The Tree as a Kinship Symbol
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8934208 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Claire Russell (0000-0002-6748-9301, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1979 |
| Volume | 90 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 217-233 |
| Publication date | 1979-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Folklore (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0015-587X • E-ISSN: 1469-8315 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/0015587x.1979.9716144 |
| OpenAlex | W2005499448 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 6 |
FOLK symbols, like dream symbols, can have many interpretations. I believe one particular set of meanings, namely those connected with kinship, has been neglected in the past, and I have begun to explore a number of specific images as kinship symbols. The pre-Christian cross is the oldest symbol in the world, being engraved on a pebble found in a Hungarian site carbon-dated to about 31,000 B.C.;1 I have shown that this can be a visual symbol of a symmetrical mating system, just as we speak of cross-breeding.2 I have also shown that a set of teeth may stand for a set of kinsfolk,3 and that the labyrinth symbol can refer to the mysteries of a kinship network, especially an alien one.4 Finally, W. M. S. Russell and I have explored a number of kinship symbolisms associated with 'the complex of beliefs and behaviour called totemism'.s In this paper I shall explore the tree as a kinship symbol. I have already observed that 'the Christmas tree . .. stands for the family-it is a family tree',6 and I shall now enlarge upon this idea. For brevity, I shall not refer to the many earlier studies of tree symbolism except when they bear directly on my kinship interpretation. I shall be concerned essentially with the tree in general, in the words of H. R. Ellis Davidson about the Scandinavian World Tree, as a 'fit symbol of the life of man continuing through the generations.'7
Combinatorics · Family tree · Genealogy · Kinship · Linguistics · Sociology · Symbol (formal · Tree (set theory · Anthropology · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · Historical and Archaeological Studies · History · Mathematics · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.05 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1988 - 2016 (29) |
| Highly cited | No |