Why yew trees in graveyards

What is the mythological significance of the yew tree? During the Bronze and Iron Ages the different cultures developed their particular characteristics, their sets of moral and law codes, esthetics, language, customs, and so on.

As part of the process, the ancient idea of the Tree of Life also changed to a multitude of forms. Often, however, it remained linked with the notion of a female deity or mother goddess. In the pre-hieroglyphic script of ancient Egypt, for example, the term for giving birth is directly derived from the word for tree.

This shows what impact the Tree of Life once had on philosophy. In Egypt, the mother goddess was Hathor, and her tree, the sycomore fig Ficus sycomorus gave food and life in this life, while after death the ancient Egyptian expected to meet the goddess and her tree again to grant him eternal life.

In ancient cosmology, the Tree of Life includes the process of death. And so it is with the yew in the northern temperate zone. Its links with eternal life, death and rebirth are legion in Celtic and Anglo-Saxon and Nordic traditions, as well as those in southeastern Europe and Asia Minor. Local customs and rural traditions regarding the yew can eventually all be traced back to these ancient concepts.

Christian churchyard traditions blended smoothly with these ancient roots, the yew remained a symbol of eternity. The terminology, however, changed from 'rebirth' to 'resurrection'. By the 13th century, when the pre-Christian Nordic traditions the Edda were written down by a Christian monk, the northern European mythological image of the Cosmic Tree — Yggdrasil — had lost a big part of the nurturing, 'female' qualities mentioned above.

Its foremost purpose now was to uphold the heavenly order of creation, and to deliver the runes to Odin and thus to humankind. This links Yggdrasil with the — also ancient and international — traditions of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Unfortunately, some historians in the 19th century took this all too literally and declared Yggdrasil an ash-tree, a 'myth' that still persists. But the ash is not evergreen nor is it a needle-tree, not to mention that there is no evidence whatsoever for a Scandinavian ash worship as opposed to plenty of material regarding sacred uses of the yew.

What is the connection to the Tree of Life? From there it developed as part of the philosophy of most ancient cultures, whether it be the 'high civilizations', such as Egypt, Persia or Greece, or the more nature-based tribes who dwelt further north. Essentially, the Tree of Life is an image of the whole universe, or at least of planet earth, which embodies the notion that all life is related to each other and that all that lives is holy.

Every animal, human or plant is a leaf on this tree. The symbol of Tree of Life is strongly related to the Cosmic Tree which has the stars as its fruits. To serve as an 'earthly representation' of the Tree of Life, different cultures chose different tree species, according to which species grew in the region and — since all tree species have different characteristics and qualities — which tree character resonated best with the spiritual ideals emphasized by any given culture.

In early Sumer, e. For the early Celts in Ireland, the Germanic tribes of Scandinavia and Germany, and some Slavic peoples in south-western Russia it was the yew tree. Often we find that the associations of the sacred tree with the divine forces no matter whether one God or many deities is utilized by kings to justify their claim to the throne.

Hence we find traditions like emperor's staffs or other regalia being made of yew wood, and we find evidence linking the yew with royalty as far afield as Ireland or Japan. Why are yews in churchyards? Firstly, there are, of course, ancient yews outside churchyards as well.

But in woodlands they don't grow so big and impressive as in churchyards because they have less light and space. Also, Britain has lost most of its ancient woodland, and even more so, lost most of the wild yews due to the early medieval longbow production.

Churchyards are protective enclosures. But there is much more to it: Investigating the yew from the viewpoint of comparative religious studies we come across an astonishing degree of parallels in the way this tree was perceived and treated by otherwise the most different cultures and times.

In a nutshell, we can say that the three main themes which occur time and again in yew traditions ar. Ireland, Russia, Japan. In many pre-Christian religions e. For all we can say, the yew was seen as a kind of protector of the soul during this delicate process.

These parts of the tree contain taxine, an alkaloid poison. Possible poisoning served as a solid reason for people to keep their cattle out of graveyards, which helped preserve graveyard grounds. Some people thought the yew sprig would bring eternal life. Yew branches also supposedly helped deter ghosts and apparitions.

Cemetery and Cypress Trees by Vasily Polenov, According to scholar Saba Alebrahim Dehkordi , cypress trees are known for their ability to grow in any type of climate and are considered very resilient.

Cypress tree from an ancient Zoroastrian frieze. Israeli researchers Amots Dafni et al. In their research, Dafni et al. Image via A Grave Interest blog. Similar to the other trees mentioned here, the Eastern red cedar is hardy. The tree develops deep roots, tolerates wind, heat, and salt. It also can withstand occasional flooding and has drought tolerance. Similar to the yew, red cedars can grow to be quite old. Image via Derek Ramsey. The Eastern red cedar is common in many old cemeteries in Georgia and Florida.

The red cedar was and continues to be respected by Indigenous peoples who live in the region. For those of the Christian faith a yew tree is symbolic of Christian Resurrection as it has the ability to regenerate by sending down a shoot from high up which then takes root in a crevice near the base of the old tree, thus giving birth to new life.

