Mythical Trees: Crash Course World Mythology #34

[@CuteDubuTokki]

In the Vietnamese myth, that was no ordinary rock, in fact it’s limestone (hence the white color). The limestone is made into a paste then eaten with the fruit (trầu in Vietnamese) and wrapped in the leaf (lá cau in vietnamese). The myth explains why there’s a tradition in Vietnam called ăn trầu (eating the fruit and leaves). It’s believed the leaves and the paste help kill bacteria and improve the immune system. Furthermore, overtime the chemical compounds stain the teeth a deep red (almost black) which was once considered to be very physically desirable, especially for women. Nowadays, only old people still practices the tradition (my grandma still does) while the young generations rarely do.

[@aubreyravenl]

Its addictive too right?

[@griffinbeaumont7049]

"we don't know how she feels, she's a tree now" LOL Legendary

[@necrisro]

laughed for like 2 mins like an idiot, 10/10 would bang again.

[@t_adams]

If he did what we think he did, #treelover, I think, "Bored", would be a good guess. What do you think?

[@DudeWhoSaysDeez]

Griffin Beaumont legen.... Dairy!

[@LongTran-yv2nq]

What a pleasant surprise to hear about Vietnamese mythology here! That story is very popular and is taught very early in school in Vietnam. It explains the one of the oldest tradition of Vietnamese people in which you would mix those ingredients and chew it, not actually eating it. It helps against bad breath and teeth decay. Nowadays you would mainly see older women doing it, and would invite each other when they meet just like men with cigarette. Keep up the good work CrashCourse!

[@elijahmikhail4566]

In certain Filipino mythologies, the bamboo is revered as the tree of life. There is a Maranao myth which tells the birth of the first humans. A sarimanok (a rainbow coloured chicken with psychic and creative powers) pecked a bamboo which split in half and bore the strong one and the beautiful one. The sarimanok took care of them as his children, and with the little powers he had left before he died, gave them the power to procreate.

[@artesiningart4961]

like Malakas at Maganda of the Tagalogs and Sikalak at Sikabay of the Bisaya...with the bird called "tigmamanukan" or "manaul" bird or that bird that made the heaven and sea fight with each other that formed the Philippine islands. :) In Philippine myths, men and women are created at the same time, no one is greater than the other, they equally came out of the bamboo tree/plant at the same time.....that's why men and women during the ancient times are equal in power.....men ruled over politics, families, government, and war....women ruled over children, education, culture, arts, and religion or worship...... women before can also be datu or tribe leaders.....women can be religious leaders like babaylan or katalonan and men can also be religious leaders too...... Our ancient past is very different from the story of Adam and Eve where Adam is like superior over Eve and where Eve is seen as the reason that Adam also eat the forbidden fruit. In Abrahamic faiths like Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, men is given more importance than women. Only men can lead and be religious leader, there are no women prophets, and Eve is just created because Adam is alone with all other animals having a pair. Women in these religions are seen as inferior to men, under to men, and subordinate to men..... but right now, women's rights, feminism, and gender equality is being fought by women around the world, because some men can be a bit of dictator, bad husband, or a bit naughty to women.

[@jeranangelfacal2421]

bamboo is a grass

[@tothboy01]

