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Author
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Comment
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sabrinazhouyz
Unregistered User
(12/4/04 12:00 am)
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Help! What is the symbolic meaning of the tree?
I am writing a paper about Cinderella, which is about the ues of magic of Cinderella. I found in several versions, they always talk about the branch of the tree. I am quite interested about it, but I cannot find any resourses about the symbolic meaning of the tree. So would you give me some suggestions?That is very urgent!
Many thanks!
My E-mail:
sabrina_zhou_yz@yahoo.com.cn
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redtriskell
Registered User
(12/4/04 12:30 am)
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Re: Help! What is the symbolic meaning of the tree?
In the versions I know that use the tree Cinderella plants, it represents the spirit of her dead mother. Sometimes it's even planted on the grave and the branch functions in place of the fairy godmother. It becomes the thing that guides and helps Cinderella. The fairy godmother bit was added later. Good luck.
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Crceres
Unregistered User
(12/4/04 10:30 am)
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Cinderella's tree
In Grimms' version of the story, the tree was watered by her tears at her mother's grave, and when it provided help when she needed it. Mainly it was the deus ex machina, I think--the magic element in the story. In the versions I've seen, it was planted from a hazel twig, so you might try looking up the significance of hazel wood.
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MadFae
Registered User
(12/4/04 11:17 am)
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Re: Cinderella's tree
Hi. This is my first post. I found this link...it's rife with typos but seems to have a lot of information about the hazel tree. I hope it's ok to post URLs here. Here ya go:
www.druidry.org/obod/trees/hazel.html
Good luck!
MadFae
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Kerrie
Moderator
(12/4/04 6:09 pm)
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Barbara's Branch...
As I read your post, I was reminded of the legend of Barbara's Branch. Saint Barbara was the daughter of a pagan king who kept his daughter locked in a tower whenever he went away (Rapunzel, anyone?) to keep her a virgin. Among other events of her impisonment, she found a dried cherry tree branch in her cell and watered it with some of her drinking water each day. The branch bloomed a few days before her execution.
Now, I have found some sources that say she never existed, but the story and the German tradition of bringing a cherry branch (or any flowering branch, though the cherry branch is the norm) into the home on December 4th went on (supposedly if it blooms befoer Christmas, it symbolizes either good luck or that an unmarried woman will marry in the next year).
The latest version by the Grimms does mention a hazel branch:
www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm021.html
but the original does not:
www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0510a.html#grimm
The French version mentions a birch branch:
www.pitt.edu/~dash/type05...l#perrault
Who knows, maybe it was cherry. ;)
Forest frosts,
Kerrie
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redtriskell
Registered User
(12/11/04 2:56 am)
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hazels and birches
It's funny how things go. I've recently been reading a lot about trees, so it's in my head floating around with all the other weird stuff I know for no apparent reason that the hazel usually symbolizes wisdom and creativity. Appropriate for the story it seems. And the birch usually represents inception, the sun, and/or rebirth. I suppose the rebirth angle could be applied to Cinderella, as she is transformed in the course of the tale.
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