Festive ecology explores the relationships between the symbolism and the ecology of the plants, fungi and animals associated with cultural events such as festivals, processions and special occasions. Examples of topics are given below. Ernst Haeckel coined the term oekologie in 1866. ... u fuck in ua ... Divisions Chytridiomycota Zygomycota Ascomycota Basidiomycota The Fungi (singular: fungus) are a large group of organisms ranked as a kingdom within the Domain Eukaryota. ... The word Animals when used alone has several possible meanings in the English language. ...

Christmas

The plants traditionally associated with Christmas – holly, ivy, mistletoe, common yew - have had special roles in earlier religions and past cultures. Some early religions in Europe had midwinter festivals to celebrate the return of the sun from the shortest day. In the 4th and 5th centuries, 25 December was gradually adopted as the date for Christmas in Europe in order to superimpose on the existing mid-winter festivals. The winter solstice, on what is now 17 December, was the start of the Roman festival of Saturnalia. This was a week of public feasting, dancing, singing and gambling. Houses were decorated with evergreens and bunches of holly were given as tokens of friendship. When this festival was absorbed into the Christian calendar, holly and the other evergreens were absorbed as well. Christmas is a Christian holiday held on December 25 which celebrates the birth of Jesus. ... Species Ilex ambigua- Sand Holly Ilex amelanchier- Swamp Holly Ilex aquifolium- European Holly Ilex bioritsensis Ilex buergeri Ilex canariensis- Small-leaved Holly Ilex cassine- Dahoon Holly Ilex centrochinensis Ilex ciliospinosa Ilex colchica Ilex collina Ilex corallina Ilex coriacea Ilex cornuta- Chinese Holly Ilex crenata- Japanese Holly Ilex cyrtura Ilex decidua... Species See text. ... Families Santalaceae(Viscaceae) Loranthaceae Mistletoe is the common name for various parasitic plants of the families Santalaceae (in the section of the family formerly separated as Viscaceae) and Loranthaceae. ... Species Taxus baccata - European Yew Taxus brevifolia - Pacific Yew Taxus canadensis - Canadian Yew Taxus chinensis - Chinese Yew Taxus cuspidata - Japanese Yew Taxus floridana - Florida Yew Taxus globosa - Mexican Yew Taxus sumatrana - Sumatran Yew Taxus wallichiana - Himalayan Yew Yews are small coniferous trees or shrubs in the genus Taxus in the... World map showing Europe Political map Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of Earth; the term continent here referring to a cultural and political distinction, rather than a physiographic one, thus leading to various perspectives about Europes precise borders. ... Saturnalia was the feast at which the Romans commemorated the dedication of the temple of the god Saturn, which took place on 17 December. ...

Holly is palatable to livestock despite its spines and was extensively used as a winter fodder for livestock in medieval times in England and Wales, particularly in Cumbria, the Pennines and the Welsh borders.^[1] Hay and grains for wintering stock would often have run short in these upland areas. This would mean that the livestock would eventually have to be slaughtered, causing real problems to medieval economies in the following years. Thus, a supply of fresh browse would have been extremely valuable. Written records of payments and agreements involving the use of holly for livestock cover a wide period from the late 12th century to the mid-18th century, by which time the practice had been largely abandoned.^[1] An early reference to the practice occurs in “The Dream of Rhonabwy”, a Welsh story from the Mabinogion, a remarkable collection of medieval literature.^[2] Written before the 14th century, The Dream of Rhonabwy refers to the mid-12th century in Powys. The floor of the old black house of Heilyn Goch is described as being covered in the urine and dung of cows together with branches of holly whose tips had been eaten by the cattle. Cumbria is a county in the North West region of England. ... Typical Pennine scenery. ... The Mabinogion is a collection of prose stories from medieval Welsh manuscripts. ... Powys is a local government principal area and a preserved county in Wales. ...