Here is a list I compiled of trees in mythology: In Egyptian mythology, Osiris and Isis were born from an acacia tree. The tamarisk tree is sacred to the Egyptian god Osiris. In the mythology of the Mongo-Nkundo people of the Congo basin in Africa, there is the founder and culture hero Lonkundo. Lonkundo had a wife named Ilankaka, who planted palm trees and harvested the nuts. For the Yoruba people of Nigeria in Africa, the palm tree was a precious gift from the sky god Olodumare. The cedar tree is sacred to the Sumerian god Dumuzi the Shepherd. In Sumerian mythology, there is the story of the goddess Inanna's Huluppu tree. She plants the tree in her temple at Uruk and plans to use it to make furniture when it is fully grown. But when that time comes she finds the tree inhabited by 3 demonic creatures: the Anzu bird, Lilit, and a mean serpent. Gilgamesh kills the serpent, which scares away the other two creatures. The tree is then cut down and Inanna uses it to make her sacred furniture. The royal palace of Ugarit (in ancient Canaan) in Syria was primarily made of stone and wood. So presumably the palace of the god Baal Hadad as well as the palace of the goddess Anath were also made out of stone and wood (i.e. trees). Adonis, who was a god among the Phoenician Canaanites, and a mortal among the Greeks and Romans, was miraculously born from a myrrh tree who happened to be his mother named Myrrha. The god Attis of Phrygia from modern-day Turkey (who was later adopted into Greek and Roman mythology) was conceived from a pomegranate tree and hanged on a pine tree. In Zoroastrian (i.e. Persian) mythology, there was the Primal Tree, which didn't require bark to protect its branches and had no thorns to defend its fruit, because the first creation had made an ideal state. In Arabian mythology, the goddess Al-Uzza (similar to the Mesopotamian goddess Inanna/Ishtar), was a goddess of acacia trees. In the Hindu myth of Krishna vs the serpent monster Kaliya, there is the Kadama Tree. In Buddhist mythology, the Buddha receives enlightenment underneath the Bodhi Tree. In the Chinese myth of the hero Yi the Archer, there are ten suns which live in the solar Mulberry Tree. The suns took turns appearing at the top of the tree. In Daoist mythology, the immortal Han Xiang is led to heaven to eat at the Peach Tree of Immortality by his teacher, the immortal Lu Dongbin. Han Xiang falls out of the peach tree but achieves immortality before he hits the ground. In the Korean myth of the hero Cumong, his son finds half of his father's sword at the base of a pine tree growing out of a heptagonal stone. In the mythology of the Dayak people of Borneo, after the universe is destroyed, only a maiden will remain, hidden in a rock or a tree. In Siberian mythology, there is an axis mundi world tree which rises up from the lower earth through the navel of the middle earth to the pole star. Sitting at the top of the tree are the sun and the moon, and the souls of the unborn live in its branches. In Greek mythology, the god Dionysus's blood was reborn as a pomegranate tree. Also, the pine tree was sacred to him. In Greek mythology, the hero Heracles's club is made out of an olive tree. In ancient Greece, the goddess Athena was considered to be the mother of pear trees. Also, olive trees were sacred to Athena. In ancient Greece, the cypress tree was sacred to the goddess Artemis. In the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts, their ship, the Argo, is made out of a sacred oak tree at the oracle of Zeus at Dodona. In Greek mythology, there is the story of Tantalus. He tested the gods by serving them the flesh of his own son to eat, and was punished by being made to suffer eternal thirst and hunger. He had to stand in a pool below a fruit-laden tree. The pool emptied each time Tantalus tried to drink the water, and the overhanging branches of the tree blew out of reach whenever he tried to grasp them for the fruit. In Norse mythology, the first man and woman were made out of trees. The first man, named Ask, was made out of an ash tree, and the first woman, named Embla, was made out of an elm tree. In Norse mythology, there was a flood of blood from the frost giant Ymir's veins which drowned all the frost giants except for Bergelmir (Ymir's grandson) and his wife, who escaped in a boat made from a tree trunk. In Norse mythology, the hero Sigurd removes Odin's sword from Branstock, an oak tree. In Welsh (i.e. Celtic) mythology, the woman Blodeuwedd is created out of an oak tree (among other things), and the hero Lleu Llaw Gyffes transforms into an eagle and perches on an oak tree. In Slavic mythology, the world was represented as a vast oak tree. The underworld was in its roots, and Veles, the dragon or serpent god of the underworld, was coiled among its roots. Perun, the sky and thunder god, was represented by an eagle that sat in the top branches of the tree. In Sami mythology from northern Europe, there are ruler sky gods such as Radien or Vearalden, whose sacred sites were marked by a stytto. A stytto was the symbol of a world tree or pillar that reached up to the North Star. In Mayan mythology from Mesoamerica, there is an axle or world tree - a green ceiba tree - which holds the universe together, including heaven, the underworld, and the compass directions of north, south, east, and west. In Aboriginal Australian mythology, there is the brothers Yuree and Wanjel (they are aka the Bram-Bram-Bult). Wanjel was bitten by a poisonous snake called Gertuk and died, and his brother Yuree resurrected Wanjel in the form of a tree trunk. In the mythology of the Banks Island people in Melanesia, a spirit named Qat created three men and three women out of a tree.

