Research work on the world around on the topic "King among the trees. Tales of Trees: Oak Oak turns out to be a bread plant

PERUN WOOD

In comparison with the giant oak growing in the village of Verkhnyaya Khortitsa, near Zaporozhye, ordinary trees look like dwarfs. It seems very crowded with fifteen of its trunks (each of them is a large tree), located in a circle on a thick, squat trunk. Like the handle of a huge umbrella, it supports a dense, majestic crown with these tree trunks.

How historical events noisy, how many human generations have changed in the lifetime of this rare long-liver. The ferocious Tatar-Mongol hordes swept over Russia and through long years subsided into the deserts of the East, the Cossack glory of the Zaporizhzhya Sich died down, the fires of the Dnieper socialist construction projects were lit, - and he is growing, he can’t get enough of life. This oak tree is over 800 years old.

Science claims that in ancient times the Dnieper region was completely covered with centuries-old oak forests. But the Khortitsa veteran, who survived many years of cruel struggle with the elements, now rises among the steppe expanses of Ukraine.

With the excitement that majestic monuments always cause, we read on the memorial plaque near the tree: “Zaporozhye oak is a natural monument of the XIII century. The height of the tree is 36 meters. Crown diameter 43 meters. The circumference of the trunk is 632 centimeters.

Tradition says that this giant enjoyed special respect among the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks. More than one generation of them rested in the shade of its huge crown, hatching plans for their campaigns. The legend claims that it was here that Bohdan Khmelnitsky gathered an army to fight the Polish gentry, and here, going on a campaign, he took the oath of his “knights”. Parting words to the brave brothers, he urged them to be in battle as unshakable as this oak.

The legend persists in the surrounding villages that it was under this oak that the Cossacks, resounding with heroic laughter, composed their famous letter to the Turkish Sultan. Veterans similar to Zaporozhye oak can be found in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, near Leningrad, in the Voronezh region and in other regions of our country.

The oldest tree in Europe is considered to be an almost 2000-year-old old oak tree growing in Lithuania, in the town of Stelmuzh. And in the city of Ladushkin Kaliningrad region the 800-year-old Grunwald oak is still standing - a witness to the defeat of the Teutonic knights by Polish and Russian-Lithuanian troops (1410). Three 900-year-old giant oaks, called trees of friendship, are widely known in Poland. They grow near Poznan, and each has its own name: Lyakh, Czech, Rus.

And here are the oaks that were witnesses of historical events closer in time.

During the years of the Great Patriotic War more than once our partisans were rescued by the three-hundred-year-old oak trees growing in the Kirovograd region, in the Khirov forestry. Local underground workers hid here during the raids of the Nazis, from here the partisans monitored the enemy. Now these trees are called partisan oaks.

Not far from the mining health resort of Svyatogorsk (Donetsk region), on the edge of the wide state protective forest belt Belgorod-Don, another giant stands alone, on which a memorial plaque and a portrait of a still young Soviet officer are fixed. There is an inscription on the board: "At this place in August 1943, artillery officer Vladimir Maksimovich Kamyshov died heroically." When crossing the Seversky Donets, Kamyshov, under the hurricane fire of the Nazis, set up an observation post in the crown of the oak dominating the area and adjusted the fire from here. An enemy shell mortally wounded a brave officer. The branches and trunk of an oak tree were severely damaged. He stubbornly fought against death, and only in the twentieth year did his strength run out. But even a dry oak stands like a majestic monument on the grave of a hero.

AT last years a long-standing good tradition of celebrating significant dates by planting trees has regained our citizenship rights. And oak, as the most revered forest dweller, is given preference. In the heart of Moscow - the Kremlin, a young cosmos oak grows, planted on April 14, 1961 in memory of the first steps of man in space. And in Leningrad, on the central alley of the park of the Forestry Engineering Academy, as many as three "cosmic" trees are carefully grown: two oaks are planted in honor of the son and father of the Tsiolkovskys, and the third is Gagarin's oak. K. E. Tsiolkovsky and Yu. A. Gagarin may not have been here, but a young forester who brilliantly graduated from the Forestry Institute (now the Leningrad Forestry Engineering Academy), E. I. Tsiolkovsky - the father of the great herald of the space age - participated in the creation this alley of the park in the spring of 1841.

“Among the elements that the ancestors worshiped for strength, goodness or beauty, there were plant giants, similar to those oaks that until recently stood on Khortitsa,” says Professor Vikhrov from the novel “Russian Forest” by Leonid in his fiery speech-hymn to his green friend Leonova.

Few trees enjoy such love and respect among all peoples as the oak. Slavs, ancient Greeks, Romans at the dawn of their history worshiped this tree, often reaching 1000-1500 years of age, attributed miraculous properties to it, composed myths, legends, songs and epics about it. In Greece, the oak branch was the emblem of strength, power and nobility. Oak wreaths were awarded to warriors who performed outstanding feats.

Deifying the oak, the ancient Greeks dedicated it to Apollo - the god of light, the patron of the arts. Mighty ancient trees were often proclaimed saints. Under them, sacrifices were made, oracles broadcast, the priests interpreted the noise of branches and the rustle of oak leaves in their own way, making prophecies to numerous pilgrims.

In ancient Rome, the oak was dedicated to the supreme god - Jupiter, and acorns were called divine fruits. The famous Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder wrote that oaks, "untouched for centuries, of the same age as the universe, they amaze with their immortal fate, like the greatest miracle of the world."

The oak was also considered among the holy trees by the Slavs. They dedicated it to the powerful god of thunder and lightning - Perun. In ancient chronicles, one can find references to the Perun tree. Under the canopy of oaks, the Slavs made sacrifices to the gods, convened military councils, and made important government decisions.

It is not surprising that our ancestors honored this tree so much. After all, the history of the ancient Slavic tribes has always been closely connected with the forest. And where they lived, the forests were, as a rule, oak. Oak forests served as a source of food, protection from the raging elements, and even a kind of fortress in wars with numerous enemies.

There is even a scientific hypothesis that people owe the appearance of bread in temperate latitudes to oak. Archaeologists from around the world suggest that the first bread plant could not be modern cereals - rye or wheat, but the same oak. A number of data indicate that people used abundant crops of acorns to make bread even in very ancient times. During the excavations of Trypillia settlements on the territory of the modern Kirovograd region, Soviet archaeologists found dried and ground acorns, from which bread was baked here more than 5,000 years ago.

