The monkey tree phenomenon is a social phenomenon in Singapore, which began in September 2007. It arose from the discovery of a callus on a tree in Hong Kah, which appears monkey-like. Some believe the image to be of divine origin, while others have attributed the phenomenon to the effects of pareidolia, whereby random stimuli are perceived as meaningful. The callus has initiated a minor social mania, drawing large crowds to look or pray at the tree.
Read more about Monkey Tree Phenomenon: Sociological Explanations
Famous quotes containing the words monkey, tree and/or phenomenon:
“Oh, why can’t we break away from all this, just you and I, and lodge with my fleas in the hills?... I mean flee to my lodge in the hills.”
—Arthur Sheekman, screenwriter, and Norman McLeod. Monkey Business (film)
“The Anglo-American can indeed cut down, and grub up all this waving forest, and make a stump speech, and vote for Buchanan on its ruins, but he cannot converse with the spirit of the tree he fells, he cannot read the poetry and mythology which retire as he advances. He ignorantly erases mythological tablets in order to print his handbills and town-meeting warrants on them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The only phenomenon with which writing has always been concomitant is the creation of cities and empires, that is the integration of large numbers of individuals into a political system, and their grading into castes or classes.... It seems to have favored the exploitation of human beings rather than their enlightenment.”
—Claude Lévi-Strauss (b. 1908)