This post (I often seem to read my mail backwards) seems to have
started the acorn discussion off, and I thought the bulk of the post
would be of interest, to go along with all our other historical and
philosophically discussions.

  Peter Berresford Ellis' book, _The Druids_.
  pg 39:

  "The origin of the Druid caste had its roots in the "food gathering age" when
extensive oak forests covered Europe.  We are speaking of a period prior to 4000
BC when primitive 'hunter-gatherers' saw the oak as a symbol of plenty,
collecting acorns as a means of food and finding them easy to store for more
difficult days.  Hesiod (c.700 BC), Pausanias (fifth century BC), Galen (AD
129-199) all speak of the acorn as food.  According to Pliny, the acorn was
ground and baked into bread.  Publius Ovidius Naso, the poet Ovid (43 BC - AD
17), speaks of the acorn as the first food ever given to humans when they were
dropped from the great tree of the sky-god Jove or Jupiter.  Strabo speaks of
acorn bread as a staple diet of the Celts of Iberia while the *Leabhar na
Nuachonghbala* composed about AD1150...indicates that the acorn was still
regarded as an article of food classed with grain by the Irish.
  ...Early Europeans...observed that the oak was the most venerable tree of the
forest, the hardiest and the most useful.  From this period, which probably
lasted for a thousand years, there developed the veneration of the oak and the
rise of "the wise ones of the oak', which is a central belief in most ancient
Indo-European religions. To have a knowledge of the trees endowed one with
survival techniques and therefore wisdom.  ... The Hindus considered the pipal
tree (*ficus religosa*) as sacred, a tree in which the god Brahma dwelt, with
Vishnu inhabiting the twigs of the tree and each leaf assigned to one of the
deities.
  By the start of the first millennium BC, when the Celts began their
expansions, all learned men and women in their society were designated as having
"oak knowledge'.  And in the Celtic religion itself, the oak continued to be
venerated as the great symbol of vegetational increase so that, as a cult, its
symbolism was retained among the Celts some time after it was lost among the
Greeks and Latins.


1. The acorn was still regarded as grain. As Celts, it was their staple. Are
their recipes or dishes that use acorns that any IMBAS members would like to
share?

2.  Publius Ovidius Naso, the poet Ovid (43 BC - AD 17), speaks of the acorn as
the *first* food ever given to humans when they were dropped from the great
tree.  Does this hint that there was a creation myth, and that "the great tree"
was perhaps the god?

3.  What is the equivalent of Jove or Jupiter in the Celtic Pantheon?

4.  "A knowledge of the trees endowed one with survival techniques and therefore
wisdom"  How so? Or not?  What knowledge can be gained from a tree?

5.  Other IE cultures believed the gods "inhabit[ed] the twigs of the tree and
each leaf assigned to one of the deities"  Do you think our progenitors believed
this also?  Why or why not?

   a. Extra credit question (that will probably start a Celtic war):  Was the
tree itself sacred or a deity inside the tree that was sacred?

6. What does this say to us about environmentalism, specifically cutting down
trees? Are we killing the gods by allowing forests to be diminished?

7.  Which came first, the acorn or the acorn tree?  : ~ )

Molly Ni/Da/na
San Francisco, California
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http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/4715/