World tree

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The world tree is a motif present in several Indo-European religions, such as Yggdrasil, in Norse mythology, an Oak in Slavic mythology and in Hinduism, a banyan tree.

The world tree is also represented in the mythologies and folklore of Northern Asia and Siberia. In the mythology of the Samoyeds, the 'world tree' connects different realities (underworld, this world, upper world) together. In their mythology 'world tree' is also the symbol of Mother Earth who is said to give the samoyed shaman his drum and also help him travel from one world to another.

Although the concept is absent from the Greek mythology, medieval Greek folk traditions and more recent ones claim that the Tree that holds the Earth is being sawed by Kallikantzaroi (commonly translated as goblins).

A World Tree or Wacah Chan also appears in the Mayan religion (known as the Mayan Sacred Tree) or axis mundi. It connects the Middleworld of man, with Xibalba (Otherworld) and the heavens (Schele & Friedle, 1990).

There is an extensive book on the world tree and the axis mundi tracing all possible mythological sources and meeting scientific demands: Santillana, Giorgo de / Dechend, Hertha von: Hamlet's Mill. Gambit, Boston 1969

World tree

See also