Gathering In

Kay Broome

Sycamore leaf (photo: Marko Blažević)

In the northern hemisphere around October 31st, many cultures are finishing up their grain, fruit and vegetable harvests.  Two pagan celebrations of the British Isles echo this process in their very names:  the August 1st grain celebration of Lammas or Loaf Mass, (earlier called Lughnasadh after the Celtic god Lugh) and Harvestide of the autumn equinox, when the remaining food crops are brought in.

Samhain Wreath (photo: Joanne Kosinska)

The Flesh Harvest

It can be argued that Samhain, the feast honouring the dead, was traditionally also the meat harvest. In the past, it was customary to slaughter all livestock at this time save those animals kept alive for breeding purposes. This made sense for a few reasons. Firstly, there was usually not enough produce – dried, frozen or otherwise conserved – to last the community throughout the long, harsh winters of temperate Eurasia. And in cold climates particularly, meat gives immediate energy, protein and a satisfying fullness to hungry bellies. Moreover, most food plants lie dormant during the cold winter. Save for the dried seed or bean, they will not store well unless dried, frozen or preserved in some other way.  Finally, it is very work and space intensive to put aside animal fodder for the winter. For that, you need large barns to store the oats, hay, and other sustenance, along with straw used for bedding. In earlier cultures, this was not feasible. Animals that could not abide outdoor winter conditions and that were not used as brood stock, were therefore slaughtered and their meat dried or cured to last the winter.

Customarily, animals destined to become food were slaughtered en masse around the end of October. Meats traditional to the Samhain Feast of the Dead were roast beef, pork (often cured as ham or made into sausages), and dried or salted fish. Wild animals such as elk, venison and boar, along with fowl such as pheasant or turkey were hunted at this time. It is salient to note that the traditional hunting season was and still remains the fall and early winter months.

The Honoured Sacrifice

Greek Rhytons, Ram (left), Boar (right), British Museum, London, UK (photos: Kay Broome)

In earlier times, humans honoured the food they ate. Because life was more precarious then, food was never taken for granted. Not only was the flesh of the animal important, but also hides and hair or fur for clothing and tent making; bones for weapons and tools; sinew for thread and string; and so on.  As with edible plants and grains, food animals were important both in mundane and spiritual ways. Not all the animals that were honoured by early peoples were food sources, but in general, the most important were. These totems became guiding spirits of the social and moral fabric of the tribe. The importance of food animals is illustrated in the depictions of various gods, with examples such as cow-headed Hathor of Egypt, the antlered Cernunnos of the Celts and Pan, the goat god of Greek herders, to name only a few.

Gundestrup Cauldron panel showing horned god, possibly Cernunnos, Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen, Denmark (photo: Roberto Fortuna & Kira Ursem)

Early humans began the process of herding not long after they learned how to grow crops, about 12,000 years ago.  Along with this new occupation, came the need for corrals and stables to house livestock from predators and inclement weather. Hollowed out trees were frequently used as shelters.  One such was the sycamore or plane (Platanus).  This very large tree, massive in trunk and limb, often becomes hollow with age. Some enormous specimens were spacious enough to house pigs and other animals. Sycamore has yet another important tie to livestock. Because the tree often obtains a huge girth and the wood is not brittle or likely to crack as do other hardwoods, the trunk was often fashioned into butcher blocks.

Sycamore tree, Millau, France, (photo: Kay Broome)

The Tree of the Public Square

In early times, sacrifices were made to the gods in temples or an open area in the centre of the town. The central square was where everything happened. Here people gathered to socialize with friends or to shop at the public market. This was a place where legal decrees were proclaimed and festivals observed. These celebrations frequently included animal sacrifice in honour of the gods.  To this day in Europe, many a village or town square has a large sycamore or plane tree at its centre, fitting for a species used to house and slaughter food animals. Nevertheless the plane tree's ample shade and beauty is reason enough to place it as the centrepiece of your home town.

In Europe, the sycamore tree was frequently pollarded, that is, the limbs were cut back to the trunk so that the tip ended in a knob from which many branches could spring. In wine-growing countries such as France, Germany and Greece, these trees have a long-held affinity with the grapevine, being commonly used as a trellis for the creeping plant.

Pollarded Sycamores, Xanten, Germany, (Photo: Kay Broome)

Les Platanes

Because of its massive size, the plane or sycamore is a common feature, especially in France. Les platanes were originally planted in the 1800s along roadsides and at junctions in order to provide shade for the soldiers marching off to the Napoleonic wars. As a result, these elegant giants of the chartreuse leaves and mottled trunks are everywhere. Unfortunately, French drivers can be as stupid as drivers elsewhere in the world and there have been numerous accidents, some fatal, involving reckless drivers colliding with the trees. Some have called for roadside sycamores to be cut down and there have even been cases of these noble guardians being destroyed by vandalism.  To make matters worse, a fungal disease, introduced from North America, now threatens the plane trees of Europe.

Sycamores Lining Path, Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France (photo: Kay Broome)

The plane tree is native to Europe, Asia and North America, including Mexico. Planes have large, palmate leaves with multiple points.  They often resemble maple or grapevine leaves, but are not blessed with the brilliant fall colours of those species. They are called sycamores after the unrelated sycamore fig (ficus sycomorus), due in part to their enormous size and to the smooth and plated attributes of the trunk. The sycamore maple (acer pseudoplatanus) gets its name from the leaves that closely resemble those of the plane tree.

The trunk of platanus is unique: smooth and either light grey or beige, it forms plates and strips away to reveal a pale and pleasing celadon green underlayer. This gives the tree a youthful mien, in contrast to the gnarly boles that often form on the trunks of these giants. Another way of telling the difference between sycamore and the somewhat similar maple is the fruit.  Maples always have two winged keys joined at the stem, but plane tree fruit is a round fuzzy ball on a longish stem.  These fruits can be single or up to three on a stem.

Plane Tree in Fall with Fruit (photo: Fran Taquionica)

Many of us now decry the fall of community and social discourse, caused by among other factors, the cell phone, the internet and official responses to the covid outbreak. It is ironic that, in such an era of communal decay, this tree of the public square is under attack.

At Samhain, the days grow shorter and in these dark times especially, we often fear the worst.  At this juncture, sycamore is a good tree to ponder. This mighty being reminds us that we should comfort and support each other as much as possible, while we honour those loved ones who have passed the veil between life and death.

Sycamore Trunk with Boles, High Park area, Toronto (photo: Kay Broome)