Gobar Times Magazine (Environment for Kids Monthly) - Centre for Science and Environment

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G R E E N M O N U M E N T S

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Planted

IN MEMORY OF...

Greeks in ancient times believed that the rustling of oak leaves was the voice of God Zeus. Bodh Gaya’s sacred peepal tree is visited by Buddhists of all nationaliities. In Japan a crypromeria is planted when someone dies.The trees are like bank accounts of memories...

It is called the ‘Memory Lane’. Over 3,000 trees dot this street in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, which once had none. Dr. Rakesh Trivedi, a zoology professor, came up with the idea of planting trees in mem-ory of the deceased. He asked families living in the lane to plant trees for their dead relatives. Its like paying off a debt to nature.

Tree Talk

Trees speak in a lan-guage that can’t be heard. Except when leaves fall or rustle. But they talk through their forms and shapes. What do they say?

Aldar	Spells resurrection
Birches	Stands for a new beginning or birth.
Cypress	Memory trees
Oak	Symbolises power, strength, stability
Olive	Peace, grace, success
Willows	Tree of Enchantment, ‘Weeping Willow’ represents a rejected lover. Relieves pain, as it has salicylic acid
Pines	‘Evergreen’ symbol of immortality
Palm	Waved in honour of god
Poplar	Tree of Life
Yew	Known as cemetery tree or Tree of Death.

The idea caught on.Today, a hillock stands outside Indore with 5000 memory trees.

Flowers, fruits, and familiar smells... thats what trees are made of. Down the ages, people of vari-ous cultures and origins have used trees to cherish and nurture the memory of their dead.

Sacred Branches
Ever heard of trees talking to the sky? Lakotas, a native American community, believed that trees were a bridge between the earth and the sky. So they wrapped their deadbodies and kept them on the branches.

This was the path-way... to the next world. The bodies remained there-- as offerings to Mother Nature. Some burial trees still exist on the Great Plains... Ancient Egypt had sycamores planted in burial grounds, because coffins were made of the same wood. Egyptians believed that this way the dead person would return to the womb of the tree..

Grieving with trees
After World War One, a unique planting regime had been launched by the Allies. Seedlings were shipped from one corner of the world to another, to mark graves of dead soldiers, buried in alien lands.These were home-grown trees from the native lands of the dead. A symbol of home...

In memory of the beloved dead...

Time keepers
Did you know that the rings on the bark of a tree record its entire life span? Many trees are hundreds of years old, and a few live even longer.So, often, they store infor-mation that is not available from scientific data.

For instance, in a tree in Alaska, the cambium, or the cells that become wood or bark, grow in a light layer during late spring/early summer, changing to a dark layer in later summer/early fall. So a pair of light and dark rings represents one year. In this way, the age of ree can be guaged by counting the rings.

Because a tree grow faster and better in a healthy environment, the growth pattern can also tell if it has lived through forest fires, drought, insect attack or floods.

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