170 THE HUMAN SIDE OF TREES 



aspen wood, which explains why that tree has been 

 shivering and trembling in shame ever since. Judas 

 Iscariot is said to have hung himself on an elder 

 tree. 



Lest the reader be tempted to relegate tree wor- 

 ship to a distant and shady past, he should know 

 that spiritual reverence for the trees has a wider 

 footing in the world to-day than would seem pos- 

 sible. If one were standing in certain parts of 

 Arabia at this moment, he would observe that the 

 tribesmen always pray under a heglik tree. Travel- 

 ling on the Guinea coast he could not touch certain 

 sacred trees on peril of his life. In the Congo he 

 would see a holy tree before each village house with 

 jars of wine under it as offerings to the tree spirits. 

 In Bengal, the people regard the sal tree as their 

 national protector and the resort of all family gods. 

 They hold annual festivals in sal groves. In the 

 Dahomey region of Africa, certain sacred trees 

 such as the Hun'-tin are provided with women care- 

 takers who act as their servants. 



Why do we decorate our houses with holly and 

 mistletoe at Christmas time? It has become a fes- 

 tive custom with us, but our barbarous ancestors 

 who originated the habit believed that when they 

 brought holly and mistletoe into a house the spirits 

 which inhabited them and kept them bright and 



