Trees and Plants
The national plant is rue (rūta). A bride traditionally wears a little crown made of rue, which is a symbol of maidenhood. During the wedding the crown is burned, symbolizing the loss of careless childhood and entrance into the world of adulthood.
Trees of special significance include oak (ąžuolas), birch (beržas), linden (liepa), and spruce (eglė). A veneration of oak trees comes from pagan times, when they were of religious significance. The Stelmužė Oak, thought to be at least 1,500 years old, is the best-known tree in the country. The significance of trees is reflected in the Lithuanian calendar. The month of June is, in Lithuanian, "birch" (birželio mėnuo), and the month of July is "linden" (liepos mėnuo).
Read more about this topic: National Symbols Of Lithuania
Famous quotes containing the words trees and/or plants:
“It is as when a migrating army of mice girdles a forest of pines. The chopper fells trees from the same motive that the mouse gnaws them,—to get his living. You tell me that he has a more interesting family than the mouse. That is as it happens.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“From the time the Englishman’s bones harden into bones at all, he makes his skeleton a flagstaff, and he early plants his feet like one who is to walk the world and the decks of all the seas.”
—Willa Cather (1876–1947)