Centuries, millennia pass, and people's interest in the forest giant does not decrease.

Arborists and botanists can tell a lot about this tree. However, by the word "oak" they mean a whole genus, uniting about 600 species. Such a large family also occupies a corresponding living space. It has mastered vast territories not only on the European-Asian continent, but also in North America and even in Africa.

It is difficult to enumerate the names of all types of oak: swamp and black, red and mountain, stone and fluffy, cork and pedunculate, Georgian and virgin ... In our forests, experts count about 20 species of oak. A relatively large collection of them (about 25 species and forms) was collected at the Forest-Steppe Experimental Station (Lipetsk Region), in the Nikitsky Botanical Garden, in the Sochi Arboretum.

Oak trees that we meet in the forests Central Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, in parks and on the outskirts of Moscow, Orel, Voronezh, Kyiv and other cities, they, like the giant Zaporozhye oak, belong to the most valuable species in our country - the pedunculate oak. Its Latin name is quercus robur, which literally means: a beautiful, strong tree.

With longevity and majestic beauty, the oak won the love and appreciation of millions of people. The benefit brought by this giant to mankind is great. For example, its bark is widely used in the leather industry. Oak leaves are good food for one of the suppliers of natural silk, the oak silkworm. Acorns are not wasted either: acorns are now used to make a substitute for coffee, and they are also fed to pigs.

But all these are just side benefits brought by oak to people. Its main wealth is wood. It is hardly worth talking about high quality and the exceptional value of oak wood, about how long and reliably various household products serve people. Once again, its extraordinary stamina was confirmed by a recent find near the village of Shchuchye on the banks of the Don. Under a six-meter layer of river sediment, they found an oak canoe that had lain in the ground for about 4,000 years. Made from a single oak trunk at the end of the Stone Age or at the beginning of the Bronze Age, this boat of very impressive dimensions (more than a meter wide and 8 meters long) has been perfectly preserved to this day. Even holes for eight oarlocks are well preserved. The unique exhibit is the pride of the Historical Museum in Moscow.

Appreciated by our ancestors, the beauty of oak is improved by people from generation to generation. Do not be surprised if you meet a giant with a columnar crown, like that of a slender cypress, or with a spherical and even weeping crown, like a willow. Other oaks have purple, golden or silver foliage. All these are forms selected over thousands of years by the painstaking work of many generations of unknown breeders.

Soviet scientists are also very interested in oak. Professor L. F. Pravdin put especially much effort into the development of the most valuable forms of cork oaks in the USSR. Professor S. S. Pyatnitsky, Corresponding Member of the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences named after V. I. Lenin, created a lot of new forms of oak. Now they grow both in Ukraine and in Moscow near the Forestry pavilion at the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy and are distinguished by their rapid growth, resistance to adverse conditions, and originality of botanical characteristics. New forms of oak were named by S. S. Pyatnitsky oaks of Timiryazev, Michurin, Komarov, Vysotsky.

Each tree has its own characteristics. Foresters have long known that in the early years the oak grows very slowly, as if fearing something. At this time, it turns out that the oak is preparing for a centuries-old life, building solid foundation, lets its powerful roots deep into the ground. Only from the age of 8-10 years does the intensive formation of the above-ground part of the oak - the trunk and branches - begin. Since then, it has annually grown in height up to half a meter, sometimes more, while the diameter of the oak trunk thickens only by a few millimeters. Unlike many other trees, oak can grow twice a year (start to grow), forming the so-called Ivanov's shoots. Under favorable conditions, the oak has three growths.

Oak grows better with lateral shading and does not tolerate shading from above. But he is not afraid of severe frosts middle lane, nor the prolonged droughts of the south.

To grow an oak, two human generations are not always enough. Only individual trees in the 25-30th year of life give the first few acorns. To wait for abundant, constant harvests, many, many years are needed. Happiness does not always fall to the lot of those who planted acorns, to wait for the harvest of trees grown from them. Such people work for the future.

https://landastyle.ru stylist shopping support in Moscow.

How many historical events have died down, how many human generations have changed in the lifetime of this rare long-liver. The ferocious Tatar-Mongolian hordes swept over Russia and after many years subsided into the deserts of the East, the Cossack glory of the Zaporizhzhya Sich died down, the fires of the Dnieper socialist construction projects lit up - and it is still growing, in no way will it get enough of life. This oak tree is over 800 years old.

Science claims that in ancient times the Dnieper region was completely covered with centuries-old oak forests. But the Khortitsa veteran, who survived many years of fierce struggle with the elements, still stands among the steppe expanses of Ukraine.

With the excitement that majestic monuments always cause, we read on the memorial plaque near the tree: “Zaporozhye oak is a natural monument of the XIII century. The height of the tree is 36 meters. Crown diameter 43 meters. The circumference of the trunk is 632 centimeters.

Tradition says that this giant enjoyed special respect among the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks. More than one generation of them rested in the shade of its huge crown, hatching plans for their campaigns. The legend claims that it was here that Bohdan Khmelnitsky gathered an army to fight the Polish gentry, and here, going on a campaign, he took the oath of his “ knights". Parting words to the brave brothers, he urged them to be in battle as unshakable as this oak.

The legend persists in the surrounding villages that it was under this oak that the Cossacks, resounding with heroic laughter, composed their famous letter to the Turkish Sultan.

Veterans similar to Zaporozhye oak can be found in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, near Leningrad, in the Voronezh region and in other regions of our country.

The oldest tree in Europe is considered to be an almost 2000-year-old old oak tree growing in Lithuania, in the town of Stelmuzh. And in the city of Ladushkin, Kaliningrad region, there is still an 800-year-old Grunwald oak - a witness to the defeat of the Teutonic knights by Polish and Russian-Lithuanian troops (1410). Three 900-year-old giant oaks, called trees of friendship, are widely known in Poland. They grow near Poznan, and each has its own name: Lyakh, Czech, Rus.

And here are the oaks that were witnesses of historical events closer in time.

During the Great Patriotic War, three hundred-year-old oak trees growing in the Kirovograd region, in the Khirov forestry, more than once rescued our partisans. Local underground workers hid here during the raids of the Nazis, from here the partisans monitored the enemy. Now these trees are called partisan oaks.

