TREE SUPERSTITIONS.
Superstitions about trees are worldwide, and go 'hack to the dawn of history. The English yule-log, for instance, is an echo of the pine tree that was cut down in celebration of the annual burial and resurrection of the Egyptian god, Osiris. But how did these superstitions find their way to the natives of South Central Africa? Recently a silver oak, growing in the garden of a resident of Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia, was struck by lightning. Native gardeners were instructed to uproot it; but only after they had ceremoniously drenched the trunk with water could they be induced to commence digging round it, nor, later, would they use the wood for any purpose. The tree had incurred the wrath of the spirits, and to put it to any mundane purpose would be to invite trouble.
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Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 291, 8 December 1937, Page 11
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137TREE SUPERSTITIONS. Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 291, 8 December 1937, Page 11
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