tree worship in pagan Europe

The Minoan culture was an ancient culture that predated the ancient Greek civilization and survived on the island of Crete for almost 2000 years until about 1450 BC. Minoan women danced around a sacred tree as a part of their worship and a world tree seems to have been part of their religion, too.

There are many examples of potted trees in Minoan Art, and these were used in tree shaking initiation ceremonies where initiates were required to gnaw on the tree with their hands behind their backs.

In ancient Greece, there were many sacred groves, including Plane tree groves at Olympia and Lerna,Ash trees groves in Ionia and a sacred grove at Lycosura which featured an olive-tree and an evergreen oak growing from the same root.

The oak tree was sacred to Pan and Zeus (the rustling of its leaves was heard as his voice).The myrtle-tree was sacred to Aphrodite and the olive tree was sacred to the goddess Athena.

In Greek mythology, women and men are frequently transformed into trees -- for instance, Atys became a Pine tree, Smilax a Yew tree and Daphne a Laurel tree, sacred to Apollo -- and the spirit of trees is typically personified in female form. The Alseids were grove nymphs, the Dryads were forest nymphs guarding the trees, and the Hamadryads were nymphs forming anintegral part of the trees themselves.

In Ancient Rome, a sacred Fig tree associated with Romulus grew near the Forum, and a sacred Cornel tree grew of the slope of the Palatine Hill.

Pillars similar to those built by Asoka, the Buddhist emperor of India (268 - 232 BC) representing the Cosmic Tree were erected on hilltops by some German tribes. Made of tree trunks, not stone, these pillars (called Irmensul) represented the 'tree of the universe'.

A particularly venerated Irmensul in the Westphalia area was chopped down in 772 AD by Charlemagne in accordance with forced Christian conversions and,to remove the sacred powers or energies of pagan tree cult sites, a church was often built on the same site. The most famous church on these 'converted sites' is the medieval Gothic cathedral of Chartres.

The religious faith of the ancient Celtic inhabitants of Gaul and the British Isles was Druidism and it flourished until Christianity wiped it out. The Druids believed in the immortality of the soul, passing upon death into the body of a new-born child, and they believed themselves to be descended from a Supreme Being.

Learned in astrology, magic, and the magic powers of plants and animals, the Celts believed trees to be the source of sacred wisdom. The Yew tree was a symbol of immortality, the Hazel tree was associated with wisdom, and the Druids venerated the Oak tree (particularly if it had mistletoe growing on it, believing it meant the tree had been struck by lightning and was the tree of life). All Druid rituals were performed in oak forests because they believed that spirits lived within the interior of the oak tree.

Certain names of Celtic Gaul tribes reflect the veneration of trees, for instance the Euburones (the Yew tribe), and the Lemovices (the people of the Elm).

The Christmas tree is an interesting phenomenon because the idea came from Martin Luther, b. 1483, the leader of the Reformation in Germany. He taught that the fir tree is a symbol of the promise of Christ, decorated it with fruit representing the tree of life and,although not intentional, revived a Pagan reverence for trees!

At the same time, the Puritans in England and Wales were tearing down hundreds of village maypoles and banning the practice of maypole dancing with its sinister associations with tree worship. Despite their attempts to remove the maypoles, several prevailed and the tallest, said to measure 30 metres, still stands at Barwick in Elmet, Yorkshire and maypole dancing resumed with the restoration of Charles II in 1660.

The Celts divided their year by four seasons and all celebrated with great festivals. Samhain, signifying the arrival of winter and the New Year was first, and it was celebrated on 1st November. Imbolc was next, on 1st February, followed by Beltane on 1st May and Lugnasdh on 1st August.

Some people believe that May Day celebrations are associated with Beltane and the tree worship of the Druids -- and possibly are associated with the spring festivals of ancient Egypt and India. Others believe May Day, as it is celebrated today, owes more to an ancient Roman festivity honoring Flora, the goddess of flowers and springtime.

As the largest plant, rooted in the earth and reaching skyward, trees were the earliest focus of religious life for many peoples around the world and it should not surprise anyone that so many rites are similar.

BC70-51 Julius Caesar Conquers France

The twenty years from 70-51 BC were dominated by the exploits of Julius Caesar (pictured).

In 58 BC Julius Caesar conquered Gaul (France) and as general of the Roman armies in Gaul he then decided, in 54 BC, to invade Britain in order to secure Gaul for Rome. The Celts in Gaul had been receiving aid from their close relations in southern England, British Celts may even have fought with related tribes in Gaul against the Romans and, most importantly, defeated Gauls would slip away to Britain to regroup.

Caesar's invasion of Brtain was successful but inconclusive. Landing in Kent, he did battle with several tribes and the following year, in 55 BC, he returned and easily defeated King Cassivellaunus, a tribal chief. After exacting a promise of tribute from the defeated tribes, Julius Caesar left. His real prize was Gaul and that's where he wanted to be.

After Julius Caesar left, contacts between Rome and Celtic Britain grew. Trade flourished, and some Celtic princes were sent to Rome to be educated. With Roman influence, the notion that kingship should be hereditary, rather than a title awarded for the best warrior, was taking hold in Britain. If princes could flee to Rome to appeal for help in succession squabbles, not only would the Celtic tribes have weak kings but they would also be inviting foreign rule.

During Julius Caesar consulship in 59 BC, he was charged with violating the Roman constitution but he remained immune from trial as long as he held governorship. His governship expired at the end of 49 BC and hanging over his head during all of this time was the question whether or not he could stand for the consulship of 48 BC in absentia and maintain his immunity.

In other parts of the Empire, Pompey established the province of Syria in 64 BC.

did islam prolong paganism in england?

Rome's grand plans for England in 597 - mass conversion to Christianity under rule of the Roman Pope - did not eventuate due to something entirely unexpected. The unexpected event was, of course, the birth in 622 of the new Moslem religion in the Middle East.

By 638, the Moslem Arabs had conquered Jerusalem and their impending conquest of Spain (achieved by 715) had so threatened Rome that many Roman priests fled to Ireland - an incredibly poor and backward country that had been thoroughly Christianized by St. Patrick 200 years before - and as a result of this Ireland, not England, became the cradle of western civilization and the safe haven for Roman Christianity.

Having been under Roman rule from 54BC to 407AD, England in 638 was a far more civilized country than Ireland. Also, as a result of invasions between 410-442 by fierce north European tribes - the Jutes, Angles and Saxons - England in 638 also had a far more polyglot ethnic mix than Ireland's Celts. England, of course, had its ancient Britons and Celts, but it now included Jutes, Angles and Saxons - most of whom, in 638, were fiercely Pagan - and after 787 it also included the Danes (who arrived on raids from north Europe and eventually settled in England).

Although Christianity eventually filtered through to England - and the knights of England made history in the Crusades against the Moslem Arabs - Christianity was not only never as strong in England as it was in Ireland but it was also never as Roman influenced as it was in Ireland. This is also true of the north European countries from whence a large part of both English ethnicity and the Protestant movement - which took hold in the 1500s, leading to the establishment of the Anglican Church in 1563 - is derived.

England did not reject Christianity, but it most certainly came to reject Roman rule of the new religion, especially the Pope's refusal to allow the English language to supplant Latin in services and literature.

The particular ethnicity of England - and its civilized state by 638 - may have mitigated against Roman Catholicism ever taking 100% control of England as it did in Ireland, but the threat to Rome of the Moslem Arabs that turned its attention away from England towards Ireland most definitely prolonged paganism in England and changed the course of English history.