[@tothboy01]

Here are a few more myths about trees: In Norse mythology, the dart that killed the god Balder was made from a sharpened twig of mistletoe. Mistletoe comes from the oak tree. In Celtic mythology, Fagus was the god of beech trees. In the Slavic myth of Ivan and the Firebird, there was a tree that bore golden apples. In Slavic mythology, there is the evil character Koschei the Immortal. An oak tree contained a chest with his hidden soul. In the Slavic legend of the wood dove, a woodcutter is poisoned by his wife because she wanted to marry another man. A young oak tree took root at his grave. The Baltic sun goddess Saule is associated with the world oak tree, the saules koks ("sun tree"). Holly trees are associated with the German goddess Holle. Holly trees were sacred to the Roman god Saturn. The peach was sacred to the Roman god of marriage, Hymen. Peaches come from peach trees. In the Roman myth of Pyramus and Thisbe, Pyramus kills himself under a mulberry tree. In Greek mythology, the female character Pitys was changed into a fir tree when she ran away from Pan. The Greek god Hephaestus is a god of carpentry and is thus associated with wood/trees. The Egyptian god Ptah is a god of carpentry and is thus associated with wood/trees. In Jewish mythology, Absalom, the third son of King David, had his head caught in the branches of an oak tree as the mule he was riding on ran beneath it. In Jewish mythology, the Ark of the Covenant was made out of wood from the acacia tree. In Mayan mythology from Mesoamerica, the hero twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque were miraculously conceived when a gourd tree "god" spat on their mother, making her pregnant. In Mayan mythology from Mesoamerica, there are different races of humans. The 3rd race of humans had men that were made from wood (i.e. trees) and the women made from reeds. In Native American Navajo mythology, the character First Man created a tall mountain so the people could escape a flood. Then, on top of the mountain, he planted a cedar tree, a pine tree, a male reed, and then lastly a female reed.

[@MeleeTiger]

"tree molesting" ... not words you hear often.

[@andiachimnes5071]

Should've included the ceiba tree, very central to Maya mythology! It was used as a passageway into the heavens, like the Milky Way.

[@AirborneSurfer]

"'The Land of The Dead'--helluva place." Well done, sir.

[@madmonkee6757]

I love that statue of Apollo and Daphne. I believe it's by Bernini. I hear the leaves ring like bells if you strike them just right (but don't try it, because the staff at the Galleria Borghese will, quite rightly, kick you out.)

[@owenw.1643]

that vietnamese story was so touching 😭

[@microbuilder]

5:23 one might say, he got some wood

[@dlivingstonmcpherson]

eyyyyyyyyyy

[@WhaleManMan]

That Vietnamese story was a verified soap-opera.

[@chickknightgreenleaf820]

hah, I never thing about that story like that, now you mention it, it is kinda soap-opera

[@anknees2352]

Wait til u watch a vietnamese soap opera

[@Galistarwater]

Yeah, most of our myths tend to be like that...you should hear the one about the man who accidentally married his own sister and self-banished himself. The wife/sister never knew the truth and waited for him to come home for so long to the point that she was turned into a stone statue waiting for her love on the cliff...that is one big soap-opera.

[@themcgeefamily7514]

Crash Course: I believe you are a trusted source to teach information correctly. Can you host an ASL series, please?

[@llamehtevasnacew]

This show is so amazing, I wish it was taught in school.

[@daphnesinger6541]

Hearing/reading your name when it's somewhat uncommon is always a weird thing -a Daphne

[@SuperSuperballZ]

We will never know how Daphne felt about this outcome. She's a tree now. LMAO

[@ssppeellll]

"After some rather uncomfortable and unfortunate tree molesting ..." Seriously? You leave us with that? No details??? My mind is running wild now.

[@mr.dr.genius2169]

7:40 Looks like rain jackets are an older invention than we thought.

[@timeaesnyx]

Nobody important it is surprising

[@John-ko2lr]

No great deku tree?

[@codpov7700]

I love you Jesus

[@lilbasenji1]

Jesus ah man....

[@DWT1001]

I concur

[@D.V.McAwesome]

Soo....ur a genius...jesus? This you do not hear every day

[@Kakaze1]

I'm surprised you did not discuss baobab trees. They play major roles in many traditions.

