Let Your Love be a Plane Tree
Entering a new year always awakens emotion-filled hopes. We have the belief that the new one will get rid of the old. This nightingale chirping inside us believes the new one is a very clean page. This is not true. You cannot acquire the new by burying the past or eliminating it. The new can exist by knowing the recent past and making peace with it. The way of gaining new days is not by “forgetting,” they can be gained by accepting and taking a step further. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had thought he erased a 1,000-year past by cutting the clothes representing hope with a pair of scissors, during his Syria trip. Customs, 10 times older than the combined ages of the prime minister and those of his grandchildren, indicate the deep veins of tradition and cultural innocence customs. Our ancestors used to consider forests as holy. Tree culture is so common in Turkish tribes. The Gokturks, Uygurs and Karakoyunlus not only considered forests sacrosanct, they also used to refer to the birch tree as “Mr. Birch-Holy Birch.” They used to perform their religious ceremonies under a birch tree. According to the beliefs of the Sagays and Molabolls, the birch tree came from the sky for Umay Ana (mother) with God’s mercy for Ulku Ata, that is, it was a part taken from God. They used to plant a tree for worship where there was no birch tree. Birch branches with green leaves, were never absent from treatment ceremonies of patients. The Fergana (Hokand) Turks used to consider single trees as holy and believed they were graves of Muslim saints. You can see hundreds of examples all around Anatolia and in our cities. Holy graves were under trees. Making vows was very common by hanging rags on branches. Uzbeks also used to offer sacrifices to single trees. The ancient Turks used to plant a tree for every newborn child and this custom was very common during the whole period of the Ottoman rule. This tree tradition continues today among the Alevites and Tahtacis. I saw women in Buhara who prayed by touching wood columns at the Naksi pilgrimage place. There were colorful rags tied to electricity cables even at the grave of Timur and his family cemetery. While ascending up to the church on the island, you can see a lot of things being hung on brushes. Regardless of being Greek or Turk, human beings make their hopes visible. There is harmony with nature and an umbilical cord with nature under the love of trees. When the modern individual saw that he was losing this harmony, “the greens” movement, environmental activities became political expressions. The Green policies were formed. However, as a result of the capitalists exploiting nature and plundering everywhere with the aim of making profits, breathing in our planet, including the Amazon forests, became difficult, the world became warmer. Humanity is shaken by the tsunami disaster we witnessed recently. Religions did not emerge only to make rules. Rules are a small part of religion. The philosophy that fills religion is to love the world and human beings created by God, not only to love what you find suitable or people like you. Even if they are different, every creature should be loved. Because “we love creatures for the sake of the Creator.” In 1855, a Red Indian Dwam chief said: “When all animals become extinct, we will die as a result of the great loneliness of our spirit, we will also experience the same things animals experience. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth.” In the new year, let our prejudices decay like old trees, let your love grow like a plane tree. Source: Conversations with the Medlar Tree – Hikmet Birand. January 12, 2005 01.18.2005
letter:Hello Ms. Sevindi, again, i liked your comment, especially as it gave me some details unknown to me before. In return, i add two links here to sites you might be interested in and later perhaps might contribute to yourself. From euronatur i copied an article on Troy. Cafe Babel is a meeting point where young Europeans (journalists) discuss issues of European politics. Best wishes Hans-Peter Geissen