Of Trees, Coins and Wishing!

Here I was, one evening, looking for a new rabbit hole, when a friend kindly obliged (you know who you are!!) by asking me why do people put money in a tree, accompanied by the picture of a tree trunk riddled with coins. Well, ain’t that a good question!

Imagine Thumper excitingly thumping away or more exactly typing away.

“Coin trees” or “coin logs”, whereby coins are studded into logs, are indeed a thing. Interestingly, this seems to be a very British tradition that is mostly found in Scotland, Northern England, and Wales. This is where the consensus stops though. How old is this tradition seems to be subject to some debates. Apparently, the first recorded instance where a fallen branch had coins hammered in, seems to date to the 1700’s in Scotland near Argyll. Queen Victoria mentioned such a tree near Gairloch in the Highlands in one of her diary entries. You might also want to stop on the Isle Maree in Scotland, at the ruins of Saint Maelrubha, where such a tree can be found.

One important note, if you are thinking of giving it a go, know that forcing coins into a living tree can actually kill it by metal poisoning. Yes, this is a thing, and same happens if you keep using a live tree for shooting practice. There is at least one report of a wishing oak who suffered such fate in the Highlands (with coins, not bullets!). So, feel free to make your wish and stud a dead log or dead stump. Live trees are off limits, people!

Alright, so we know where and we kind of know when, but why would people force coins in the bark of trees?

Well apparently, the tradition is that you could rid yourself of an illness by hammering a coin into a tree and if someone took a coin out from one of the trees, they would fall ill. This then evolved with people believing that they would be granted a wish if they drove a coin past the bark into the tree’s wood. Getting to the bottom of where this started seems pretty much impossible, as it might predate written history even though one would assume that it can’t predate the existence of coins, which are supposed to have appeared around 6th or 5th century BCE. That got me thinking whether the coin might have replaced a nail before the issuance of currency. Well, I got the idea right, as there are such things as nail trees, however that practice seems to date from Medieval times, and is mostly found in France, Belgium, Austria and Germany, with the most famous tree of all being the Stock im Eisen (technically a cross section of the actual tree) located in Austria.

Speaking of nails, it appears there is a practice called tree spiking, where a metal rod, nail or other material is pushed into a tree trunk, “either inserting it at the base of the trunk where a logger might be expected to cut into the tree, or higher up where it would affect the sawmill later processing the wood. It is used to prevent logging by risking damage to saws, in the forest or at the mill, if the tree is cut, as well as possible injury or death to the worker”. This practice is illegal in the United States and is considered a form of eco-terrorism.

So, we have a coin tree, a nail tree, tree spiking, what else?

Next, we have the Clootie Trees (I know this sounds a little bit like an STD, but it is not!). This is a tree where small strips of cloth, ribbons or prayer beads are tied to, as a healing ritual or to wish for good health. Such trees are usually found growing beside holy wells (also called clootie wells) or at sacred sites. They are most common in Scotland, Ireland and Cornwall.

If you want to give it a go, remember that the material must be one that easily wither away and is biodegradable. A textile that doesn’t do that will simply strangle the tree as it grows, damaging it. Think pure cotton or hemp for example.

Finally, there is the wish tree, which is usually distinguished by species, location or appearance, used as an object of wishes and offerings. Such trees are identified as possessing a special religious or spiritual value. I guess this makes all the previous type of trees wish trees! Yes, I do realise I could have started by defining the wish tree and then introducing the different categories. Next time, people!

As stated above, it is not unusual to find a wish tree near a well, which leads us to wishing well, which is a term from European folklore to describe wells where it was thought that any spoken wish would be granted, provided a price was paid. Some legends indicate that if the coin landed heads up, the guardian of the well would grant the wish, but the wish of a tails up coin would be ignored. The power attributed to such location came from the notion that water housed deities or had been placed there as a gift from the gods. This practice is thought to have arisen because water is a source of life and was often a scarce commodity.

Yet another side note, while the coins used several centuries ago might have had antibacterial properties, it is absolutely not the case of modern coins. Throwing modern coins in water sources is actually a source of pollution.

Whether it be coins or nails, it seems the key aspects was that each were rare commodities for people. They therefore had a significant value, making them perfect for votive offering, which is the practice of displaying or depositing one or more objects, with the intention to leave said object in-situ, in a sacred place, and gain the favour of gods or supernatural entities.

In Europe, votive deposits can be found from as early as the Neolithic, with polished axe hoards, reaching a peak in the late Bronze Age. In Mesoamerica, votive deposits have been recovered from the Olmec site of El Manati (dated to 1600–1200 BC) and the Maya Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza (850–1550 AD).

If you are curious about when was the first wish ever made, well I’m afraid I can’t help. Whichever human did it first, wasn’t mindful enough to leave a note.

So, let me summarise: there are lots of places and ways to make a wish, all of them different but all of them based on the principle that you need to give something of value to you, something you are sacrificing, in order for your wish to be granted. If you have wishes, just find a place and a way that has meaning to you and give something away.

Good luck and remember to be mindful of the environment!

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