TREES, SACRED. There is abundant evidence, says Robertson Smith (R.S., p. 185), that trees were adored as divine in all parts of the Semitic area. The sacred date-palm was worshipped by the Arabs. " It was adored at an annual feast, when it was all hung with fine clothes and women's ornaments." At Mecca there was a tree which is described as a " tree to hang things on." The goddess APOzza was believed to reside In a sacred acacia. The Syrians, the Phoenicians, and the Canaanites all seem to have worshipped trees. Without its sacred tree no Canaanite high place was complete. Tree worship was common in Phrygia and Greece. The ancient cypresses of Heracles at Daphne were believed to have been planted by the god himself. In Babylonian Assyrian art a " favorite scene was the representation of the semi-divine beings in front of the sacred tree, appearing again in many variations " (Jastrow, Cliv., P. 421). In the Old Testament we are told that Abraham planted a sacred tree in Beersheba. " It was under an oak at Shechem that Jacob hid his treasures; it was under an oak that Gideon met the angel of the Lord and there built an altar, and, long before, the nurse of Rebecca was buried at Bethel under an oak " (S. G.
Smith, Rel. in the Making, p. 118). The ancient Germans seem to have believed that they were the offspring of their sacred trees. " In the sacred forests, every tree had its genius, which took the form of an owl, a vulture or a wild cat. The guardian spirit of a family inhabited a tree near the dwelling; the gods of the Edda had their own sacred tutelary tree, Yggdrasil. He who cuts down a tree destroys a genius " (Reinach, 0., p. 135). The oak seems to have been the sacred tree of the chief god of the Baltic Slays. The walnut was also sacred among them. Like the ancient Germans, they had their sacred woods. Sacred trees are found also in Japan. " In most American stories where we hear of the fifst of men emerging from the underworld, it is 4)y climbing a tree. This tree also supports the sky, and is so represented in the native books of the Mayas and Nahuas. The Ynru cares of Bolivia relate that their god Tiri, when he would people the earth with men, cleft a tree, and from the opening came forth the various tribes of the world " (Brinton, p. 151).