The Olive Tree

 

 

While on holiday in the Peloponnese we came upon a wonderful expanse of old olive trees.It was impossible to pass by without taking some photographs.The tree pictured above is a monument to time.Was it planted to commemorate some great event in the family, a wedding or a birth or some other important achievement?

     Did this tree suffer barren years and winters when snow feel heavily upon its branches.

     Did its enduring presence calm and restore a troubled soul?

    The wood of the olive is strong and can be carved or turned into beautifully crafted bowls, urns and vases. A well kept olive grove implies good husbandry and ownership. It can be inherited, sold or exchanged.

    The olive tree is long lived and a wild olive branch has long been associated with heroism. It was the prize given to runners who completed the course in ancient Olympia. An olive wreath confers honour on the recipient.



          Thannis Paraskevaidis says that:

          Trees can tell a friend from an enemy. Olive trees are not without feelings. Their living fibres

          nourished with the sweat of the labourer on the land, feel his joy and his sorrow. Olive trees     

          are the people who have brought them up. In their flesh you will find human toil. Their root

          smell of human sweat. Man pruned them. He trimmed them.

          Trees are not indifferent to the sufferings of mankind.

          Every misfortune of mankind means a wrinkle on the trunk of the trees.