Świerk, drzewo proste

Abstract

The article discusses the place of the spruce in Slavic and Baltic customs, folk medicine, chants, and superstitions. The research has demonstrated that the tree has many meanings in Slavic culture (it is treated there as a female tree, which is suggested by its name in East Slavic languages), and although it seems to be straight and simple (because it is the way it grows) it has turned out to be a liminal tree of borderlands, connecting life with death, and allowing for a reconciliation with inevitability of passing, facilitating the passage of a dead person’s soul to the other dimension of eternal life. The spruce combines the joy of wedding (because it is included in the wedding tree) with the threat of infertility (if it is planted too close to home). Additionally, it protects cattle from witches and evil spirits (for the first pasture outing, cattle was driven with a spruce twig, or a tree was laid before the building from which the animals were driven out). Its blades, twigs, and cones were widely used as designates in folk medicine chants, and for infusions, extracts, and ointments used externally and internally as medicines.