Not far from the mining health resort of Svyatogorsk (Donetsk region), on the edge of the wide state protective forest belt Belgorod-Don, another giant stands alone, on which a memorial plaque and a portrait of a still young Soviet officer are fixed. On the board is the inscription: Artillery officer Vladimir Maksimovich Kamyshov died heroically at this place in August 1943.". When crossing the Seversky Donets, Kamyshov, under the hurricane fire of the Nazis, set up an observation post in the crown of the oak dominating the area and adjusted the fire from here. An enemy shell mortally wounded a brave officer. The branches and trunk of an oak tree were severely damaged. He stubbornly fought against death, and only in the twentieth year did his strength run out. But even a dry oak stands like a majestic monument on the grave of a hero.

In recent years, a long-standing good tradition has regained our citizenship rights - to celebrate significant dates by planting trees. And oak, as the most revered forest dweller, is given preference. In the heart of Moscow - the Kremlin - a young oak-cosmos grows, planted on April 14, 1961 in memory of the first steps of man in space. And in Leningrad on the central alley of the Lesotechnicheskaya park

academies carefully raise as many as three " space» trees: two oaks were planted in honor of the son and father of the Tsiolkovskys, and the third one is Gagarin's oak. K. E. Tsiolkovsky and Yu. A. Gagarin may not have been here, but a young forester who brilliantly graduated from the Forestry Institute (now the Leningrad Forestry Engineering Academy), E. I. Tsiolkovsky - the father of the great herald of the space age - participated in the creation this alley of the park.

« Among the elements that the ancestors worshiped for strength, goodness or beauty, there were plant giants, similar to those oaks that until recently stood on Khortitsa”, says Professor Vikhrov from the novel“ Russian forest» Leonid Leonov.

Deifying the oak, the ancient Greeks dedicated it to Apollo, the god of light, the patron of the arts. Mighty ancient trees were often proclaimed saints. Under them, sacrifices were made, oracles broadcast, the priests interpreted the noise of branches and the rustle of oak leaves in their own way, making prophecies to numerous pilgrims.

Centuries, millennia pass, and people's interest in the forest giant does not decrease.

Arborists and botanists can tell a lot about this tree. However, under the word oak"they mean a whole genus, uniting about 600 species. Such a large family also occupies a corresponding living space. It has mastered vast territories not only on the European-Asian continent, but also in North America and even in Africa.

The names of all types of oak are difficult to enumerate: swamp and black, red and mountain, stone and fluffy, cork and pedunculate, Georgian and virgin ... In our forests, experts count about 20 species of oak. A relatively large collection of them (about 25 species and forms) was collected at the Forest-Steppe Experimental Station (Lipetsk Region), in the Nikitsky Botanical Garden, in the Sochi Arboretum.

Oaks that we meet in the forests of Central Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, in parks and on the outskirts of Moscow, Orel, Voronezh, Kyiv and other cities, like the giant Zaporozhye oak, belong to the most valuable species in our country - the pedunculate oak. Its Latin name is Quercus robur, which literally means: a beautiful, strong tree.

But all these are just side benefits brought by oak to people. Its main wealth is wood. It is hardly worth talking in detail about the high quality and exceptional value of oak wood, about how long and reliably various household products serve people. Once again, its extraordinary stamina was confirmed by a recent find near the village of Shchuchye on the banks of the Don. Under a six-meter layer of river sediment, they found an oak canoe that had lain in the ground for about 4,000 years. Made from a single oak trunk at the end of the Stone Age or at the beginning of the Bronze Age, this boat of very impressive dimensions (more than a meter wide and 8 meters long) has been perfectly preserved to this day. Even holes for eight oarlocks are well preserved. The unique exhibit is the pride of the Historical Museum in Moscow.

Each tree has its own characteristics. Foresters have long known that in the early years the oak grows very slowly, as if fearing something. At this time, it turns out that the oak is preparing for a centuries-old life, building a reliable foundation, letting its powerful roots deep into the ground. Only from the age of 8-10 years does the intensive formation of the above-ground part of the oak - the trunk and branches - begin. Since then, it has annually grown in height up to half a meter, sometimes more, while the diameter of the oak trunk thickens only by a few millimeters. Unlike many other trees, oak can grow twice a year (start to grow), forming the so-called Ivanov's shoots. Under favorable conditions, the oak has three growths.

Oak grows better with lateral shading and does not tolerate shading from above. But he is not afraid of either the severe frosts of the middle zone, or the prolonged droughts of the south.

S. I. Ivchenko - Tree Book

The Druids gave the oak a place of honor in their calendar: March 21-22. Spring equinox time
First, let's dig on the Internet, and then I will add a couple of highlights from myself.
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Few trees have long enjoyed such love and honor among all peoples as the oak. Slavs, ancient Greeks, Romans at the dawn of their history worshiped this tree, often over 1000-1500 years old, attributed miraculous properties to it, composed myths, legends, songs and epics about it. In Greece, the oak branch was the emblem of strength, power and nobility of the family. Oak wreaths were awarded to warriors who performed outstanding feats.

Deifying the oak, the ancient Greeks dedicated it to Apollo - the god of light, the patron of the arts. Mighty ancient trees were often proclaimed saints. Sacrifices were made under them, oracle "prophecies" were held, supposedly coming from a deity: the priests interpreted the noise of branches and the rustle of oak leaves in their own way, making prophecies for numerous visitors.

In ancient Rome, the oak was dedicated to the supreme god - Jupiter, and acorns were called Jupiter fruits. The famous Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, in his writings about plants of that time, wrote that oaks "... untouched for centuries, of the same age as the universe, they amaze with their immortal fate, like the greatest miracle of the world." Like the Greeks and Romans, the Slavs attributed oak among the holy trees. They dedicated it to the powerful god of thunder and lightning - Perun. In ancient chronicles, one can find references to the "Perun Tree". Here, as in Greece, sacrifices were made to the gods, military councils were convened, and important state decisions were made.

It is not surprising that the ancestors so honored this tree. After all, the history of the ancient Slavic tribes has always been very closely connected with the forest. And where they lived, the forests were, as a rule, oak. Oak groves served our distant ancestors as a source of food, protection from the raging elements, and even a kind of fortress during wars with numerous enemies. Oddly enough, but there is scientific evidence that people owe the appearance of bread in temperate latitudes to oak.

