17.2 The People-Creating Tree or Tree of Life
291
societies preserve a stationary population with population growth rates adequate to
replace rather than to expand their numbers. A significant demographic increase
in the world population followed the horticultural revolution 10,000–20,000 years
ago. The evolution of tree worship often with associated animal and human sacrifice
seems to have followed from a recognized need for fertility amongst horticultural
societies, made more urgent by reliance on specific crops whose failure could lead
to famine.
It is clear that the central element in the Spice Island myth of the Cosmogonic
Tree, which underlay tree worship, was perception of the Tree of Life as a creative power, able to act as a bridge between Earth and the heavens and to bring
fertility to the earth. In tree worship this fertility was brought through the medium
of a sacred tree, representing the Cosmogonic Tree itself. That this form of the
myth, which underlies tree worship, was that carried by the Lapita peoples to Island
Melanesia and Western Polynesia and to New Zealand is attested by the distribution
of the Benjamin fig to Lapita sites. Tree worship, associated with the definition of a
sacred place around a sacred banyan (fig) tree and beneath its shade, is evident in the
Marquesas also. The discovery of ceramic sherds in the Marquesas, some sourced
from their clay to Fiji [9], suggests a possible early direct diffusion of tree worship
to the Marquesas from Western Polynesia.
In the European story of Jack and the Beanstalk (a version of the Cosmogonic
Vine), Jack is able to use the magic vine to climb into another world where, like
the hero in many a folktale, he kills a giant. The Biblical “Jacob’s Ladder” likewise
links Earth and Heaven. But in the version of the myth of the Cosmogonic Tree that
we find in the Chatham Islands, we have the preservation not just of the idea of the
Cosmogonic Tree as a link between mortal and immortal worlds but as the Tree of
Life, as the Primal Power of Creation.
In most places where tree worship was practised, and human and animal sacrifices carried out, there was a sacred tree which was seen as a living representative
of the Cosmogonic Tree and worshipped as that tree. It was believed to be able to
ensure the flow of Life from the Tree to the tribe, to its crops and land. Often the
tree was believed to be derived from a seed or a cutting from the Tree of Life itself.
Roslyn Poignant gives a clear example of this from Micronesia [10]:
It is said that Nareua picked flowers from the ancestral tree and flung them to the north
of Samoa. Where they floated the Gilbertese islands of Tarawa, Beu and Tabuteuea came
into being. This charming allusion to the migration of people from Samoa to the Gilbert
Islands was supported by the belief that two great trees, which stood on the island of Beru,
had grown from pieces of the Ancestral Tree. They were referred to as the male and female
ancestors of the main tribe, Karongoa, and were treated with due deference until they were
cut down by missionaries in 1892.
The Tree of Life as a totem was seen as a means of drawing life force from the
potent magical worlds with which it was in contact to ensure fertility for crops,
animals and people on the Earth. Symbolically the Tree of Life was an embodiment
of fertility and continuous Creation – a natural symbol in Island Southeast Asia
where tree crops are a major food source. As Oppenheimer has shown, sago trees
and breadfruit, banana and coconut trees are all associated with Creation myths
291
societies preserve a stationary population with population growth rates adequate to
replace rather than to expand their numbers. A significant demographic increase
in the world population followed the horticultural revolution 10,000–20,000 years
ago. The evolution of tree worship often with associated animal and human sacrifice
seems to have followed from a recognized need for fertility amongst horticultural
societies, made more urgent by reliance on specific crops whose failure could lead
to famine.
It is clear that the central element in the Spice Island myth of the Cosmogonic
Tree, which underlay tree worship, was perception of the Tree of Life as a creative power, able to act as a bridge between Earth and the heavens and to bring
fertility to the earth. In tree worship this fertility was brought through the medium
of a sacred tree, representing the Cosmogonic Tree itself. That this form of the
myth, which underlies tree worship, was that carried by the Lapita peoples to Island
Melanesia and Western Polynesia and to New Zealand is attested by the distribution
of the Benjamin fig to Lapita sites. Tree worship, associated with the definition of a
sacred place around a sacred banyan (fig) tree and beneath its shade, is evident in the
Marquesas also. The discovery of ceramic sherds in the Marquesas, some sourced
from their clay to Fiji [9], suggests a possible early direct diffusion of tree worship
to the Marquesas from Western Polynesia.
In the European story of Jack and the Beanstalk (a version of the Cosmogonic
Vine), Jack is able to use the magic vine to climb into another world where, like
the hero in many a folktale, he kills a giant. The Biblical “Jacob’s Ladder” likewise
links Earth and Heaven. But in the version of the myth of the Cosmogonic Tree that
we find in the Chatham Islands, we have the preservation not just of the idea of the
Cosmogonic Tree as a link between mortal and immortal worlds but as the Tree of
Life, as the Primal Power of Creation.
In most places where tree worship was practised, and human and animal sacrifices carried out, there was a sacred tree which was seen as a living representative
of the Cosmogonic Tree and worshipped as that tree. It was believed to be able to
ensure the flow of Life from the Tree to the tribe, to its crops and land. Often the
tree was believed to be derived from a seed or a cutting from the Tree of Life itself.
Roslyn Poignant gives a clear example of this from Micronesia [10]:
It is said that Nareua picked flowers from the ancestral tree and flung them to the north
of Samoa. Where they floated the Gilbertese islands of Tarawa, Beu and Tabuteuea came
into being. This charming allusion to the migration of people from Samoa to the Gilbert
Islands was supported by the belief that two great trees, which stood on the island of Beru,
had grown from pieces of the Ancestral Tree. They were referred to as the male and female
ancestors of the main tribe, Karongoa, and were treated with due deference until they were
cut down by missionaries in 1892.
The Tree of Life as a totem was seen as a means of drawing life force from the
potent magical worlds with which it was in contact to ensure fertility for crops,
animals and people on the Earth. Symbolically the Tree of Life was an embodiment
of fertility and continuous Creation – a natural symbol in Island Southeast Asia
where tree crops are a major food source. As Oppenheimer has shown, sago trees
and breadfruit, banana and coconut trees are all associated with Creation myths