Ivy was used in garlands by the ancient Greeks and the Romans for religious ceremonies and for celebrating at other, more secular, occasions. It was strongly associated with Bacchus (Dionysus), the Greco-Roman god of wine. Since Roman times, ivy has been associated with wine and wine-making. Branches of evergreen ivy tied to a pole was often used as the “sign of the bush” indicating a place where wine or alcohol was for sale. Hence, the proverb “Good wine needs no bush” meaning that it is not necessary to advertise well-made goods. Ivy is less commonly seen in houses in Britain at Christmas compared to holly and mistletoe and it may be that established religions opposed its use in Christmas wreaths because of its association with drunkenness. Roman or Romans has several meanings, primarily related to the Roman citizens, but also applicable to typography, math, and a commune. ... Bacchus is the name of: the Roman god Bacchus, known to the Greeks as Dionysus the Christian martyr Saint Bacchus, companion to Saint Sergius; see: Saint Sergius the asteroid 2063 Bacchus the Bacchus grape variety, grown predominantly in Germany the Bacchus (painting) by Leonardo da Vinci the comic book Bacchus... Dionysus with a panther and satyr, in the Palazzo Altemps (Rome, Italy) Dionysus or Dionysos (Ancient Greek: Διώνυσος or Διόνυσος; also known as Bacchus in both Greek and Roman mythology and associated with the Italic Liber), the Thracian god of wine, represents not only the intoxicating power of wine, but also its... Wine is an alcoholic beverage produced by the fermentation of fruit, typically grapes though a number of other fruits are also quite popular - such as plum, elderberry and blackcurrant. ...

Mistletoe is an evergreen plant well-known for its association with oak trees and Druids first documented by Pliny the Elder who wrote about the ceremonies of the Celtic Druids in Gaul in his Naturalis Historia.^[3] These Druids held the oak in particular veneration, used oak leaves in their ceremonies, and regarded anything growing on oak trees as having been sent from heaven. On the rare occasions when mistletoe was found growing on an oak, it would be gathered with great ceremony. A priest in white clothing would cut the mistletoe with a golden sickle and allow it to fall onto a white cloak; two white bulls would then be sacrificed. According to Pliny, it was believed that mistletoe in a drink would make any barren animal fertile and that it was a remedy for all poisons. Special powers are attributed to mistletoe by a wide range of cultures, both within Europe and further afield.^[4] The use of mistletoe as an all-heal and a cure for barrenness is reputed to have a very ancient history.^[5] The link between mistletoe and fertility persists to this day in Britain in the tradition of kissing underneath bunches of mistletoe at Christmas. In the early 19th century, it was traditional for each man who kissed under the mistletoe to remove one berry. Once all the berries are gone, so has the potency. Species See List of Quercus species The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of several hundred species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus, and some related genera, notably Cyclobalanopsis and Lithocarpus. ... Druidry or Druidism was the religion of the ancient druids, the priestly class in ancient Celtic and Gallic societies through much of Western Europe north of the Alps and in the British Isles. ... Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19c portrait. ... A Celtic cross. ... Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (Latin Gallia, Greek Galatia) was the region of Western Europe occupied by present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... The National Museum of Natural History, or Naturalis, originated from the merger of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie (abbreviated RMNH) and the Rijksmuseum van Geologie en Mineralogie (abbreviated RGM) in 1984. ...

Yew trees continually put out new stems which coalesce with the existing trunk resulting in trees of great age. The merging of old and decaying wood with vibrant young shoots has led to the yew being traditionally associated with reincarnation and immortality.^[6]

Dressing the Arbor Tree, Aston-on-Clun, Shropshire, England

The custom of dressing the Arbor tree – a black poplar growing in Aston-on-Clun in south Shropshire - with flags on flagpoles every 29th May is unique in Britain.^[7] New flags are attached to wooden flagpoles on the Arbor tree which remain throughout the year. Accounts of other traditional customs on 29 May are usually linked to Royal Oak Day (Oak Apple Day) and include the surviving customs of Grovely Rights at Great Wishford (Wiltshire) and Garland King Day at Castleton (Derbyshire). Black poplar (Populus nigra) is a species of poplar in the cottonwood section of the genus (Populus sect. ... Aston on Clun is a village in Shropshire, England. ... Oak Apple Day is celebrated in the United Kingdom on 29th May. ... This article is about the English village. ...

The Arbor tree is a male black poplar tree growing beside a stream at a place where four roads meet. Written records of the Arbor tree only extend back to 1898, but the tradition of dressing the tree is reputed to date back to a local wedding in 1786. The custom has developed and acquired new meanings, particularly since the 1955 when a pageant was devised. The pageant and the celebrations associated with the tree dressing are evolving in response to those living in the local community as well as to the external recognition now accorded to this unique tradition.

