The world tree is a motif present in several religions and mythologies, particularly Indo-European religions, Siberian religions, and Native American religions. The world tree is represented as a colossal tree which supports the heavens, thereby connecting the heavens, the world, and, through its roots, the underworld. It may also be strongly connected to the motif of the tree of life.
Specific world trees include világfa in Hungarian mythology, Ağaç Ana in Turkic mythology, Modun in Mongolian mythology, Yggdrasil (or Irminsul) in Germanic (including Norse) mythology, the Oak in Slavic and Finnish mythology, and in Hindu mythology the Ashvattha (a Sacred Fig).
Read more about World Tree: Jewish Mythology, Norse Mythology, Siberian Culture, Mesoamerican Culture and Indigenous Cultures of The Americas, Other Cultures, Evolutionary Origins
Famous quotes containing the words world and/or tree:
“Is not this whole world an illusion? And yet it fools everybody.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“The whole tree itself is but one leaf, and rivers are still vaster leaves whose pulp is intervening earth, and towns and cities are the ova of insects in their axils.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)