Banyan Trees, Mooncakes, and the Magic of Mythology
The Fox’s Den: A Wild Walk with Poets, Artists and Other Curious Souls
Hello seekers of merriment, poetry, and art!
How many of you are familiar with Banyan trees?
A banyan, also spelled banian (/ˈbænjən/ BAN-yən),[1] is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adjacent prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely.[2] This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as an epiphyte,[3] i.e. a plant that grows on another plant, when its seed germinates in a crack or crevice of a host tree or edifice. "Banyan" often specifically denotes Ficus benghalensis (the "Indian banyan"), which is the national tree of India,[4] though the name has also been generalized to denominate all figs that share a common life cycle and used systematically in taxonomy to denominate the subgenus Urostigma.[5]
Photo credit: Creative Commons
In the Bhagavat Gita, Krishna said, "There is a banyan tree which has its roots upward and its branches down, and the Vedic hymns are its leaves. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas." (Bg 15.1)
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
In Vietnamese mythology of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the dark markings on the Moon are a banyan, a magical tree originally planted by a man named Cuội on Earth. When his wife watered it with unclean water, the tree uprooted itself with the man hanging on it and flew to the Moon, where he eternally accompanied the Moon Lady and the Jade Rabbit.[23][24]
Photo credit: Wikipedia
Stories are magic. The words we string together to build bonds with others continue to intrigue and amaze me. The myths and mysteries of the Banyan tree are filled with rich folklore and cultural significance.
Consider the Vietnamese story here:
VIETNAM | Chú Cuội or The Man in the Moon
And this bounty here:
Vietnam's magical Mid-autumn Festival | Vietnam Tourism
“While the Mid-autumn Festival originated in China and is celebrated in many Asian countries, the Vietnamese version has its own traditions and legends. Our best-known tale is about a man named Cuội who hung on to a magical banyan tree as it floated up to the moon. We say that if you look closely at the full moon, you can see the shadow of a man sitting under a tree. Children parade lanterns in the streets the night of Mid-autumn Festival to help light the way to earth for Cuội from the moon.
The celebration of the harvest is an important part of Tết Trung Thu, as many Vietnamese live in rural areas and work as farmers. Tết Trung Thu marks a joyous occasion when the work is finished and there’s time to spend with loved ones.”
And this feast of facts and food:
“All across Vietnam, families welcome Tết Trung Thu by placing a five-fruit tray and cakes on our ancestral altar. We offer the food to our ancestors and worship, before feasting on mooncakes -- usually outside under the light of the moon. Round or square, these cakes are moulded with elaborate details of flowers, carp and geometric patterns.
The two most common types are bánh dẻo (soft, sticky cakes with a mochi-texture) and bánh nướng (baked cakes with a thick wheat crust). Mooncakes in Vietnam come in a seemingly infinite variety of flavours, both sweet and savoury. Feel free to buy a box of mooncakes to enjoy yourself, or to share with your Vietnamese friends and hosts.”
Any fellow bakers out there?
Mooncakes!!
https://tastytouch.net/vn-moon-cake-mon-cake/
And back to the Banyan folklore:
from Hawaii:
“The Iolani Palace banyans in Honolulu, Hawaii. In the 1880s Queen Kapiolani planted two banyan trees within the Iolani Palace grounds. These trees have since grown into large groupings of trees on the old historic palace grounds”.[28]
Some Botany for your day:
Older banyan trees are characterized by aerial prop roots that mature into thick, woody trunks, which can become indistinguishable from the primary trunk with age. These aerial roots can become very numerous. The Great Banyan of Kolkata, which has been tracked carefully for many years, currently has 2,880 supplementary trunks.[10] Such prop roots can be sixty feet (eighteen meters) in height.[11][12]
Banyans are epiphyte in nature. What does that mean?
“An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phorophytes. Epiphytes take part in nutrient cycles and add to both the diversity and biomass of the ecosystem in which they occur, like any other organism. They are an important source of food for many species. Typically, the older parts of a plant will have more epiphytes growing on them. Epiphytes differ from parasites in that they grow on other plants for physical support and do not necessarily affect the host negatively. An organism that grows on another organism that is not a plant may be called an epibiont.[1] Epiphytes are usually found in the temperate zone (e.g., many mosses, liverworts, lichens, and algae) or in the tropics (e.g., many ferns, cacti, orchids, and bromeliads).[2] Epiphyte species make good houseplants due to their minimal water and soil requirements.[3] Epiphytes provide a rich and diverse habitat for other organisms including animals, fungi, bacteria, and myxomycetes.[4]”
Buddhist Folklore
In Buddhism's Pali canon, the banyan (Pali: nigrodha)[19] is referenced numerous times.[20] Typical metaphors allude to the banyan's epiphytic nature, likening the banyan's supplanting of a host tree as comparable to the way sensual desire (kāma) overcomes humans.[21]
And last but not least:
I’ve been reading from Mary Oliver’s book entitled, DREAMWORK. I usually turn to Oliver’s DEVOTIONS but was intrigued at the former title I checked out at the local library.
Consider this poem by Mary Oliver:
BANYAN
Something screamed
from the fringes of the swamp. It was Banyan,
the old merchant. It was the hundred-legged
tree, walking again.
The cattle egret moved out into the sunlight,
like so many pieces of white ribbon. The watersnakes slipped down the banks
like green hooks and floated away.
Banyan groaned.
A knee down in the east corner buckled, a gray shin rose and the root,
wet and hairy,
sank back in, a little closer.