[@woomy177]

this is my first video from crash course mythology and I was not expecting Rugnetta to be here

[@theokchannel2081]

Beware the Green! -Swamp thing

[@AUnicorn666]

Can you guys make a crash course mathematics, please?

[@joeyuzwa891]

I don’t think you realize how all encompassing mathematics is, nor how impossible it would be to try to explain all of those facets of mathematics.

[@ShawnRavenfire]

Another good tree transformation story is Merlin, who was turned into an oak tree by Nimue (or Vivien).

[@paiwanhan]

Once again, a Vietnamese legend bears striking resemblance to many Austronesian myths. Many Austronesian myths, especially the ones from Taiwan, suggests that their ancestors were born out of a tree entangled with a white rock. Some of the myths have the rock and tree existing since the creation and one day people just popped out of it. Some have the survivors of a flood, often siblings, turning into rock and tree and giving birth to a new generation of people. I wonder if the tree in the Vietnamese myth is an areca tree and the vine is a betel vine, because areca nut wrapped with betel leaf is a symbol in many Austronesian cultures, and I've heard it's the same in early Thai and Vietnamese cultures as well.

[@DontMockMySmock]

"He comes to a river that's too fast-" "2 FURIOUS"

[@anniemaraj8773]

The Vedas always make sense to me.

[@elijahgarside753]

may yggdrasil never burn, and may the nine worlds live in peace until ragnarøkkr.

[@Codiliabra]

Elijah Garside peace isn't metal bro

[@ClassMammalia]

Too late. Didn't you hear? Ragnarok happened last week in a theater near you.

[@GLPentAxel]

Røkkr? What the Hel

[@crimsonstar108]

But then that would refute the prophecy of Ragnarok, and undermine the fatalistic themes in Norse mythology.

[@ilyaaaaaaaaaaaas]

May it protect Thor's eye

[@LilZombieFooFoo]

Don't know the over/under on this getting seen but...what sources have you been pulling from for this series? My interest in world myths has quickly outpaced my ability to wait a week for the next video. Thanks!

[@twistedtachyon5877]

Heh. I love the old couple miming the rock and tree. Good work, thought bubble.

[@feynstein1004]

I've never heard of the mythological Bodhi tree before. However, I have heard that in heaven, the gods have a tree called Kalpa that can grant the heart's desire.

[@thomasgabby6214]

Mythical cities? like Babylonia and Atlantis? Cant wait for that

[@dylantennant6594]

Babylon was real. Not sure about Antlantis. But I think there talking more about cities such as Troy( yes I know Troy is real, but it has a great story connected to it.).

[@LuisSierra42]

Babylonia is real, dear human person

[@defrte]

El Dorado?

[@dylantennant6594]

Not Visible El dorado is actual the name the Spanish gave an old Aztec ceremony, where a chief would be painted in gold and walk into the river sacrificing it. There is no actual mention of a city.

[@frzferdinand72]

Dvaraka should get mentioned.

[@Noidonteatbabiesstopasking]

The Apollo and Daphne story is hilariously horrifying

[@bubbakhaan4893]

Only educational thing I will watch and not cry about

[@IAmAlgolei]

“If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?” -- Barbara Walters

[@The_Serpent_of_Eden]

Thank you, this video have me new insight into Buddha sitting beneath the Bodhi tree. Blessed be, Thoth!

[@aliosm.v7231]

Thank you for acknowledging Vietnamese’s myth. Kinda makes me happy.

[@jorislemoine1488]

Are we going to get a separate one on forests and fields too, because I was expecting some content about how in fairy tales characters who go into the woods are "lost" and then find themselves or their path (usually once they overcome some hardship)?

[@jackjensen422]

1:44 Mmmmmm Asgard is up Yggdrasil not at the roots... Niflheim, Jotunheim, Svartalheim, and Heck-heim are the main planes that I've read as being at the roots of the tree

[@cOmAtOrAn]

Asgard is near the top of the Yggdrasil, but there's also a root up there. It's where the gods gather.

[@HienNguyenHMN]

Viet guy here. The white rock is phosphorous and it adjusts the pH of the fruit+leaf combo.

