Sacred trees and sacred groves

For Germanic and Celtic people, each tree had its own energy and was recognised as a symbol of a particular entity. The ash tree, for example, was dedicated to Wodan or Odin, the oak to the thunder god Donar or Thor. When Boniface wanted to proselytise the Chatti in 723 AD and demonstrate the power of the new god, he felled the Dona oak near Fritzlar in northern Hesse, which was one of the most important sanctuaries of the Chatti.

Since the gods did not intervene in the sacrilege, their powerlessness in the face of the new religion was revealed. Boniface had a prayer house built from the wood, which was dedicated to Saint Peter. Fritzlar Cathedral is said to have its origins here. The sacred trees also include yew trees, which had a special place with the Celts and even today there are many yew trees in the Irish-British area that have become national monuments because of their size and age.

Yew trees bear witness to the ambivalence of life: on the one hand, the tree is associated with death, for it is deadly poisonous in all parts except for the red fruit husk; on the other hand, the yew is a survivor that has existed on earth for hundreds of thousands of years.

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