Wish Trees are special places found in many different cultures around the world. People come to a Wish Tree to share their innermost dreams and wishes. The specific rituals differ from one country to the next, but all Wish Trees feel like magical places where people come to have their hopes and dreams come true.
The trees have been chosen specifically for a special traditional, spiritual, or cultural significance. Some even have festivals that revolve around them.
Why do we make wishes or say prayers to trees? Trees are nature’s deities. Trees are also natural sanctuaries and since man has lived on this earth, they have been appreciated and looked up to as sources of inspiration and beauty.
Many cultures thought trees were connected to the divine. If you look at the culture of Ireland, they had the Brehon law of the forest, and had all these rules about how to treat it. The forest was a sacred place. All over the world people have believed that trees are related to the heavens.
In early societies, trees were a source of food, fuel, and shelter. Often trees were also taller than nearly every man-made structure until the mid 1800s. And, since trees live much longer than humans, they became the focus of spirituality. – Source, The Telegraph UK
The tree is an eternal symbol of life, of strength, of wisdom, and of longevity. Above all, it knows how to adapt to this world, and survive – all the while making everything near it flourish.