[@nhuphuong060688]

Pity to say that your Vietnamese name pronunciation is not comprehensive to Vietnamese but I'm happy to see that you guys did your research very well and got the story spot on! :)

[@rkpetry]

[00:41] he was also, told, to not tend, that, tree-whence its 'knowledge of (climatic) evil'... ...plus-you're confusing without-mentioning the 'divine trunk' of first-lineage-god-family... (that extends-throughout cosmic-time including Mars and now Earth in our Solar System)

[@TheBassBones]

Hi CrashCourse, could you make an episode about Slavic Mythology? Love your videos!!

[@Galistarwater]

Very surprised to see you guys finally mentioning Vietnamese mythology. I think I vaguely heard this story when I was younger. We do have another sad myth similar to this, only it involved two siblings: the myth tells a brother trying to carve a toy with a knife for his sister, but there was an accident and the knife embedded itself in the girl's head. Fearing that he had accidentally killed his little sister, he ran away only to return many years later, got married and have a child. But upon combing his wife's hair one day, he noticed that she has a scar on her head. He asked her how she got the scar and she told him that it was from an accident when she was a child when her brother was trying to make her a toy. To his horror, the man married his sister and was so ashamed that he ran away again. Unaware that her husband is actually her long, lost brother, the wife waited at a cliff everyday with her baby in her arms for him to return. She waited so long that both she and the baby turned into a stone statue. A symbol of tragic love and devotion.

[@bittersweetsorrows]

Would you perhaps say the most amazing trees? And that we are impressed with your forest expertise?

[@kevinyee9550]

Great episode!

[@lynnoshiro6861]

Aww, no commentary on the ohia-lehua (tree and blossom love story myth) from Hawai'i?

[@peterj1979]

00:01 "TREES"

[@hopefulhyena3400]

I love how the old couple tell her the story with charades.

[@alyssalobo5396]

The Tun and Lung story remind me of Hikaru, Kaoru and Haruki from OHSHC.

[@plasticturnipboy5642]

I LOVE YOU MIKE!!!

[@LordTelperion]

The Two Trees of the Valar! Telperion the Silver and Laurelin the Gold! :D

[@TGC40401]

As doc sweets would say: Dude f**ked a tree.

[@Ton0_oTon]

Lol smite inspired ratotaskr, same with he bo a couple of weeks ago

You miss the Autana (The tree of all fruits) in Venezuela, in La Gran Sabana (The Big Plain)

[@elsabella8266]

I am sooooooo enjoying this series 😋😋😋 Thanks for all the hard work!

[@PaolitaTheGreat]

What a sad and lovely story...

[@maevenoor7980]

Yay ^^ ... Finally Atlantis next episode You're gonna talk about Atlantis, right? RIGHT !? I wanna see a gorgeous Atlantis Thought Bubble Story 💕 PS: Please put in an Oregano-bomb-joke form the Atlantis movies 😄😀

[@coralee189]

WAIT but what is the food that was created from the rock, fruit, and leaf? It's still used today, right?

[@kurosujiomake]

Google betel nuts

[@richardpham8932]

when we went to vietnam i was surprised

[@danielhopkins296]

Daphne is DYOTAMA ( great light) in Sanskrit where DYOTAMA is a rendering of GAUTAMA. Early church fathers mention a man named TEREBINTHUS ( penthus/pain) who brought Indian " gospels" in front of the apostles in Jerusalem before he was persecuted to Persia where he was known as " BUDDAS" . Chaldean " binth"= reason or " bodhi"

[@Doc_Animator_N]

I don't want to laugh about the story you told us about Daphne and Apollo, but I'm trying my best to resist the urge to laugh. But is it okay if I laugh out loud?

[@iandareopal]

I wonder if Kane and Able will show up in this series. Would be excited to hear it.

[@balaam_7087]

Guy has a nice manner of speaking. Good orator.

[@shadoww4818]

nice smite references

[@vigilantsycamore8750]

Oh, so that's what "Hank et l'Arbre" was about.

[@mojosbigsticks]

"The fragrant honeysuckle spirals clockwise to the sun..."

[@jasminnyack1724]

Thoth deserves his own episode.

