#168 Wish Tree 🎄 | 许愿树

Greetings everyone! Today I’m going on sharing my stories about Christmas. It’s also my entry to @aaronli’s A City a Story contest themed “Christmas”.

3 years ago, I was living in Santiago de Chile. On a hot day around Christmas, I walked into a post office to buy stamps to send out my greeting cards. Just when I entered the office, I saw this special Christmas tree standing inside, and it’s made of paper boxes. In each box, there’s a kid’s drawing and/or writing expressing their wishes. Pretty creative, right? =)

It reminds me of the Wish Tree Project by Yoko Ono. I first got to know her project in Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark. The museum provided white pieces of paper for visitors to write down wishes (see my picture below). Later these notes were tied around a branch of a Wish Tree. Wishes from different countries have been stored in the Wishing Well of the Imagine Peace Tower.

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At Japan’s Tanabata festival, people write wishes on pieces of paper and hang them on bamboo trees, in hope that the tall straight bamboo send the wishes to heaven.

I’m not sure if Yoko Ono was inspired by this festival, but it’s fascinating that a tree is commonly seen as a natural sanctuary in many cultures, and it’s identified as having a special traditional or spiritual significance. Trees are believed to be antennae for divine energies related to the heavens. People come to some selected trees to make wishes or offerings, in the form of coins, notes, fabrics, flowers…

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It’s said that Native Americans pay respects to a ponderosa pine tree. They would hang objects like ribbon, meat, tobacco and coins on its branches to honor it. Sounds familiar? Perhaps this is the early Christmas tree? ;)

When I lived in Queensland of Australia, I saw plenty tall Bunya Pine trees. They bear significant cultural connections to the indigenous groups too. When it’s harvest time, the originals came from all over to celebrate Bunya festival around these native trees. To them, these sacred trees did not only provide food, fuel and shelter, but also make their dreams come true.

Hi大家好~ 今天继续圣诞树主题……

3年前的圣诞期间，智利首都，烈日炎炎。那天，我走进市中心的邮局买邮票寄贺卡。刚走进大门，就在大厅一角看到上面这棵独特的圣诞树，这些红白相间的纸盒里，装着孩子们许下的心愿。或画或写，寄望于树，私以为这种用许愿树庆祝圣诞的方式还挺新颖的，你觉得呢？下面几张照片也是在这个邮局拍下的 — 许愿树旁边的大厅里，人们在写信看信，四周的墙上展示着圣诞主题的邮票。

我又想到小野洋子在世界各地发起的许愿树活动，5年多前我在丹麦的路易斯安那现代艺术馆看到她的个展，提供了很多许愿纸条（右图），供访问者写下愿望，会挂在树上。最后，收集了世界各地一百多万张许愿单，存放在小野洋子在冰岛设计的梦想和平塔的许愿井中。

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不知道小野有没有受到日本七夕节许愿树的启发，总之，世界各地文化中对树木的自然崇拜还是有着共通之处的。古人觉得树木直指天际，就像通向天堂的天线，可以帮助人类实现自己的愿望。所以，在全球的很多国家，都有寄望于树的传统，比如，我在澳洲的住处附近有很多大叶南洋杉，被土著居民视为神树，有专门的节日来庆丰收、祈愿等。还有北美土著心目中的圣树黄松，树枝上会被他们挂满丝带、烟草、肉类、硬币等以表敬意、供奉神灵。~~难道，这就是传说中圣诞树的由来？！~~

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In the hall next to this wishing tree, there were children working on their wish letters and post office staff receiving them: