Editing World tree (section)

==General description==
=== Diffusion ===
Scholarship states that many [[Eurasia]]n mythologies share the motif of the "world tree", "cosmic tree", or "Eagle and Serpent Tree".<ref name=Annus2009>{{cite journal|last1=Annus|first1=Amar|title=Review Article. The Folk-Tales of Iraq and the Literary Traditions of Ancient Mesopotamia|journal=Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions|date=2009|volume=9|issue=1|pages=87–99|doi=10.1163/156921209X449170}}</ref> More specifically, it shows up in "Haitian, Finnish, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Norse, Siberian and northern Asian Shamanic folklore".<ref name=Crews2003>{{cite journal|last1=Crews|first1=Judith|title=Forest and tree symbolism in folklore|journal=Unasylva|date=2003|issue=213|pages=37–43|url=https://www.fao.org/3/y9882e/y9882e08.htm|oclc=210755951}}</ref>

=== Tripartite division of the world ===
The World Tree is often identified with the ''Tree of Life'',<ref name=Lintrop2001>{{cite journal|last1=Lintrop|first1=Aado|title=The Great Oak and Brother-Sister|journal=Folklore|date=2001|volume=16|pages=35–58|doi=10.7592/FEJF2001.16.oak2|doi-access=free}}</ref> and also fulfills the role of an ''[[axis mundi]]'', that is, a centre or axis of the world.<ref name="Toporov 1990 46–63 48">{{cite journal |last=Toporov |first=V. |author-link=Vladimir Toporov |title=The Thracian Horseman in an Indo-European Perspective |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=772269 |journal=ORPHEUS. Journal of Indo-European and Thracian Studies |volume=18 |date=1990 |pages=46–63 [48]}}</ref><ref name=Crews2003/> It is also located at the center of the world and represents order and harmony of the cosmos.<ref name="lituanistika.lt">Senkutė, Loreta. "[https://www.lituanistika.lt/content/45631 Varuna "Rigvedoje" ir dievo įvaizdžio sąsajos su velniu baltų mitologijoje]" [God Varuna o f the Rigveda as related to images in ancient Baltic mythology]. In: ''Rytai-Vakarai: Komparatyvistinés Studijos XII''. pp. 366–367. {{ISBN|9789955868552}}.</ref> According to Loreta Senkute, each part of the tree corresponds to one of the three spheres of the world (treetops – heavens; trunk – middle world or earth; roots – underworld) and is also associated with a classical element (top part – [[fire]]; middle part – [[earth]], soil, ground; bottom part – [[water]]).<ref name="lituanistika.lt"/>

Its branches are said to reach the skies and its roots to connect the human or earthly world with an underworld or subterranean realm. Because of this, the tree was worshipped as a mediator between Heavens and Earth.<ref>Usačiovaitė, Elvyra. "[https://www.lituanistika.lt/content/5648 Gyvybės medžio simbolika Rytuose ir Vakaruose]" [Symbolism of the Tree of Life in the East and the West; Life tree symbols in the East and West]. In: ''Kultūrologija'' [Culturology]. 2005, t. 12, p. 313. {{ISSN|1822-2242}}.</ref> On the treetops are located the luminaries ([[star]]s) and heavenly bodies,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Toporov |first=V. |author-link=Vladimir Toporov |title=The Thracian Horseman in an Indo-European Perspective |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=772269 |journal=ORPHEUS. Journal of Indo-European and Thracian Studies |volume=18 |date=1990 |pages=46–63 [48] |quote=The ''top'' [of the World Tree] is correlated ... with celestial and astral symbols: the Sun and the Moon, usually placed symmetrically above the tree, on the right and on the left, less frequently stars.}}</ref> along with an eagle's nest; several species of birds perch among its branches; humans and animals of every kind live under its branches, and near the root is the dwelling place of snakes and every sort of reptiles.<ref name="Straižys, Vytautas 1997">{{cite journal|last1=Straižys|first1=Vytautas|last2=Klimka|first2=Libertas|title=The Cosmology of the Ancient Balts|journal=Journal for the History of Astronomy|date=February 1997|volume=28|issue=22|pages=S57–S81|doi=10.1177/002182869702802207|s2cid=117470993}}</ref><ref name=Kuperjanov2002>{{cite journal|last1=Kuperjanov|first1=Andres|title=Names in Estonian Folk Astronomy - from 'Bird's Way' to 'Milky Way'|journal=Folklore|date=2002|volume=22|pages=49–61|doi=10.7592/FEJF2002.22.milkyway|doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Motifs ===
The imagery of the World Tree is sometimes associated with conferring immortality, either by a fruit that grows on it or by a springsource located nearby.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Paliga|first1=Rodica|title=Le motif du passage. La sémiotique de l'impact culturel pré-indoeuropéen et indoeuropéen|journal=Dialogues d'histoire ancienne|date=1994|volume=20|issue=2|pages=11–19|doi=10.3406/dha.1994.2172|url=http://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/dha_0755-7256_1994_num_20_2_2172.pdf}}</ref><ref name=Lintrop2001/> As George Lechler also pointed out, in some descriptions this "water of life" may also flow from the roots of the tree.<ref name="The Tree of Life in Indo-European a">{{cite journal|last1=Lechler|first1=George|title=The Tree of Life in Indo-European and Islamic Cultures|journal=Ars Islamica|date=1937|volume=4|pages=369–419|jstor=25167048}}</ref>

==== Zoological imagery ====
According to [[Vladimir Toporov]], animal species are commonly distributed along the parts of the tree: between its roots, figure "chthonic animals", such as snakes and frogs, but he also mentions [[aquatic animals]] such as otters, beavers, and fishes, as well as dragons; the middle part of the tree is reserved for hoofed animals such as deer or elk (sometimes bees), and on the topmost part perches the "principal" bird, or a pair of birds sat on either side of the tree crown.<ref name="Toporov 1990 46–63 48"/>

A bird perches atop its foliage, "often .... a winged mythical creature" that represents a heavenly realm.<ref name="Annus, Amar 2015. pp. 289-290">Annus, Amar & Sarv, Mari. "The Ball Game Motif in the Gilgamesh Tradition and International Folklore". In: ''Mesopotamia in the Ancient World: Impact, Continuities, Parallels. Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium of the Melammu Project Held in Obergurgl, Austria, November 4–8, 2013''. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag – Buch- und Medienhandel GmbH. 2015. pp. 289–290. {{ISBN|978-3-86835-128-6}}.</ref><ref name=Lintrop2001/> The [[eagle]] seems to be the most frequent bird, fulfilling the role of a creator or weather deity.<ref name=Norelius2016>{{cite journal|last1=Norelius|first1=Per-Johan|title=The Honey-Eating Birds and the Tree of Life: Notes on Ṛgveda 1.164.20–22|journal=Acta Orientalia|date=2016|volume=77|pages=3–70–3–70|doi=10.5617/ao.5356|s2cid=166166930|doi-access=free}}</ref> Its antipode is a snake or serpentine creature that crawls between the tree roots, being a "symbol of the underworld".<ref name="Annus, Amar 2015. pp. 289-290"/><ref name=Lintrop2001/>

===Similar motifs===
The World Tree has also been compared to a World Pillar that appears in other traditions and functions as separator between the earth and the skies, upholding the latter.<ref>{{cite book|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199680795.003.0009|chapter=What is a 'World Tree', and Should We Expect to Find One Growing in Anglo-Saxon England?|title=Trees and Timber in the Anglo-Saxon World|year=2013|last1=Tolley|first1=Clive|pages=177–185|isbn=978-0-19-968079-5}}</ref> Another representation akin to the World Tree is a separate World Mountain. However, in some stories, the world tree is located atop the world mountain, in a combination of both motifs.<ref name="lituanistika.lt"/>

A conflict between a serpentine creature and a giant bird (an eagle) occurs in Eurasian mythologies: a hero kills the serpent that menaces a nest of little birds, and their mother repays the favor – a motif comparativist Julien d'Huy dates to the Paleolithic. A parallel story is attested in the traditions of the [[indigenous peoples of the Americas]], where the [[Thunderbird (mythology)|thunderbird]] is slotted into the role of the giant bird whose nest is menaced by a "snake-like water monster".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=d'Huy|first1=Julien|title=Première reconstruction statistique d'un rituel paléolithique : autour du motif du dragon|journal=Nouvelle Mythologie Comparée|date=18 March 2016|issue=3|pages=http://nouvellemythologiecomparee.hautetfort.com/archive/2016/03/18/julien|url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01452430/|language=fr}}</ref><ref>Hatt, Gudmund (1949). ''[http://publ.royalacademy.dk/books/248/1508?lang=da Asiatic influences in American folklore]''. København: I kommission hos ejnar Munksgaard, p. 37.</ref>

===Relation to shamanism===
Romanian historian of religion, [[Mircea Eliade]], in his monumental work ''[[Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy]]'', suggested that the world tree was an important element in [[shamanism|shamanistic]] worldview.<ref name=Fournet2020>{{cite journal|last1=Fournet|first1=Arnaud|title=Shamanism in Indo-European Mythologies|journal=Archaeoastronomy and Ancient Technologies|date=2020|volume=8|issue=1|pages=12–29|url=https://aaatec.org/documents/article/fournetar2.pdf}}</ref> Also, according to him, "the giant bird ... hatches shamans in the branches of the World Tree".<ref name=Fournet2020/> Likewise, Roald Knutsen indicates the presence of the motif in [[Altaic shamanism]].<ref name="Knutsen Cultic Symbols">{{cite book|doi=10.1163/9789004218024_007|chapter=Cultic Symbols|title=Tengu|year=2011|pages=43–50|isbn=978-1-906876-22-7|first1=Roald|last1=Knutsen}}</ref> Representations of the world tree are reported to be portrayed in [[drum]]s used in Siberian shamanistic practices.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hultkrantz|first1=Åke|title=The drum in Shamanism: some reflections|journal=[[Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis]]|date=1991|volume=14|doi=10.30674/scripta.67194|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Some species of birds ([[eagle]], [[raven]], [[Crane (bird)|crane]], [[loon]], and [[lark]]) are revered as mediators between worlds and also connected to the imagery of the world tree.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Balzer|first1=Marjorie Mandelstam|title=Flights of the Sacred: Symbolism and Theory in Siberian Shamanism|journal=American Anthropologist|date=1996|volume=98|issue=2|pages=305–318|doi=10.1525/aa.1996.98.2.02a00070|jstor=682889}}</ref> Another line of scholarship points to a "recurring theme" of the [[owl]] as the mediator to the upper realm, and its counterpart, the snake, as the mediator to the lower regions of the cosmos.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Eastham|first1=Anne|title=Magdalenians and Snowy Owls ; bones recovered at the grotte de Bourrouilla (Arancou, Pyrénées Atlantiques)/Les Magdaléniens et la chouette harfang : la Grotte de Bourrouilla, Arancou (Pyrénées Atlantiques)|journal=Paléo|date=1998|volume=10|issue=1|pages=95–107|doi=10.3406/pal.1998.1131|url=http://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/pal_1145-3370_1998_num_10_1_1131.pdf}}</ref>

Researcher Kristen Pearson mentions Northern Eurasian and Central Asian traditions wherein the World Tree is also associated with the [[horse]] and with [[deer antlers]] (which might resemble tree branches).<ref>Pearson, Kristen. ''[http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp269_horse_myths.pdf Chasing the Shaman's Steed: The Horse in Myth from Central Asia to Scandinavia]''. Sino-Platonic Papers nr. 269. May, 2017.</ref>

===Possible origins===
Mircea Eliade proposed that the typical imagery of the world tree (bird at the top, snake at the root) "is presumably of Oriental origin".<ref name=Fournet2020/> Likewise, Roald Knutsen indicates a possible origin of the motif in [[Central Asia]] and later diffusion into other regions and cultures.<ref name="Knutsen Cultic Symbols"/>