Then a voice like a howling wind deep in the leaves said: I'll tell you a story
about a seed. About a seed flying into a tree, and eating it
little by little.
About a small tree that becomes a huge tree,
and wants to travel.
Listen, said the voice.
This is your dream.
I'm only stopping here for a little while.
Don't be afraid.
By Mary Oliver
Thank you for reading! Hope you found some magic for your day.
See you on Sunday!
(I’m taking a class and working my day gig so the Tuesday and Thursday schedule is in flux. I will be here every week though with poetry and MORE! )
REFERENCES
1. "banian". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
2. Armstrong, Wayne (October 1999). "Stranglers & Banyans". Wayne's Word. Archived from the original on 4 October 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
3. Laman, Timothy G. (1995). "The Ecology of Strangler Fig Seedling Establishment". Selbyana. 16 (2): 223–9. JSTOR 41759910.
4. "National Tree". Know India. Government of India. Archived from the original on 13 February 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
5. Note the use of "Banyan" versus "banyan" in Athreya, Vidya R. (July 1997). "Nature Watch: Trees with a Difference: The Strangler Figs". Resonance. 2 (7): 67–74. doi:10.1007/BF02838593. S2CID 125012527.; also "Aerial-Rooting Banyan Trees". Natural History Guide To American Samoa. University of Washington. Archived from the original on 4 September 2007.
6. Zhou Zhekun; Gilbert, Michael G. (2003). "Moraceae" (PDF). In Zhengyi Wu; Raven, Peter H.; Deyuan Hong (eds.). Flora of China. Vol. 5. pp. 21–73. ISBN 978-1-930723-27-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 September 2006.
7. Serventy, Vincent (1984). Australian Native Plants. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Reed. ISBN 978-0-7301-0020-1.
8. "Light in the Rainforest" (PDF). Tropical Topics. Vol. 1, no. 5. Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage. 1992. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 May 2009.
9. "The Banyan Tree". The Lovely Plants. 14 September 2010.
10. Allen, Richard; Baker, Kimbal (2009). Australia's Remarkable Trees. Melbourne: Miegunyah Press. p. 100.
11. Florist and Pomologist, (February 1867) page 37
12. The Garden (London),Volume 3 (February 8, 1873) page 115
13. Prasad, R. (17 December 2022). "Genes responsible for long lifespan of banyan, peepal trees identified". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
14. Yule, Henry; Burnell, Arthur Coke (1903). Crooke, William (ed.). Hobson-Jobson: A glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological, historical, geographical and discursive (New ed.). London: J. Murray. p. 65.
15. "Ficus microcarpa L.f. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
16. "Small Is the Old Big". Taipei Times. 22 September 2005.
17. Kerkar, Rajendra P (7 June 2009). "Vat-Pournima: Worship of the banyan tree". The Times of India. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
18. "Mumbai: Women celebrate Vat Purnima at Jogeshwari station". Mid Day. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
19. Pali Text Society, London (1921–1925). Rhys Davids, T. W.; Stede, William (eds.). The Pali Text Society's Pali-English dictionary. Chipstead. p. 355, entry "Nigrodha,". Retrieved 22 November 2008.
20. See, for instance, the automated search of the SLTP ed. of the Pali Canon for the root "nigrodh" which results in 243 matches "Search term 'Nigrodh' found in 243 pages in all documents". Bodhgayanews.net. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 22 November 2008.
21. See, e.g., SN 46.39, "Trees [Discourse]," trans. by Bhikkhu Bodhi (2000), Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya (Boston: Wisdom Publications), pp. 1593, 1906 n. 81; and, Sn 2.5 v. 271 or 272 (Fausböll, 1881, p. 46).
22. "Ghost stories: Taotaomona, duendes and other spirits inhabit Guam". Pacific Daily News. Guam. 28 October 2007.
23. "Chú Cuội or The Man in the Moon". VIETNAM.COM.
24. "Vietnam's magical Mid-autumn Festival". Vietnam Tourism.
25. Mellie Leandicho Lopez (2006). A Handbook of Philippine Folklore. University of the Philippines Press.
26. "The World's Largest Banyan Tree". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
27. John R. K. Clark (2001). Hawai'i place names: shores, beaches, and surf sites. University of Hawaii Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-8248-2451-8.
28. Friday Frights: The Ghosts Who Haunt Hawai‘i’s Historic ‘Iolani Palace Honolulu Magazine. By Diane Lee. 6 October 2017. Downloaded 22 September 2018.
29. Anguiano, Dani (10 August 2023). "'Heartbeat of Lahaina Town': wildfire chars beloved 150-year-old banyan tree". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
30. "Attractions of Jagannath Temple, Temples inside Jagannath Temple, Bedha Parikrama". www.shreekhetra.com.
31. "LEGOLAND Florida The Belle of Theme Parks". 20 October 2011. Archived from the original on 27 August 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
32. Heiko Hooge: Madagaskar, p. 110. Ostfildern 2023
33. "In the shade of the banyan tree". The Economist. 8 April 2009.
34. "Home Page". Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
35. "CRASH 4 - Jet Set Willy". www.crashonline.org.uk.
36. Hedrick, Tim; Volpe, Giancarlo (14 April 2006). "The Swamp". Avatar: The Last Airbender. Season 2. Episode 4.
37. "Lyrics | Aja". sdarchive.com. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
38. "China's Xi Intervenes to Punish Local Officials for Killing Trees". Bloomberg News. 13 December 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
Gorgeous and inspiring words and images as always.