We are used to the fact that dense northern spruce forests are called taiga. However, this was the name of the dense forest only in Eastern Siberia.
In central Russia, he was called taibola, and in Western Siberia - urman. The edge of the forest is ramenier.
Since ancient times, people have enjoyed the wonderful property of plants - to provide food and warmth. But in addition to these properties, people noticed that plants can influence the fate of a person, as well as heal him from diseases, both physical and spiritual. For a long time, people have revered trees and sacred groves. People came to them for treatment, pray, ask for protection or love. From time immemorial, trees have been attributed to magical power. It was believed that human guardian spirits live in them. Many signs, beliefs and rituals are associated with trees.
Wood in the folk culture of the Slavs is an object of worship. In ancient monuments of the 11-17 centuries. it is reported about the worship of the pagans "to the groves" and "trees", about the prayers under them ("by the growth of … fat"). Sitting on all, these were, as a rule, fenced areas of the forest. The groves were considered reserved, they did not kill trees, did not collect brushwood. Among the Slavs, many groves and custom-made forests have “sacred” names: “god-god”, “god-god”, “goddess”, “sacred forest”, “svyatibor”.
The category of revered and sacred trees included individual trees, especially old ones, growing alone in the field or near healing springs. People came to these trees to get rid of diseases, the evil eye, infertility and other misfortunes. They brought gifts and sacrifices (hung towels, clothes, rags on the trees), prayed, touched the trees. Through the hollows and crevices of such trees, the sick crawled, as if leaving their diseases behind the boundaries of this hole. With the appearance of Christianity in Russia, in order to attract people to churches, churches were built right in the groves of light. This is evidenced by numerous traditions, legends and apocryphal tales, about the construction of churches near revered trees … Various rituals were performed near the sacred trees.
The South Slavs practiced the custom of "marrying" young people around a tree (or preceding the wedding ceremony with this action). Among the Serbs, Bulgarians, and Macedonians, many rituals and celebrations were performed on the "record" - the sacred tree (usually - the oak tree or fruit tree). Here they set up holiday meals, slaughtered the sacrificial animals, burned fires at the Shrovetide; near the "reserve" they swore oaths, settled the courts and others … An old hazel tree - in the absence of a priest - could confess: kneeling and clasping him with his arms, a person repented of sins and asked the tree of forgiveness - this suggests that before Christianity trees were a connecting link between God and people (the world of people and the world of gods) Oaks, elms and other large trees belonged to the reserved. It was forbidden to punish them and do any harm at all. Violation of these bans led to the death of a person, a sea of livestock, I do not hate. Such trees were considered patrons of the surroundings - villages, houses, wells, lakes, protected from hail, fires, natural disasters.
Wood as a metaphor for a road, as a path by which one can reach the world beyond the grave - is a common motive of Slavic beliefs and customs associated with death.
Characteristic are the ideas about the death of a person's soul into a tree. For example, the white-eyed thought that in every scrappy tree the soul of the dead languishes, who asks passers-by to pray for her; if after such a prayer a person falls asleep under a tree, he will see a soul who will tell how long and for what she was imprisoned in this tree. The Serbs believed that the soul of a person finds rest in the tree growing on his grave; Therefore, you cannot pluck fruits from cemetery trees and break branches. Slavic ballads about people sworn in trees are associated with the circle of these beliefs. Such folklore plots usually refer to people who died a pre-immortal death, before the time allotted to them; their interrupted life, as it were, strives to continue in other forms. Wood, like a plant, generally correlates with a person in external signs: the trunk is the trunk, the roots are the legs,branches - pyki, juices - blood, etc. There are “male” and “female” trees (birch - birch, dybitsa - dyb), differing also in shape: y birch branches spread out to the sides, y birch - upward. When a child is born, a tree is planted for him, believing that the child will grow in the same way as this tree develops. At the same time, in some beliefs, the growth of such a tree causes exhaustion of a person and leads him to death. Therefore, we tried not to plant big trees near the house.the growth of such a tree causes exhaustion of a person and leads him to death. Therefore, we tried not to plant big trees near the house.the growth of such a tree causes exhaustion of a person and leads him to death. Therefore, we tried not to plant big trees near the house.
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Depevo is closely related to the field of demonology. This is the habitat of various mythological creatures. Rysalka live on birches, witches flocked to giant oak trees on the night of the Kupala, the devil sits in the roots of a buzzard, in a dense verba, pitchforks and samodivs on sprawling large trees, whose branches play, often demons live in thorns.
S. Yesenin said: "For Russians, everything is from the Tree - this is the religion of our people's thought." And he explained why and why the tree is usually embroidered only on towels. This is a deep meaning. “The tree is life,” the poet writes. - Every morning, getting up from sleep, we wash our face with water. Water is a symbol of purification … Wiping their face on a canvas depicting a tree, our people say that they have not forgotten the secret of the ancient fathers to dry themselves with foliage, that they remember themselves with the seed of a transcendental tree, and, running under its cover, dipping their face in a towel, they as if he wants to print at least a small branch of it on his cheeks, so that like a tree he can showered from himself the cones of words and thoughts and a shadow-virtue flow from the branches-arms”.
We all know from birth that spending time in nature is good for our body, mind and spirit. We are attracted by green lawns, flowers, lakes, fresh air and sunlight. Walking in nature, plenty of fresh air and exercise in a quiet place are traditionally prescribed for good health. The question arises: how much healing from nature do we lose when we spend most of our days indoors?
In Japan, a group of medical scientists and a state forest organization are supporting the creation of forest therapy centers where people enjoy scents and guided walking tours, and get free medical examinations under the trees. Since 1984, they have been studying the health benefits of walking in the woods, calling it Shinrin-Yoku, or forest bath. There are currently over 30 such officially designated locations.
In related studies, scientists from Japan's Nippon School of Medicine and Chiba University tracked positive physiological changes in people walking in the forest compared to people walking in the city. The first results were published in the International Journal of Immunopathology and Pharmacology, the European Journal of Applied Physiology, and the Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents.
Walks through the woods showed:
- Decreased concentration of cortisol in saliva, known as stress hormone
- Lowering blood pressure and heart rate
- Decreased adrenaline and norepinephrine, also stress-related hormones
- Strengthening immunity - increasing the activity and number of natural killer cells (NK, from the English natural killer)
The researchers suggested that organic compounds - phytoncides produced by trees and other plants to protect against disease, insects and fungi - also produce beneficial natural killer cells in humans. In a study in which participants were exposed to phytoncides through aromatic oils sprayed through a humidifier in a hotel room, the researchers found a similar rise in NK levels.
A 2011 study by the Nippon Medical School's Department of Hygiene and Public Health showed that the effect of increasing NK cells lasts 30 days. They concluded that monthly walks in the woods can help people maintain higher levels of NK activity and may even have a preventive effect on cancer formation and progression.
Li Qing, Ph. D., an associate professor who leads several of these studies, says dense forest areas are more effective at boosting immunity than city parks and gardens. He also reports that the concentration of phytoncides increases during the summer growing season and decreases during the winter, although they are still present in tree trunks, even if the trees are deciduous.
Lee goes on to say that walks in the forest should be done at a leisurely pace. To reduce stress, it offers four hours of walking, covering a decent 3 miles (about 5 km), or 2 hours of walking about 1.5 miles. To protect against cancer, he advises regularly spending three days and two nights in a wooded area.
“Carry water and drink when you are thirsty,” Lee says. Find a place you like, sit down and enjoy the scenery. He adds that after a forest bath, relaxing in a hot tub or spa is a great way to end the day.