Archaeologists from different countries of the world, after studying many materials, confirmed that indeed the first "bread plant" should not be considered modern cereals - rye or wheat, but the same oak. Abundant harvests of its acorns have been used by people to make bread since very ancient times. During the excavations of Trypillia settlements on the territory of the modern Kirovograd region, Soviet archaeologists found dried and ground acorns, from which bread was baked here more than 5,000 years ago.
From here: http://www.reznoe.ru/articles10_16.php
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Here are the roots! This oak that grows on Karaul-Oba, I call LAOKOON with snakes

*
Myths and legends:
- There was a superstition in Scotland that the fate of the members of the Hay family of Errol, an estate in Perth, was inseparable from the mistletoe that grows on a huge oak. Here is what the representative of the Hay clan himself wrote about this ancient belief: “The coats of arms of the lowland families have now fallen into complete oblivion. But from an ancient manuscript, as well as from the memoirs of the few surviving old-timers of the county of Perth, it is known that mistletoe was depicted on the coat of arms of the Hay clan. Once upon a time, in the neighborhood of Errol, not far from Falcon Stone, there grew an ancient oak of enormous size, on which there were whole thickets of mistletoe. It was believed that if the roots of this oak rot, then "grass will grow in Errol's hearth and a raven will settle in a falcon's nest," as the local proverb says. For a member of the Hay family, two things were most dangerous: killing a white falcon and cutting a branch from an Erroll oak. It is not known if this tree died... but the estate passed into the possession of a family friend, and the locals, of course, claim that the fateful oak was cut down shortly before. This ancient superstition is reflected in the verses attributed to Thomas the Rhymer:

While in Errol on oak branches
Mistletoe and that oak is strong,
The Hay family will bloom. falcon wings flapping
Thunderstorm winds will not sweep away.
But if the roots of that oak rot
And the mistletoe will wither on it,
Will take possession of the Erroll grass hearth,
Raven - falcon's nest.

In Shropshire, there is a belief that tells us that the oak blossoms, it turns out, on the eve of St. John's Day. And it blooms so little that before dawn its flowers have time to fall. The same belief says that a girl who is burning with a desire to find out who her husband will be should come to this oak tree at night and put a piece of cloth under it. And in the morning she will see only dust on it - what is left of the flowering of the oak. She should put a pinch of such dust under her pillow, after which her future husband must have appeared to her in a dream.

It is believed that if, during sleep, an oak log is placed at the feet of a sick child, then he can either recover or recover significantly (in the sense of health). Because through the legs the power of the log will come to him.

In Herefordshire, at the crossroads of two roads, there are several "cross oaks". If a person had a fever, then he should have come to this oak tree, and pinned a strand of hair to it (not torn off his head), then shook his head sharply - so that the strand remained on the tree. If this succeeded, then it was believed that the person should soon recover, since in this way he gave the fever to the tree.

- There is a belief that an oak plank, processed on Thursday at sunrise, on which the motto is carved: “God bless you!”, nailed to the home altar, can protect the family from many troubles.

Also, many peoples believe that initially the whole earth consisted of fire, and oaks absorbed it with their roots ... therefore, allegedly, you can get fire by rubbing two branches of oak against each other. In general, many nations also agree that some oaks are as old as our world.

Proverbs and sayings.
- When a pig in yellow slippers climbs an oak tree (Polish proverb, an analogue of our saying "when the cancer whistles on the mountain").
- In August, the oak is rich in acorns - for the harvest.
- There was an oak, but it became a log house; the time will come and it won't.
- In the forest, an oak - a ruble, in the capital - a knitting needle for a ruble.
From here: http://herbalogya.ru/library/quercus.php
According to the Druids:

Full of life, strength and beauty, not having anything fragile in itself. The movements are majestic and full of virtues, they awaken respect in people with their solid appearance. He is absolutely healthy, which is very important in his case, since he does not tolerate weakness and disease, and the sight of blood can lead him to faint.

Very brave, but his courage comes not so much from his spiritual qualities, but from excessive pride. He does not want to be considered a coward and, warning of acute circumstances, reacts sharper than required. Self-possessed and strong-willed, has no habit of moving away from earlier decision and, as a rule, always achieves the goal. But his intransigence also has bad sides: OAK is not able to be flexible and his intransigence gives him trouble. I would achieve a lot if I could be a diplomat even a little.

Oak trees are mentioned in myths, appear in everyday rituals. There is so much information about this and they are so interesting that it is just right to write a separate book. It is well known that among many peoples in the past, the oak was a sacred tree, which the gods gave to people as a great gift. Without the permission of the priests, druids, sorcerers and other worshipers, people could not cut down an oak tree, break off a branch or inflict any injury on it, and in case of disobedience they paid for it with their lives. In some nations, oaks had patrons - saints.

The peasants of Georgia, for example, in order to convince of the invincible strength of their words and promises, swore by these saints in disputes; it was impossible to break such an oath.

Under the sacred oaks, the Slavs held meetings, wedding ceremonies, courts. They immediately made sacrifices to the gods and immediately, after the trial, they hung the guilty on oak branches or chopped off their heads on oak blocks. In sacred groves, the oldest thousand-year-old trees were singled out and surrounded by a fence, beyond which priests were allowed to enter, those who walked with sacrificial gifts or who were in any danger. Near such an oak, a person was inviolable even for a mortal enemy. Figures of pagan gods (Perun, Svarog, etc.), also carved from oak, were placed around the sacred oaks. Not one in the least significant event, whether it was sowing, harvesting, a battle with an enemy or a trading campaign, it was not without prayers and sacrifices, and the objects of the latter could be honey, mash, beer, kvass, wild animals and hawks, which were thrown alive into the sacred fire from the “oak ancient ". In return, people asked for health, victory in battles and raids, a good harvest, good luck in trading operations: “Save, ancestor, our cereals from storms, hail and the scorching sun! Protect our family, your children, from the evil Khazars and Pechenegs. Women have their own requests and offerings: wreaths, flower garlands, pieces of yarn, acorn beads strung on thin roots: “Give us, great one, the strength to give birth as easily and abundantly as you give birth to your children.”