Plant-Lore Collecting the folklore and uses of plants. How To Contribute Queries. Next Item ». Churchyard yews Yew Taxus baccata is a characteristic tree of churchyards, where some are estimated to be well over 1, years old. Revised 24 September No attempt has been made to evaluate them; so anyone tempted to use any of them does so entirely at their own risk.

And hence it is, theoretically at least, possible to become poisoned if one is sitting close by the trunk on a hot day. But also I suspect there are also some underlying practical considerations that made the yew more associated with funerals and burials than other evergreens such as holly or ivy. Our ancestors may have been many centuries away from the discovery of bacteria, but they knew well enough there was a hazard of infection from the recently dead.

Now to this day we associate the smell of coniferous trees with cleanliness, to the point it has entered our language - "pine fresh". And I suspect this is why we find yew, cypress and other of the more resinous evergreen plants and trees being part of funeral decorations in many cultures - for their fresh scents were thought to clear the air of noxious vapours and unclean forces.

And certainly it is a tradition that has crossed both the centuries and different cultures. The Oxford Book of English Folklore notes that up until the 19th century, it was a popular custom to lay boughs and wreaths of yew upon a coffin before burial, with several regional variants.

Our forebears were particularly careful in preserving this funeral tree whose branches it was usual for mourners to carry in solemn procession to the grave, and afterwards deposit therein under the bodies of their dear friends. Another interesting variation is found in Ireland, where boughs of yew trees are used in Palm Sunday parades. Now some have theorised that yew branches were chosen for their supposed resemblance to palm leaves, however looking at the two trees it is hard to imagine any that are perhaps more dissimilar!

Therefore I'm rather more inclined to suspect the yew was chosen for its funereal associations - for after all, Palm Sunday is the beginning of a series of events that will lead to the Crucifixion of Jesus. And it is especially fitting considering that the Yew tree also has folkloric connections to rebirth and eternal life as well as death.

As we have remarked before in this investigation, yew trees are extraordinarily long lived, and they possess remarkable powers of regeneration. Indeed yew branches can actually reach down to the ground and burrow under the soil for a fair distance to throw up new stems, creating new trunks, new trees around themselves. And hence while the yew tree had a fearsome reputation thanks to its toxic nature - the 17th botanist Nicholas Culpeper ominous proclaiming "the most active vegetable poison known in the whole world, for in a very small dose it instantly induces death without any previous disorder" - our forebears were equally well aware of its resilience, longevity and its powers of regeneration.

Truly it was a tree of both life and death. There are many local traditions that ascribed huge ages, ages of thousands of years, to ancient yews, and in more modern times, it was assumed that these claims of highly venerable trees was nothing more than local folkloric exaggeration. However the advent of sophisticated scientific methods of measuring the ages of trees has proved many of these trees to be as old as it is claimed.

And this venerable tree is not alone: for example, the yew growing in the churchyard of Fortingall in Perthshire, Scotland is reckoned to be in the region of three thousand years old.

While the yew which stands in the now ruined priory of Ankerwycke in Berkshire, where King John allegedly signed the Magna Carter, is thought to be at 2, years old. And modern tests have established that there are many more ancient yew trees still growing throughout the British Isles.

Such ancient trees almost certainly predate the churches whose graveyards they stand in as most churches in the UK are nowhere near a thousand years old. Therefore it is very possible that some of our oldest churchyards were built at sites that were home to an already ancient yew tree.

So were these old temple sites too? Well, given that we have little evidence that yew trees themselves were objects of worship, that still seems unlikely. However given than in both Northern paganism and Roman culture the yew had associations with death, rebirth and funeral rites, it is perhaps more the case that an ancient yew marked a fitting place for the site of a graveyard rather than a church itself.

And hence old churches were perhaps not built on former temple sites, but on older burial places. And the tradition of planting yews where we lay our loved ones to rest continues to this day, with new modern cemeteries having at least one yew tree somewhere on the grounds.

Well do I know thee by thy trusty yew, Cheerless, unsocial plant! One of the first often proffered reasons is purely practical: in his epic work Observations on the Statutes , the lawyer and antiquary Daines Barrington, has this to say on the planting of yews in churchyards - Trees in a churchyard were often planted to skreen the church from the wind; that, low as churches were built at this time, the thick foliage of the yew answered this purpose better than any other tree.

I have been informed, accordingly, that the yew-trees in the churchyard of Gyffin, near Conway, having been lately felled, the roof of the church hath suffered excessively And indeed, there is a statute by King Edward I that does mention the planting of trees for this very purpose. Furthermore Dr Brushfield goes on to sagely remark that - If even intended to act as a shelter from windstorms, a number would have been planted either on the side of prevailing winds, or a belt of them would have surrounded the edifice.

However in the same essay, Dr Brushfield neatly skewers this theory too, noting that - The remarkable fact that the English yew did not yield the best bows, may be noted here.