#library book

[nemfrog]

To the reader.

Source

[fortier782t]

Jessica needs from you

[detroitlib]

From our stacks: Illustration "April: Sowing" from The Farmer's Year: A Calendar of English Husbandry. Written and Engraved by Clare Leighton. New York: Longmans, Green and Company, 1933.

[sparklemaia]

first week of comic book school and i accidentally turned in one of my school library books to the united states postal service

immediately pANICKED

receipt:

good news though, a very amused postal worker called me and then delivered my book to the school P.O. box, and I was NOT banned from the school library for eternity as I'd feared

[thatpollguy]

Do you ever borrow books from the library?

Yes - a public library

Yes - a school or other education facility's library

Yes - both of the above

Not any more, but I used to

No, I've never borrowed a library book before

Voting ended onMar 21

[bookishfreedom]

“It’s one thing to be looked at, and another to be seen.”

[balkanradfem]

I got the 'Myths, Legends and True stories about Trees' book from the library, to gain some ancient tree knowledge. The book turned out to be a collection of online articles about trees; cringe but I can appreciate someone translating and cataloguing resources so I can have them all in one spot.

So you must be wondering, what did people use to say about trees, whats the lore, which trees were Special and Legend worthy? And the answer is all of them. People had superstitions and legends about every single tree. They had trees they planted around their home for protection (oak), trees they were not allowed to sleep under lest they got sick because witches live there (walnut), trees they spent time under to get over sickness (linden) and trees that were forbidden to be cut down (elder).

They believed lucky trees had fairies nesting in them and shadowy trees had little demons or witches. Sometimes they believed a tree was so bad they would exterminate it from the villages and make it rare. Some of the beliefs were sexist, like the idea that a murdered girl will turn into a beautiful birch or a willow and bring luck to anyone who takes a branch, excuse me? She better be murdering back, how dare you expect a reward from a murder victim.

Lots of old traditions included planting trees for every big event; for example if a baby was born, if there was a wedding, if someone died. I do find that a lovely memorium. There were also many rules about which trees were protected, where you couldn't nap, what trees you weren't allowed to touch, there's even a tree that could allegedly cause the end of the male family line (mulberry). I assume based on all this that people knew the name and purpose of every single tree in the environmemt, which, I'm very jealous about! I'm struggling to memorize and identify many trees, I wish it was so prominent that I could never not know.

One thing I was shocked and disgruntled about was the short life span of some trees; apparently willows and birches live for less than a 100 years! When I see a big pretty tree I have a comforting thought of 'That's gonna be here forever,' turns out not! That has a human length lifespan. Most have 100-200 years, some oaks and beeches can have 300, and only the true ancient species like cedar and gingko get 2000. Trees are less forever than I dreamed them to be. How important is it then, to always have trees in variety of ages? They're dying!

Cool fact I found out was: where does the saying 'When the axe falls into honey' comes from? I've heard that phrase used for great winnings but couldn't understand; why would you want a sticky axe? Turns out, in times when people were felling trees to gain heat in the winter, the best burning trees were the hollow ones. At the same time, bees liked to deposit honey in hollow trees, but you couldn't tell which tree was hollow or filled with honey. So if your axe hit a hollow, honey-filled tree, not only you got the best fuel for your fire but also a storage of honey for the whole winter. I wonder how the bees felt about this though.

There are still plenty of tree centered events and ceremonies; organizations and institutions put protections on trees that are hundreds of years old, they sometimes get named and have visitors. There's a "tree of the year" picked each year, and special magazines are published for tree lovers. But I never hear about it unless I seek it out, it seems to be a niche interest! They grant us air, regulate our climate, fix high temperatures, bring rain, make the soil fertile and protect it from erosion, sustain animals and mushrooms and all tiny creatures while being excellent for our mental health and necessary for any pleasant environment. We should be writing fanfiction about them.

At the end of the book the author reflects that destroying paganism was the beginning of the massive destruction of the environment we see around the world. I got so excited because I've been saying that! Wretched christianity destroyed the worship of nature, relegated all of it as 'resources for humans to exploit' and opened the door to capitalism. But then the author goes 'This is the result of godless atheism' and this is where I wished the book had a comment section. I had things to say!!

I checked the author's bio and she studied theology and religious studies and I went Ooh. Religion brainrot, of course she's gonna blame the atheists for environmental destruction despite knowing damn well it was religion that destroyed paganism and the worship of trees. The author however, admits that we used to live in the sacred connection with the trees and we broke it at our end. We're finding out what happens as a consequence.

I'm getting more books on recognizing trees and hopefully I get back in the sacred connection zone! Gonna say hi to the fairies and be the witch on the walnut. Tell me if you have a favourite tree! Let's talk about trees more.