During the decline of paganism, supporters of Christianity destroyed wooden statues of Russian gods carved from oak. So, the Kyiv prince Vladimir, having converted to Christianity, ordered to throw Perun, carved from oak, into the Dnieper, and the people of Kiev, stubborn in paganism, fled along the shore, wept bitterly and shouted: “Get out, Perun, get out ...” In the Crimea Christian church, taking up arms against paganism, at first she was forced to act in such a way that both the wolves were fed and the sheep were safe. Therefore, divine services were held under the sacred oaks or next to the "holy" springs, and next to them, later, altars were erected, chapels and temples were built.

In the VI century. among the Dnieper Slavs, funeral pyres for burning soldiers who died in battle were only made of oak "ancient", since "oak is a tree of men, its flame cleanses the soul of a warrior." Oak was considered the personification of the masculine principle, it symbolized constancy and power. The matchmakers, entering the bride's hut, with a low bow said to their parents: "You have a birch, we have an oak, let's bend together." In Ukraine, on the feast of Ivan Kupala, all Ivanovs were decorated with wreaths of oak leaves. For the ancient Romans, the "Forest King" is a human double of the sacred oak. The Romans called acorns divine fruits, and the oak itself - the tree of Jupiter. Before the harvest, the ancient Romans honored Ceres with dances and songs, "at first crowning the whiskey leaves with oak." In Greece, to drive away the drought, the priest of Zeus of Lycaea threw an oak branch into the water, expecting that this would cause the formation of clouds and rain.
http://www.onixtour.com.ua/books/91c22689/oak.htm
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As you know, oak is a powerful donor.
Once one person got lost (the author of these lines). I had to spend the night in a mountain forest. And it was just on the night of March 21-22, the time of Oak. I did not know any of this then; I can't describe the whole gamut of feelings.
It is only true that the smell of fallen oak leaves exudes healing substances, and then I felt the beneficial effects of this stay in the oak forest for a long time.

The oldest Crimean oak is the Bogatyr Oak in the Children's Park of Simferopol. And this is me next to him:

The oak is supposedly about 700 years old.
And the Postal Oak in the Grand Canyon was considered the most romantic.
Now it's gone - they burned it:

And once it served as a mailbox for tourists who left their notes in it.
Tree pests, however, are not only bipedal:

And there was a people in the Crimea - the Karaites - who revered oaks as sacred trees, to the point that they did not allow anyone to cut them.
The sacred grove was called Balta-Tiymez, which in translation meant "The ax will not touch."
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And, finally, marvelously marvelous - the April phenomenon:

But the fact is that the foliage of the oak is tough, it lasts until young pink leaves appear, rolled into a tube, like rosebuds.
When you see this, you just want to sing to a dashing motive: "Oh, yes, on the oak ... the roses have blossomed!"
You can talk endlessly about this beautiful tree.
Therefore, I round off ... I will continue in the comments

ACORNS AS FOOD AND MEDICINE.

Acorn coffee

You need to collect ripe acorns, Green colour, hard to the touch, if pressed through with a finger, then wormy.
You need to dry like this: spread on a baking sheet in one layer and put in a preheated oven for five minutes. During this time, most acorns will burst and turn a dark brown color. Then open the oven and dry for another hour. Be careful not to burn the acorns.
Then take them out and cool. When cool, peel and place in a jar with a tight lid.
In order to prepare a coffee drink, you need to grind acorns in a coffee grinder, brew like coffee, at the rate of one teaspoon of powder per cup of water. Add sugar to taste.
It turns out pretty delicious drink, somewhat reminiscent of cocoa with milk, very tonic.

Ripe acorns are peeled, cut into 3-4 pieces each and dried in the oven. Then the acorns are roasted, making sure that they do not burn, but turn into a brittle mass, easily turned into a brown powder in a coffee grinder.
Brewed and drunk like ordinary coffee, with milk or sugar.
Acorn coffee is especially useful for children suffering from scrofula and rickets (coffee strengthens the abdominal organs and eliminates hardening of the mesenteric glands), as well as for coughs, bronchitis, asthma .. Children are given twice a day: in the morning and after dinner.

Coffee drink made from acorns is very useful for heart diseases.

Kissel from acorn coffee.

Mix coffee with sugar, dissolve in a small amount of hot water, then add 180 ml of water and strain. Pour potato starch diluted in 20 ml into boiling coffee cold water pour into a glass and sprinkle powdered sugar or granulated sugar to prevent skin formation.
For 7 g of acorn coffee - 10 g of potato starch, 15 g of sugar, 200 ml of water.

Acorn bread.

Acorns served as human food even before the patroness of agriculture, Ceres, taught people how to tillage, as the ancient Romans believed. Scientists-archaeologists, not without reason, believe that the first "bread plant" should be considered not cereals - rye or wheat, but oak. For example, during the excavation of ancient Trypillia settlements on the territory of modern Ukraine, acorns dried and ground into flour were found. From this flour our ancestors baked bread more than 5000 years ago. Acorns are very nutritious, but tannins give them a bitter taste. If you remove these substances, then you can cook some original dishes. Tannins are easily removed by soaking. Those who wish can try to bake acorn "bread". The recipe is borrowed from the book of the famous popularizer of botany N.M. Verzilin. It is better to collect acorns after the first frost. They are peeled, cut into four parts, filled with water and soaked for two days, changing the water at least three times daily. After that, the acorns are heated in water to a boil (2 parts of water to 1 part of the acorns) and passed through a meat grinder. The resulting mass is dried - first in a thin layer in the air, then in the oven or oven until it starts to crunch like crackers. Dried acorns are crushed or ground in any way. With coarse grinding, cereals are obtained, from which you can cook porridge, from flour - bake cakes. True, the acorn dough does not have stickiness and viscosity, so the cakes break when turned over. To avoid this, it is advised to cover the pan with the flat cake with a second similar pan and turn them both over - the flat cake simply falls from one pan to another, on which it is fried. If the cakes are smeared with jam, jam or cream and stacked on top of each other, you get a delicious cake. Soaked and lightly toasted pieces of acorns may well replace the nut sprinkles for the cake.

medicinal use.

