Tree Dressing Day

Tree Dressing Day around the world

Kajaani school, Yggdrasil, Snatterthwaite, USA boots

In eastern Finland until late into the last century there were special memorial trees, which protected households and brought good luck. In 1993 a primary school in Kajaani was inspired by Tree Dressing Day to create their own celebration (with the help of the Finnish Forestry Research Institute). An old rowan tree was decked out in blue and white ribbons (the colour of the national flag) and the children wrote poems and read them to the tree as part of a cross curricular event designed to deepen understanding of the importance of trees. 

Trees are culturally important throughout the Scandinavian countries, where according to ancient mythology, the universe was conceived of as the great ash tree, 'Yggdrasil'. The Christmas Tree, the Norway Spruce, is perhaps a modern vesrion of this archetypal 'World Tree'. 

At Satterthwaite in Cumbria, an old oak tree by the village fountain, was reported in 1889 to be dressed every year with coloured rags and also with crockery. This sounds only mildly eccentric when compared with contemporary stories of old boots in a tree in the USA. Clearly locally significant traditions are being maintained, and trees honoured for specific reasons every year by the local community. 

Chir-Ghat, Japan, the Bo Tree, Thailand, Australia