Bonsai and religious/ mythology symbolism

JDubinski

Hey All,

I was wondering if anyone has ever tried taking stories from different religions or mythologies and their relations to trees and incorporated those stories into their bonsai? There have been some posts on here about "western" styles of bonsai and I thought it might be interesting to bring in folklore and western mythology and religion into some trees.

I know there are many stories thoughout history on the symbolic importance of trees. Like Buddha and the Banyan tree where he sat until he found enlightenment, Daphne and the Laurel tree, and the serpent and the Tree of Knowledge. I am pretty sure their are other stories also that could end up making some beautiful bonsai.

I am growing some trees from seed that I am planning planning on using for some root-over-rock styles to try out some of these ideas. It will be a few years before anything starts to look nice (especially since some of the trees I have are only about an inch and a half tall.

If anyone has tried out anything like this before and has some pictures, I'd love to see them.

Thanks,
Jeff

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Vance Wood

There are New World mythologies surrounding trees within the Aztec and Mayan religions. I don't know how you would incorporate these things into bonsai though. For a design element to be effective with something like this it is incumbent that there is an understanding of the story being told by the people viewing the tree.

__________________
The only finished bonsai is a dead one; me 1992 MABA Des Moines Iowa

Spirit_Helper

There are also lots of Pagan celebrations and mythology regarding trees.

lehket

I have it in the back of my head that once I actually learn enough about bonsai to make something semi-decent, I would like to incorporate elements from the Baha'i Faith (my religion) into my work. At the moment it's not entirely clear how I would do so, although I think it's likely to be along the lines of using scrolls to present the Baha'i elements. There are a number of tree-related images in the Baha'i Holy Writings, for example, that could be presented on scrolls. The numbers nine and nineteen also have significance, which could be incorporated into the design of trees or forest plantings.

__________________
--Dale
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Co-author of Spiritual Telemetry,
Host of Planet Baha'i and the Planet Baha'i Forum

Attila

Good question.

Apparently, the Chinese and Japanese managed to do this with their bonsai. If you look at the countless landscape paintings and scrolls, their bonsai closely resembles the trees and lanscapes depicted on those images. I am sure that some of those trees have a whole story behind them.

As to how would we apply that to our culture and heritage, that's a great challenge. Especially, when trying to include thematic elements from our lores and mythology. But I am sure that we have artists who will eventuall succeed.

In fact, Nick Lenz has created some trees that incorporate fairies and goblins from the celtic mythology. He is the only one, as far as I know.

peterh

Here is a story for yuor root over rock.

http://www.ncca.org.au/special_proj...ck_and_the_tree

Vance Wood

This is just a personal opinion and I don't in any way mean or intend to demean anyone who chooses to do so---and here it comes-----BUT; art in many instances has its roots in religion all the way back to the Cro magnon. Attempts to make bonsai conform to any of these themes winds up being what I believe is defined as Kitsch(spelling ?).

__________________
The only finished bonsai is a dead one; me 1992 MABA Des Moines Iowa

lehket

Vance,

On the other hand, art is a living, breathing thing that changes, even if only a little, with each generation. It won't be bound in one place by its roots like a . . . ummm . . . tree is. People like me will probably end up creating kitsch, but someone with a lot of talent can and will take an art in new directions.

__________________
--Dale
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Co-author of Spiritual Telemetry,
Host of Planet Baha'i and the Planet Baha'i Forum

Attila

I agree both with Vance and Dale.

There is a great danger that Kitsch will be the outcome in cases like this.

But Kitsch happens when there is no original idea involved, just superficial cliche'.



On the other hand, one can have a great inspiration and create something original.