Attending Majesty

I went to visit the tree again because this tree is near the bird feeding station at the Reserve and I am on feeding duty for a while. Also, Saskia was thinking about a video from the perspective of a fox approaching a tree and a tree watching a fox. I said, I'll do it! But it turned out that a) I was not great at being a fox and b) there was no fox for the tree to look at. Still, I had a go.

The tree really is special. I like climbing up onto one long, broad branch that has convenient supports.

I sat there for a long time.

And I had a message from the tree as well.

After my visit, I read this - about oaks and lightning - so I copy it here:

Muslims, though not long converted, the Circassians told stories about a mythical race of heroes called the Narts, who were warriors, hunters and sorcerers. These sagas were suffused with the Circassians’ love for their native forest; one spoke of a tree in the giant semi-human form of a princess who spread her foliage into the heavens and gave the Narts the Milky Way to light their path during raids. Groves or specific trees – often individual oaks – were considered sacred: a passer-by carrying firewood would leave a few pieces at the base of the trunk as an offering.

The Circassians also worshipped a god of thunder named Shible. They treated death by lightning as fortuitous, the victim’s coffin buried on the spot or hoisted into branches overhead. Leonty Lyulye, a Russian ethnographer, witnessed locals dancing and singing around a high dais on which they placed three goats killed by lightning. Celebrants dragged more goats to the spot for sacrifice, raising their heads on stakes. - High Caucasus: A Mountain Quest in Russia’s Haunted Hinterland by Tom Parfitt