Living with the spirits

A sacred grove or sacred woods are any grove of trees of special religious importance to a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world.
They were important features of the mythological landscape and cult practice of Celtic, Baltic, Germanic, ancient Greek, Near Eastern, Roman, and Slavic polytheism, and were also used in India, Japan, and West Africa. Examples of sacred groves include the Greco-Roman temenos, the Norse hörgr, and the Celtic nemeton, which was largely but not exclusively associated with Druidic practice. During the Northern Crusades, there was a common practice of building churches on the sites of sacred groves. The Lakota and various other North American tribes consider particular forests or other natural landmarks to be sacred.
Ancient holy trees still exist in the English countryside and are mentioned often in folklore and fairytales.
Yoruba people believe that the tree is inhabited by a spirit, and anybody who sees the Iroko-man face to face becomes insane and speedily dies. According to the Yoruba, any man who cuts down any Iroko tree causes devastating misfortune on himself and all of his family, although if they need to cut down the tree they can make a prayer afterwards to protect themselves. They also claim that the spirit of the Iroko can be heard in houses which use Iroko wood, as the spirit of the Iroko is trapped in the wood. In Nigeria the iroko wood is of much lower quality due to soil conditions as well as root-rot. Some Westerners refer to the wood as "poor man's teak".
The concept of sacred groves is present in Nigerian mythology as well. The Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, containing dense forests, is located just outside the city of Osogbo, and is regarded as one of the last virgin high forests in Nigeria. It is dedicated to the fertility goddess in Yoruba mythology, and is dotted with shrines and sculptures. Oloye Suzanne Wenger, an Austrian artist, helped revive the grove. The grove was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005
Culturally, forests provide the venue for many cultural events. In many parts of West Africa, forest areas and specific trees are protected and valued for particular cultural occasions and as historic symbols. Each community has its own traditions associated with sacred areas and, as a result, the species that are found in them vary greatly.
Sacred groves are the site of ritual and secret society initiations, a locale where social and political values, morals, secrets, and laws are passed on to the younger generation. Sacred groves house the most important religious and ritual relics. They are often the site of ancestral burials or places where people can communicate with their ancestors. Sanago (1983) describes sacred groves in Côte d’Ivoire, noting that they are places where moral values are taught and passed on from one generation to the next. The trees within these groves are viewed as sacred trees, housing spirits, and providing links to ancestors. In some areas, sacred groves are the only forested areas that remain (Koagne 1986). Although many cultural traditions are disappearing with the rapidly changing social and physical environments, sacred groves often remain as valued elements of cultural heritage. The groves are also often the site for ritual healings and the location where villagers find particular plant medicines. (The species that are often associated with sacred groves throughout the region are listed in Appendix 14.)
In a village in Northern Ghana, Ntiamoa-Baidu (1987) describes a sacred region protected by traditional beliefs: the villagers’ ancestors were saved from enemies when they hid in this sacred area. Now the spirits of these ancestors and gods live there. The area is never farmed and is burnt once a year to protect it from accidental fires.
Binet (1974) describes the symbolic and mystical use of forest areas valued by the Fang of Southern Cameroon. The ‘temple’ (the site of initiation ceremonies and rites) is always situated at the foot of a large forest tree where medicinal plants are often cultivated. This tree symbolises the forest which houses the body of god and was once the source of people’s food. During initiation ceremonies, the root bark of the species Tabernantha iboga (a hallucinogen) is consumed by ail initiates, so that they can see god. In this culture, the tree and forest medicines are believed to be vehicles through which people communicate with god.
In the Casamance region of Senegal, a traditional healer founded a healing village for mental patients at the foot of a large cottonwood tree (Ceiba pentandra). The village location was chosen because the tree and surrounding forest symbolised healing and protection, a peaceful place that linked people with their god and ancestors. Village dwellings are now built around the tree (Trincaz, J. 1980). And every day, at the foot of this large tree, patients discuss their problems, undergoing the equivalent of group psychotherapy. The study concludes that this ‘healing’ village demonstrates the fundamental mystical, religious, and social importance of trees in their culture.
Medically, Forests provide a range of products for traditional ceremonies from food and beverages to costumes and musical instruments. While some of these products are perhaps less often used on a day-to-day basis, they still form essential elements of a variety of cultural traditions. In a study of the uses of fallow tree species in Ho, Ghana, Asamoah (1985) found that half the identified species were valued in customary rites.
Forest products are used for healing throughout the region. The medicines and medicinal practices that were discussed in the first section, depend to a large extent on the mystical values associated with different forest species. Thus it is not possible to differentiate between the psychological and medical effects of a plant when investigating its effectiveness.
Forests also provide the raw materials for many of the objects that are used in traditional ceremonies. Most musical instruments are made from forest products. For example, the Oubi (in Côte d’Ivoire) use Cordia platythyrsa for making tam-tams. The Boualé (also from Côte d’Ivoire) make a musical slide-rattle with the fruit of Oncoba spinosa and Glyphaea brevis and the seed of Entada pursaetha (Téhé 1980). Similarly, the seed shells of Chrysophyllum albidum and Mammeaafricana are worn by dancers as rattles and the wooden strips of Ricinodendron heudelottii are used to make xylophones in Igboland, Nigeria (Okigbo 1980).

Content extract: Wikipedia

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