For therapeutic purposes, the bark, leaves and fruits of oak are used. Tannins have been isolated from the oak bark, solutions of which are used in inflammatory processes in the oral cavity, nose, larynx, for the treatment of ulcers and burns. The bark is used as a strong astringent and strengthens the blood vessels, as well as an antihelminthic.
Oak bark is effective as an anti-inflammatory agent for diseases of the oral cavity (gingivitis, stomatitis, amphodontosis), pharynx, larynx, pharynx. In addition, it is used to treat burns, skin diseases, wounds, frostbite. Oak bark is used for mushroom poisoning and in the treatment of diarrhea.
! For rinsing the mouth and compresses, a decoction is prepared at the rate of 10-20 g of oak bark per 200 ml of water. Boil for 15-20 minutes, filter.
! Infusion of oak bark is prescribed for inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, diarrhea, dysentery. To do this, 1 teaspoon of crushed bark is poured into 400 ml of cold boiled water. Insist 8 hours and filter. Drink in sips throughout the day. Children cannot be given.
! Coffee drink made from acorns is very useful for heart diseases.
! With strong sweating of the legs, baths are made with a decoction of oak bark (50-100 g per 1 liter of water). Decoction of the bark wash the head with dandruff.
Terms and methods of preparation. Acorns are harvested in September-October, when they are fully ripe. Acorns deteriorate very quickly, so immediately after harvesting they are peeled, the cotyledons are separated and dried. The moisture content of dry acorns should be no more than 11%.
The bark is harvested in the spring during sap flow (April-May), from branches with a diameter of 10-20 cm without cracks and lichens. To remove the bark with a knife, make circular cuts at a distance of 30 cm from one another, which are connected by a longitudinal incision. After that, the bark is easily removed. Dry it under a canopy with good ventilation, as well as in the sun. Shelf life 5 years.
The leaves are harvested in the spring while they are young and sticky.

The use of acorns in diabetes.

1. When diabetes grind dried oak acorns in a coffee grinder and take this powder inside 1 tsp. an hour before meals in the morning and at night.

2. Grate acorns on a fine grater. 1 teaspoon of acorns should be eaten half an hour - an hour before eating on an empty stomach, and in the evening, an hour after eating. You can drink water and nothing else to eat.

Treatment is carried out according to the scheme: eat acorns for a week, then rest for a week. Take a blood test this week. Then again a week of acorns - a week of rest and a blood test. Do this 2-3 times, but you can do up to 4 times. After 3 sessions, blood sugar returns to normal.

3. Pour 1.5 liters of water, boiled for 30 minutes on low heat, leave for 1 day, boil again for 30 minutes and again insist for 1 day. Strain, add 1 glass of vodka to the decoction, mix and drink 3 small sips 5-7 times a day, regardless of food intake. The course of treatment is 2 weeks. Check blood sugar and then act according to the condition. The medicine must be kept in the refrigerator. In the future, so that the sugar level does not rise, drink this medicine 2 times a week.

4. One tablespoon of acorn coffee per 400 ml of boiling water, add sugar to taste. Take 1 time per week. Drink in 3-4 doses in the initial stages of diabetes.

Various folk recipes from acorns

Acorns have a bactericidal, enveloping, antitumor effect. Often used in the treatment of the genitourinary system: they stop heavy menstruation, are used for female diseases, increase potency, and treat enuresis. Acorns help well in the treatment of gums and toothache, are useful in various kinds of poisoning. In addition, oak fruits have a beneficial effect on digestive system: their decoction is used for indigestion, acute and chronic colitis.

Mature oak fruits are harvested and dried in a dark place for 3-4 weeks (you can use a dryer - at a temperature of 50 degrees for 2-3 days). Then the fruits are crushed and stored in a dry place. Harvesting too many fruits is not recommended - raw materials quickly deteriorate.

For stomach disorders ethnoscience recommends an infusion of acorns: pour 1 teaspoon of crushed fruits with a glass of boiling water, cool, strain. Take orally half a glass 3 times a day. The duration of the course is a month, after another month it is recommended to repeat it.

For heart disease, coffee from acorns is good. The fruits should be lightly fried until red, crushed and brewed like coffee. Add milk, sugar. Such coffee is often recommended to children both as a regular drink and for coughs, bronchitis, and asthma.

For the treatment of hernia, warm 25% tincture of acorns in red wine is used as compresses.

For problems associated with the genitourinary system, acorn juice is used. It is squeezed from green fruits, taken 2-3 tablespoons with honey (1:1 ratio) on an empty stomach 3-4 times a day.

Pancreatitis: I have long paid attention to original recipe Chisinau healer G. Kuznetsov, who advises to collect ripe acorns, but not dried on the trees, but fresh ones, dry them in the shade, separate the “caps” - pluses from the acorns, pour 1 tablespoon of such “caps” with 200 ml of boiling water for 2 - 3 hours, strain.

You need to start taking with one teaspoon and gradually increase to 60 - 70 ml per day. If the taste is unpleasant, then soak the bread with infusion and take 3 times a day 30 minutes before meals. He also recommends eating the fruits of acorns - until the work of the pancreas is normalized.

“Excavations on the territory of the Kirovograd region have confirmed that more than five thousand years ago people here baked bread from acorns ground into flour.
Oak has been in great honor among the Slavs from time immemorial. In pagan times it powerful tree was dedicated to the god of lightning and thunder - Perun. Under the mighty crowns of the oak, sacrifices and trials were performed, military councils were held, all the most important issues were resolved. The beloved and revered plant is surrounded by legends and myths, sung in songs and poems, endowed with high epithets.
... During excavations in Japan, an acorn was found, the age of which, as determined by scientists, was 3800 years old. This acorn was planted - and it sprouted! Now it is already a solid tree ...
... Its leaves are also useful, especially when pickling vegetables for the future. Only 20 g of them per three-liter cylinder of cucumbers is enough to ensure good taste and preservation of pickles.
For a long time in Russia they used ink that does not fade with time - they were also made from oak, more precisely, from dried and ground galls - nuts that form on oak leaves. Mixed with iron vitriol, these nuts give a strong black paint - ink, thanks to which the most ancient annals of our distant ancestors, the first handwritten books, have come down to us.
One of the reasons that acorns have gradually lost their nutritional value lies, apparently, in the fact that they contain the glycoside quercitrin and tannins, which give acorns a certain bitterness. But this bitterness is easily eliminated by heating ... "

Acorn porridge.

Acorns contain tannins that give them an astringent, bitter taste. And you can remove these substances by soaking. Acorns are peeled, cut into four parts and poured with water. Soaking lasts two days, and every day the water is changed three times. Then the acorns are transferred to a saucepan, poured with water and heated to a boil. Then the acorns are passed through a meat grinder and the resulting mass is dried, scattering a thin layer on plywood. After preliminary drying in the air, the acorns are dried in the oven until they crunch like crackers. Dried acorns are crushed or ground in a coffee mill. With coarse grinding, cereals are obtained, from which you can cook porridge, from flour - bake cakes.

