Ancient Beliefs about the Oak Tree T
HE OAK TREE was sacred to many European cultures. The ancient Greeks considered the tree sacred to their pagan god Zeus, and one of the most ancient sacred Greek sites was the oak grove at Dodona, where the priestesses interpreted the will of the gods by listening to oak leaves rustle in the wind. The Romans believed the oak to be sacred to Jupiter, their name for Zeus. The second-highest honor a Roman soldier could win was a crown of oak leaves, known as a civic crown, which was awarded for saving the life of a citizen. Echoes of this practice can be seen in the oak leaf clusters awarded as military honors in the United States today.
In northern Europe, the oak tree was believed to be sacred to Thor, the pagan god of thunder and lightning, possibly because of the frequency with which oak trees (generally among the tallest trees in Europe) were struck by lightning. In some Nordic countries, people still be- lieve that keeping an acorn on the windowsill will help protect a house from lightning. Some people have substi- tuted acorn-shaped window-blind pulls instead. In the eighth century in Germany, the Christian missionary St. Boniface and his followers cut down an oak tree believed to be sacred to Thor in defiance of pagan custom. According to legend, after Thor failed to immediately strike Boniface down with lightning, the German people were willing to consider the new religion Boniface brought.
In Celtic areas, the Druids may well have received
St. Boniface, who is credited with converting Germany to Chris- tianity in the seventh century AD,
is said to have started his
mission by chopping down an oak tree believed to be sacred to Thor, the Norse pagan god of thunder and lightning.
their name from the oak tree. Some scholars speculate that the word “druid” originally meant “oak-knower.” According to the ancient Roman writer Pliny the Elder, “The druids . . . hold nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and the tree on which it grows, provided it is an oak.” —TS
state quarter of Connecticut that was issued in 1999.
Old Ironsides
to reclaim their newfound freedom, resisted and hid the document in the cavity of a nearby oak tree. The tree was later referred to as the Charter Oak, and the event became known as the Charter Oak Incident. The Museum of Connecticut History has a parchment on display that is believed to be the original charter. In 1856, when the Charter Oak was over two hundred years old, it fell down during a severe storm. The people of the Hartford area where the oak was located were so moved by the loss of their beloved tree that they played funeral dirges and tolled bells to mark its passing. Then the towns- people gathered acorns from around the tree and used them to plant a new oak forest. An image of the Charter Oak was chosen to appear on the
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The oak tree also played a role in our naval history. The USS Constitu- tion first put to sea in 1797, initially serving in the First Barbary War and then in the War of 1812. The ship earned the affectionate nickname “Old Ironsides” from its wooden hull, which was strong enough to repel British cannonballs. The ship was constructed of two kinds of oak: long, straight white oak planking on the exterior bore the brunt of hostile attacks, while the framing and interior timbers were made of southern live oak, a wood so dense that it can weigh up to seventy- five pounds per cubic foot. Sadly, by 1830, a routine navy inspection found this beautiful, three- masted frigate to be unfit for sea and noted that repairs would cost more than $150,000. Newspaper reports indicated that the navy was about to
recommend scrapping the ship, although no such official order had been given. The reports caused such an outcry from the American people, who had come to revere the ship, that Congress passed an appropriation to make the repairs, and by 1835, the ship was back in commission. Less than a hundred years later, in
the early 1920s, extensive repairs to the ship were again required, but the government balked at the cost of the project, and the fate of Old Ironsides was in doubt. Fortunately, the BPO Elks of the USA came to the rescue, and enlisting the help of the broader public, especially of children, as well as committing the support of the Order, orchestrated a fund-raising campaign to save the ship. Remark- ably, the Elks were able to donate $537,000, of which $136,436.79 came from children’s private contributions of coins, and Old Ironsides was restored to its former glory. Over the years, the ship has been
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DRAWING: MICHAEL GODFREY/BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY
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