Throughout the major cultures of Europe the oak tree
has been held in high esteem.
To the Greeks, Romans, Celts, Slavs and Teutonic tribes
the oak was foremost amongst venerated
trees, and in each case associated
with the supreme god in their pantheon,
oak being sacred to Zeus, Jupiter, Dagda,
Perun and Thor, respectively.
Each of these gods also had dominion over rain,
thunder and lightning, and it is surely no coincidence
that oak trees appear to be more prone to lightning strike
than other trees, whether because of their wood's
low electrical resistance or the fact that they were frequently
the largest, tallest living things in the landscape.
Druids frequently worshipped and practised their rites
in oak groves (the word Druid was probably
a Gaelic derivation of their word
for oak, Duir, and meant men of the oaks).
Mistletoe, probably the Druids' most
potent and magical plant, frequently grew
on oak trees and its presence was believed to indicate
the hand of God having placed it there in a lightning strike.
Ancient kings presented themselves as the personifications
of these gods, taking on the responsibility
not only for success in battle but also the fertility
of the land, which relied on rainfall.
They wore crowns of oak leaves, as a symbol of the god
they represented as kings on Earth.
Similarly, successful Roman commanders were presented
with crowns of oak leaves during their
victory parades, and oak leaves have continued
as decorative icons of military prowess to the present day.
Oak leaves' connection with rainfall also survived
in more recent folklore in a variety of similar rhymes
about which tree's leaves appeared first,
such as the Irish saying:
If the oak before the ash,
Then we'll only have a splash.
If the ash before the oak,
Then we'll surely have a soak!
The spiritual appreciation of oak did not cease
with the advent of Christianity, however, although
many oak groves were supplanted
by early Christian churches.
St. Columba was said to have had a fondness and respect
for oak trees and to have been reluctant to fell them,
though his early chapel on Iona was constructed of oak
from the nearby Mull oakwoods.
St. Brendan was divinely inspired to use oak boards instead
of traditional hides to cover his coracle, which legend says
may have carried him to the New World some
thousand years before Columbus.
It was also favoured for its strength and durability
in the distinctive Tudor timbered houses, and artists
used its even-grained, honey-coloured beauty
for carving and turning.
The bark was valued by the leather tanning industry
for its high tannin content, and large amounts were sent
from managed oak woodlands in the north west
of Scotland to Glasgow
for this purpose during the Industrial Revolution.
The bark would also yield a brown dye, and oak galls
gave the strong black dye from which ink was made.
A tonic derived from boiling the bark was used
to treat harness sores on horses.
Perhaps because of the oak's size and presence,
much of its folklore concerns specific, individual oak trees.
Many parishes used to contain what became
known as the Gospel Oak, a prominent tree
at which part of the Gospel was read out
during the Beating of the Bounds ceremonies
at Rogantide in spring.
In Somerset stand the two very ancient oaks
of Gog and Magog (named after the last
male and female giants to roam Britain),
which are reputed to be the remnants of an oak-lined
processional route up to the nearby Glastonbury Tor.
The Major Oak in Sherwood Forest is purported
to be the tree where
Robin Hood and his Merry Men hatched their
plots, and is now a popular tourist attraction
(though this particular tree probably
does not predate the 16th century).
In Leicestershire the Topless Oaks in Bradgate Park
were said to have been pollarded as a sign of mourning
following the beheading, in 1554, of Lady Jane Grey
who had lived at the nearby Bradgate Hall.
After the battle of Worcester in 1651 King Charles II
hid from the Roundheads in a large oak at Boscobel.
In 1660 he instigated the 29th of May
as Royal Oak Day to celebrate
the restoration of the monarchy.
Children would wear oak leaves (or better still, oak apples)
as part of a custom which officially lasted until 1859
but in fact continued until well into the twentieth century.
Once again the symbol of oak leaves had royal connections.
And so it won't be a surprise which plant was
the clan badge of the Royal Clan Stewart.
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