Acorn flour (recipe for besieged Leningrad).
“... Peeled acorns, cut into 4-5 parts and pour water. Soak for two days, changing the water 3 times a day. Then fill the acorns with double the volume of clean water and put on fire. At the first sign of boiling, drain the water, pass the acorns through a meat grinder. Scatter the resulting mass in a thin layer to dry in the air, and then in the oven. Grind the dried mass in a coffee mill.
When the mill is set to coarse grinding, cereals are obtained for porridge, and when set to a finer setting, flour is obtained for cakes.

Acorn milk soup.
Pour the acorn grits in a thin stream into boiling water, stirring all the time, cook until the grits are ready, then add milk, sugar, salt and bring the soup to a boil.
When serving, put a piece of butter in a bowl with soup.
For 30 g of acorn grits - 250 ml of milk, 5 g of sugar, 5 g of butter, 2 g of salt.

Sweet cakes made from acorn flour.
Boil sour cream, pour acorn flour into it, boil slightly, remove from the stove and cool. Add grated cheese, sugar to the resulting mass, mix well, cut the cakes and brown in a pan.
For 15 g of acorn flour - 10 g of cheese, 25 g of sour cream, ½ egg, 5 g of sugar, fat.

So the ancient Greek writer Pliny the Elder called the oak. In general, in ancient Greece, the oak was considered the oldest tree on earth and was dedicated to the god of the sun, science and art, Apollo.

The oak owes its Latin name to the ancient Romans, which translates as "red (beautiful) tree." The Romans dedicated the oak to Jupiter, awarded their heroes with wreaths of oak branches and considered it a symbol of power. And the ancient Slavs dedicated the tree to their supreme god - Perun, on the day of Ivan Kupala they decorated the heads of Ivanov with wreaths, and under this tree they made sacrifices, held court and organized festivities.

About 600 species of oaks are described in science, of which 20 grow in the territory former USSR. The most common in Russia is the pedunculate oak, which is also common. It can be found in the northern latitudes, and in the steppe zone. But from the east of the country to the west there is a gap where oak does not grow - Siberia. Mongolian oak is found in Primorye, in the Caucasus - Iberian oak and oriental oak.

Patriarch of the Forest
The oak was called the patriarch of the forest by the Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. Indeed, this tree is rightfully considered one of the oldest plants. Archaeologists find acorns and oak wood during excavations of settlements dating back to 3-5 millennium BC. In addition, the oak is distinguished by longevity, and many oak trees are protected by the state as natural monuments.

The oldest oak known to scientists grows in Lithuania near the village of Stelmuzhe - it is over 2000 years old. His younger known brother is 1500 years old and grows up in Armenia. According to legend, it was planted in 449 by Vardan Mamikonyan, a famous Armenian commander, before the battle. In Ukraine, an oak grows, which is more than 800 years old - in the village of Upper Khortitsa, in Zaporozhye. They say that it was under him that the Cossacks wrote a letter to the Turkish Sultan. And in Moscow's Ostankino and Kolomenskoye there are whole oak forests, oaks in which are more than 600 years old!

The vitality of oak is amazing. In Japan, archaeologists have found an acorn that is 3,800 years old. When the acorn was planted, it sprouted! The tree, growing under the supervision of scientists, develops normally, it has already reached an impressive size.

Other oaks grew somewhat larger, which were planted by various famous figures in different countries peace. So, in America, an oak tree grows on the grave of the first US President George Washington. Many Russian writers loved this plant and gladly planted them in their estates. Among them are L. N. Tolstoy and I. S. Turgenev. A.P. Chekhov liked to rest in the shade of an oak, and Lermontov called oaks "sentinels of the century." On April 14, 1961, in honor of the first manned flight into space, an oak was planted in the Kremlin, which was even given a name - Cosmos.

Poets and writers, artists and sculptors did not ignore the oak. What are only the descriptions of the oak tree in L. N. Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" or Shishkin's painting "In the middle of a flat valley ..."!

The oak (or acorn) was the emblem of the Popes from the Rovere dynasty - Sixtus IV and Julius II, who patronized Raphael, who painted an acorn on the frescoes in the Vatican Stanzas as the emblem of Pope Julius.

What is the connection between oak and ancient manuscripts?
Oaks are loved not only for their carved beautiful foliage and amazing fruits. Oak is a plant very useful for humans, which is used in medicine, industry, and food.

Oak wood is very strong, so it is used to build houses, the most durable and beautiful parquet is made from oak, oak furniture is valued. This wood does not deteriorate when in contact with water, moreover, it becomes harder, acquires a black color and, after a long stay in water, becomes especially valuable for the manufacture of furniture.

The bark of young oaks that have not yet reached the age of 20 is collected and used in medicine. It contains gallic and ellagic acid, tannins (up to 20% in bark, and 4-6% in wood). The bark is harvested when the buds open in spring.

The bark is collected only from young trees subject to sanitary felling, the trunk diameter of which does not exceed 20 cm. First, they are carried out along the branch with a sharp knife, and then circular cuts are made across the branch every 25-30 cm. The removed bark is laid out under sheds and dried. Store prepared raw materials in dry rooms for up to 5 years.

Bark decoction: 2 tbsp. put spoons of bark in an emulated pan, pour a glass of boiling water, cover and heat for half an hour, then cool, strain and add boiled water to the original volume. Store the decoction in a cool place for no more than 2 days.

Since ancient times, scabies, lichen, frostbite, external bleeding, even cholera, scurvy, rickets and mushroom poisoning have been externally treated with a decoction of the bark! With weak, bleeding gums and stomatitis, rinse the mouth with a decoction of oak bark. A decoction of the bark is also used for sweating of the hands and feet, for rinsing with halitosis.

For cosmetic purposes, it is useful to wipe oily skin with a decoction of oak bark.

Oak bark decoctions are drunk as an astringent, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and hemostatic agent for heavy menstruation, stomach and intestinal bleeding. It is also used for diseases of the liver, spleen, gynecological diseases, pyelonephritis, diarrhea, dysentery.

In the leather industry, oak bark is valued for its tannin content, which is used in the processing of leather, making it waterproof, supple and durable. The process of processing leather even got a name from the name of oak - "tanning".