The present black poplar grew from a rooted cutting taken from the old tree which was said to be at least 300 years old when it collapsed in 1995 and had been repeatedly pollarded. Black poplar is an extremely unusual tree to be associated with notable events or traditions, which are more likely to involve pedunculate oak, sessile oak, common yew or hawthorn (Crataegus). Binomial name Quercus robur L. The Pedunculate Oak or English Oak (Quercus robur) is native to most of Europe, and to Asia Minor to the Caucasus, and also to parts of North Africa. ... Binomial name Quercus petraea (Mattuschka) Liebl. ... Species Taxus baccata - European Yew Taxus brevifolia - Pacific Yew Taxus canadensis - Canadian Yew Taxus chinensis - Chinese Yew Taxus cuspidata - Japanese Yew Taxus floridana - Florida Yew Taxus globosa - Mexican Yew Taxus sumatrana - Sumatran Yew Taxus wallichiana - Himalayan Yew Yews are small coniferous trees or shrubs in the genus Taxus in the... Species See text. ...

The black poplar (Populus nigra var. betulifolia) is an uncommon native tree in Britain. Black poplars are associated with alluvial soils in river valleys and floodplains generally south of a line from the River Mersey to the estuary of the Humber with particular concentrations across the Midlands from the Welsh Marches to East Anglia and notably in the Vale of Aylesbury (Aylesbury Vale).^[8] A male clone (cloning) was much planted in the suburbs of Manchester in the late 18th century as it grew well in the polluted atmosphere and it became known as the ‘Manchester poplar’. Growing to a height of some 30 metres, the bark of the black poplar is distinctively ridged and furrowed and has characteristic large burrs or bosses. When mature, the tree forms a huge dome of massive spreading branches which arch outwards. This spreading habit is dramatically different from the elongated shape of the Lombardy poplar (Populus nigra ‘Italica’) which, surprisingly, is a cultivated variety of the black poplar that was imported to Essex from Turin in 1758 and widely planted because of its unusual shape. The black poplar is also a different species from the more widespread black Italian poplar (Populus x euramericana or Populus x canadensis) which is a hybrid between the black poplar and the North American eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides). Black poplar (Populus nigra) is a species of poplar in the cottonwood section of the genus (Populus sect. ... Ferry across the Mersey, June 2005 The River Mersey is a river in north-western England. ... Humber is also the name of one of the ranges of cars manufactured by the Rootes Group Humber is also the name of a river in Newfoundland, Canada, as well as a river and a college, both in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ... In general, the midlands of a territory are its central regions. ... In European history, marches are border regions between centres of power. ... Norfolk and Suffolk, the core area of East Anglia. ... The Aylesbury Vale (or Vale of Aylesbury) is a large area of flat land largely to be found in Buckinghamshire, England. ... Cloning is the process of creating an identical copy of an original. ... Manchester is a city in England, considered by many to be the countrys second city [1][2]. It is a centre of the arts, the media, higher education and big business. ... Essex is a county in the East of England. ... Turin (Italian: ; Piedmontese: Turin) is a major industrial city in north-western Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the west bank of the Po River. ... Species Populus deltoides L. Populus fremontii [[]] Populus nigra L. The cottonwoods are three species of poplars in the section Aegiros of the genus Populus, native to North America, Europe and western Asia. ...

Poplars are unusual in that there are separate male and female trees. Male black poplars are far more numerous than female trees in Britain and seedlings are, therefore, very rare.^[9] Regrowth occurs from the branches or trunk of fallen trees which root into the underlying soil. Growing in river valleys and floodplains, the trees can be uprooted by floods and grow again in a new location.

References

1. ^ ^a b Spray, M (1981). Holly as a fodder in England. Agricultural History Review 29, 97-110.
2. ^ Jones, Gwyn & Jones, Thomas (1949). The Mabinogion. Revised edition 1989. JM Dent & Sons, London.
3. ^ Rackham, H (1952). Pliny: Natural History, Book XVI, para xcv. Heinemann, London.
4. ^ Frazer, J G (1922). The Golden Bough. Macmillan, London.
5. ^ Graves, R (1955). The Greek Myths. Penguin, Harmondsworth.
6. ^ Cornish, V (1946). The Churchyard Yew and Immortality. Frederick Muller, London.
7. ^ Box, John (2003). Dressing the Arbor tree. Folklore 114, 13-28.
8. ^ Mabey, Richard (1996). Flora Britannica. Sinclair-Stevenson, London.
9. ^ Milne-Redhead, Edgar (1990). The BSBI black poplar survey, 1973-88. Watsonia 18, 1-5.

Further reading

Box, John (1995). The festive ecology of holly, ivy and mistletoe. British Wildlife 7, 69-74.