[@marshacreary9771]

3:18 That's deep

[@popcorn_consumer]

This is an excellent series.

[@danieljefferson5955]

Like the diversity of adding Vietnam into the fold. Would love to see some Filipino culture in this series

[@ekmalsukarno2302]

It would be much better if he covered more details on Chinese and Japanese mythology. For example, he hasn't even mentioned the Chinese and Japanese pantheons and he hasn't even mentioned the Taoist elixir of life.

[@SkywalkerAni]

I primarily know Yggdrasil from Tales of Symphonia

[@thepineyapple]

you should have talked about the Ohia Lehua tree of Hawaii.

[@bineozy]

You are an amazing teacher 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@Suinokokoro]

I like this guy.

[@StepBaum]

Great and to the point video!

[@liabull-krieg211]

There should be a fairy tales crash course!

[@mr.dr.genius2169]

The most magical tree for me is the one in my fireplace.

[@pacoramon9468]

In the Canary islands, they had dragos, that are dragons transformed in trees

[@k.k.slider1001]

I'm happy to see your Ratatoskr was inspired by SMITE

[@jeremycory7329]

Hi... now this might sound weird and really of topic from your video but me and my friend are doing a project in history and we are doing the Meuse Argonne Offensive we were wondering if you could give us some sources and/or a video oh and also your teacher said that you'd might be able to help us thank you for your precious time.

[@geoffreywinn4031]

Educational!

[@takakuro5057]

Omg Vietnam got a reference!!!!!

[@mr.dr.genius2169]

2:34 The branches and roots of a tree look the same anyway, so an upsidedown tree doesn't look difirent from a rightsideup tree.

[@23trekkie]

5:22 - I don't think Fluttershy wants to be a tree anymore...

[@UltraViolet666]

The rock could have been salt? That's why it tasted good with the fruit and the leaf maybe

[@seer1980]

its limestone

[@Kenkire]

So the rock is salt?

[@haubui5392]

A Vietnamese here and the rock is actually limestone, the fruits, leaves and limestone are still used in weddings today but it is more symbolistic than anything, very few people eat them anymore

[@Kenkire]

Awesome! Thank you for the reply. I love learning stuff like this!

[@min24434]

Surprisenly that story was beautiful. Usually, it's just people raping and killing each other in myth stories.

[@SiKedek]

Just to add a bit more - it's an engagement tradition that is shared amongst many cultures in mainland and insular SE Asia - so the rock is limestone, the leaf is betel leaf (a relative of the peppercorn vine), and the nut/fruit is the areca palm nut - the three elements are essential, as they need to mix with saliva and oxygen in order to create the desired chemical reaction (and make a product that makes the saliva blood-red in color).

[@MyLittlePwnyta]

O-oh. Well, that explains a little bit more lore in the Percy Jackson series.

[@Joeviocoe]

Awesome job preparing us for Thor Ragnarok 😁

[@feynstein1004]

Hey what about Professor Oak? :P

[@sebastien-loikntsangou-kan5264]

In Rick Riordan's book, the House of Hades, Cupid is a bada** angle-winged archer with a crossbow and a quiver filled with love arrows. He looks like the most handsome of men and can turn himself invisible.

[@prettypleasewithsugarontop4858]

Sebastien-Loik Ntsangou-Kanda that’s the Greek myth by most accounts anyway

[@supershinigami1]

1:37 Only the Aesir live in Asgard 1:40 Jotunheim is the home of the giants, nothing else.

[@bigpp]

crash course history of mathematics pls, i want to know those genius that give us headache.

[@tuele4302]

You may want to head over to PBS Infinite Series.

[@pedropan0128]

The is the legend of iguassu falls... very similar to the vietnamese one

[@SerpentLight213]

Love these!

[@anttibjorklund1869]

Mythical cities next? If Atlantis isn't mentioned, I'll be sad.

[@lillythai7939]

Good job with the Viet name pronunciations!

[@rchuso]

And no mention of Huwawa guarding the cedar forest?

[@akai_suika]

I was expecting to see The Tale of Princess Kaguya and/or Malakas and Maganda here.

[@XSpImmaLion]

Here's an idea. Eh eh? Seems like such a long time ago... :D

[@Saint_nobody]

This inspired my artistree. #puns I've go them.