Oak fruits - acorns - are known for their high ornamental properties to every child. But now few people know that once a person used leaves for his own benefit.

If you look closely at the leaves, you can find nuts on them below - galls (growing as a result of damage to the leaves by the nut washer).

These are the ones our ancient ancestors learned to use. The Gauls were collected, dried, mixed with iron sulphate and thus obtained a very durable black paint, which has been preserved in ancient manuscripts to this day.

Galls are also used for medicinal purposes: baths and lotions from them (1 tablespoon of raw materials per 1 liter of water is brewed with boiling water, boiled for 5 minutes, insisted, filtered) promote hair growth, help with skin diseases - burns, lichen, etc. ,

Gauls are collected, brewed and drunk as a tea in a bite with lump sugar or honey. Green and unripe galls are most useful. But remember: galls are dangerous in large numbers. Single dose - no more than 3 g!

The first bread plant
We have already mentioned acorns, but they deserve to take a closer look at them, because they are truly priceless. food product. Acorns are valued in France and England, and in these countries they know a lot about good cuisine!

How rich are acorns? They contain sugars, protein substances, fatty oil (up to 5%), up to 40% starch, tannins and quercetin glycoside. The last two substances owe acorns to the fact that modern people they are not very willing to put up with the use of acorns, meanwhile, already in ancient times, people knew that the bitterness imparted by quercetin and tannins is easily removed by heating.

Quercetin is poisonous, so you can’t eat acorns without heat treatment! But this substance is harmless to animals, so acorns are a favorite delicacy for many of them.

Knowing the composition of acorns, you are not at all surprised that scientists have come to an unambiguous conclusion: “The first“ bread plant ”must be considered not modern cereals - rye and wheat, but the same oak.” Archaeological finds testify that already more than 5 thousand years ago people baked bread from acorns ground into flour.

To make flour from acorns, they are harvested after the first frost. The peel is removed from the acorns, the fruit is cut into several parts and soaked in water for two days, changing it 3 times a day. On the third day, the water is drained, poured with fresh water so that it is twice as high as the fruit, and put on fire. As soon as the first signs of boiling appear, the water is drained, the acorns are cooled and passed through a meat grinder. After that, the groats are scattered in a thin layer and dried in air. Dry in the oven. Completely dried acorns are ground in a coffee grinder. If the grinding is not very long, you get cereal for porridge, and if you grind the grains into powder, then there will be flour from which you can bake pancakes, pies, bread, etc., if you add 1/10 of ordinary wheat flour.

Porridge is cooked according to the recipe for wheat or buckwheat porridge.

In Soviet times, on sale you could find the Coffee drink, which included acorn powder. It was considered by many to be a surrogate for coffee and contemptuously referred to as "acorn coffee". And in vain, because in terms of nutritional content it surpasses “real Brazilian coffee”! And besides, it is very useful.

Doctors prescribe acorn coffee twice a day for children with rickets and scrofula, as well as for people suffering from nervous disorders and cardiovascular diseases.

To prepare coffee powder, acorns are first peeled, then cut into 3-4 parts, dried in the oven, and then fried in a pan like seeds, making sure that the mass does not burn. When the cereal becomes brittle, it is ground in a coffee grinder, and then brewed and drunk like regular coffee.

It is also worth mentioning that oak leaves can be used for salting and pickling vegetables: 20 g of leaves per three-liter jar - and delicious cucumbers will be well stored all winter.

Hold on to the oak, it's deep into the ground
How to grow oak in your area? It is worth preparing for the fact that this long process, a mighty tree will not grow immediately: in the first 18-20 years, the tree grows very slowly upwards, up to 40 cm per year (but a powerful root system develops, going to 40 years to a depth of 10 m) , and the first harvest will please only after 60-80 years - in these years it blooms for the first time.

Growing an oak tree is no easy task. Questions begin immediately - where is it better to take acorns for planting, when to sow them, how to care for plantings?

Acorns are harvested immediately after ripening in the same area where the tree is going to be grown, otherwise the tree will be weakened and may die. Guaranteed acorns can germinate within a year, then the possibility of germination is sharply reduced. Healthy acorns stay on trees longer than others. For planting, it is recommended to take the largest acorns, with no signs of damage by pests and mold, from strong large trees.

The collected acorns must be dried to such a state that the acorn dries up inside, but the plush - the “cap” does not separate.

Acorns can be planted in autumn or spring. It is better for gardeners to carry out this work in the fall, since there will be no time in the spring - you need to plant a garden, not up to oaks; besides, acorns are very difficult to keep until spring: they need a certain temperature, humidity, good aeration. True, during autumn planting, there is a high risk of death of the seedling from waterlogging (acorns become moldy) or from mouse-like rodents that will gladly eat the acorns found, so it is better to sow two acorns in one hole. After germination, one seedling can be removed or transplanted.

If you want to get a guaranteed result, then sow acorns in boxes of sand. It is in this substrate that the seedling adapts better to adverse conditions (grows in the dark, tolerates waterlogging and sharp temperature fluctuations). Store boxes in the basement at a temperature of 0 ° and good ventilation. In spring, seedlings must be protected from the wind and from night frosts. Care consists in removing weeds and watering if necessary.

It is best to transplant a seedling at the age of one. Oak gives a tap root, which quickly grows to great depths. If you are late with a transplant, then the root will be damaged, which will necessarily negatively affect the growth of the tree. When transplanting, it is necessary to keep a clod of earth on the roots to avoid damage to the roots.

When landing in a permanent place, it is worth considering the requirements of oak: it needs light and some protection from the wind, especially at first. In this regard, it is better to plant an oak from the southwestern or southern side of the house, taking into account that in a few years the tree will grow and may cover part of the garden with its crown. Think about this in advance, because the seedling will have to grow in this place for at least three hundred years, it will be a pity to uproot it later, and it simply will not survive the transplant.

As far as soil requirements are concerned, oak is best suited to loam, although it can also grow on dry sandy loam. This powerful tree tolerates salinity, flooding and soil compaction. Very drought tolerant.

In general, the oak is unpretentious and, when it outgrows the "infant" age (3-5 years), it grows without requiring special care.

If you manage to "agree" with the oak, it will not only restore your strength, but also take care of your descendants up to the fifth generation - the ancient Slavs believed in this ...