Tree Plantings Importance in Other Countries

After hearing you talk about Chief Jake Swamp and the tree planting ceremony, I wanted to learn more about why planting a tree was such a big occasion for different cultures.  The most interesting use for trees that I found was the people from the forests of India.  In their culture, trees have a special place in economic, cultural, healthcare, and especially in ceremonies. A number of tribes are known to exist in forests and forests are their sole livelihood as well.

 Both in rural and urban India, trees are worshiped in different forms. Many traditional ceremonies such as marriage, birth, death, and festivals are celebrated by either tree planting or by worshiping a tree. To give few examples, neem and pupil trees are planted during various occasions in every village, even people conduct marriages for these plants, which is known to bestow good times  to the village and families who live there. Marriages are performed under ‘the Ashwathakatta’ and pupil tree married together. The same exists in different forms in different parts of India. Tree planting on burial ground is another age old tradition, one that has many beneficial aspects for the environment.  These trees are planted with purpose and with the intent of saving and preserving them.

One of the first ways trees are used is in weddings.  In this tree ceremony, newly wedded couples plant native tree plants to mark their married life. These ceremonies are the important occasions, because over thousands of people from hundreds of villages have participated. In this culture people have chosen this type of tree planting ceremony as their way to register the marriage.

Tree planting ceremonies at funerals are also popular. Local people believe that after a person death, his body parts will decompose slowly and absorbed by tree roots. Then they worship the tree as a person by performing ritual pooja. They also believe that trees are the vehicle or messenger from earth to heaven and vice-versa. Different families select different tree species to plant for their loved ones.  Ceremonies like these bring people closer to nature and help the environment simultaneously.  I believe it would make significant improvements in our environment if we adapted some of these ceremonies in our society more regularly.