flowers and nuts simultaneously was known as the Tree of Knowledge.
A grove of these trees grew beside a holy well in which lived a great
salmon, and every time a nut fell into the water, the salmon gobbled it
up. For each nut swallowed, he acquired a red spot on his back and absorbed
another portion of the Tree’s wisdom, ultimately becoming The Salmon
of Knowledge.
That, however, is not the end of the tale. When Fionn MacCumhail was a
lad, he studied with the famous bard Finnegas. One night, the poet returned
home toting a reed basket containing a magnificent salmon. “I have
waited seven years to catch this fish,” Finnegas told the boy. “Cook
it for my supper, but do not taste it because prophesy tells that a poet
will eat this fish and gain all the world’s wisdom.” Fionn
broiled the fish watching carefully lest it burn, and when a blister appeared
on the skin of the salmon he pressed it flat with his thumb. The hot fat
burned his skin, and without thinking Fionn put his finger in his mouth,
unwittingly getting the first taste. Instantly, he knew something magical
had happened and was afraid to tell his mentor, but Fionn was honest and
Finnegas was wise. The poet forgave his pupil knowing Fate had bestowed
the Gift of Knowledge on the proper man. Ever after, when Fionn wanted
to see the future or solve a problem, he only had to suck his thumb and
all was revealed. He was the wisest of men, and for that reason the heroic
Fianna chose him as their leader.
Some people avoid eating nuts believing they are full of unhealthy fats.
Not true. The body requires some intake of fat every day to function properly
just as an engine requires oil. It’s the kind of fat that makes
the difference. Animal products contain high levels of saturated fats
that clog the arteries, fostering circulatory and heart diseases. Nut
fats (called oils), are high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty
acids that lubricate the body without depositing harmful residue, and
they contain zero cholesterol.
In addition to nuts being an excellent source of protein, fiber, vitamin
E, magnesium, zinc, selenium, copper, potassium, phosphorous, biotin,
riboflavin, niacin and iron, they are also a source of healthful phytochemicals,
including flavonoids, cancer-fighting antioxidants, and sterols that help
reduce one’s cholesterol level.
A handful of nuts once or twice a week is all it takes to add a healthful
element to a regular diet, and by promoting the value of nut-bearing trees
you’ll also be supporting efforts to save Earth’s forests.
Granted, eating nuts probably won’t make you as wise as Fionn, but
you’d surely have to be nuts not to be nuts about nuts. Sláinte!
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