Ceremonial pole

Part of a series on
Anthropology of religion
A Gudhi pole in Maharashtra, India
Basic concepts Afterlife Animism Bora Communitas Comparative religion Divination Divine language Evolutionary origin of religions Fetishism Great Spirit Henotheism Initiation Liminality Magic Mana Monotheism Polytheism Transtheism Revitalization movement Rite of passage Ritual Sacred language Sacred–profane dichotomy Shamanism Theories about religions Totem Veneration of the dead
Case studies Magic Coral Gardens and Their Magic Neo-Paganism Dukun Kebatinan Ritual Slametan Revitalization movement Cargo cult Ghost dance Handsome Lake
Related articles The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life Purity and Danger Myth and ritual Archaeology of religion and ritual Poles in mythology
Major theorists Akbar S. Ahmed Talal Asad Joseph Campbell Mary Douglas Émile Durkheim Arnold van Gennep E. E. Evans-Pritchard James Frazer Clifford Geertz Robin Horton Claude Lévi-Strauss Robert Marett Roy Rappaport Saba Mahmood Marshall Sahlins Melford Spiro Stanley Tambiah Victor Turner Edward Burnett Tylor Daniel Martin Varisco Anthony F. C. Wallace
Journals Anthropological Perspectives on Religion Folklore The Hibbert Journal The Journal of Religion Oceania
Religions Buddhism Mahayana Nichiren Pure Land Shingon Theravada Tiantai Tibetan Vajrayana Zen Christianity Adventism Anglicanism Armenian Apostolic Church Baptists Calvinism Catholic Church Coptic Eastern Orthodox Coptic Orthodox Lutheranism Methodism Pentecostalism Protestantism Quakers Russian Orthodox Hinduism Hindu denominations Shaivism Vaishnavism Shaktism Islam Ahmadiyya Ibadi Mahdavia Non-denominational Quranists Shia Sufism Sunni Yazdânism Jainism
Social and cultural anthropology

A ceremonial pole symbolizes a variety of concepts in several different cultures. For example, in the Miao culture in Yunnan China.^[1] In The Evolution of the Idea of God, Grant Allen notes that Samoyeds of Siberia, and Damara of South Africa plant stakes at the graves of ancestors.^[2] According to Zelia Nuttall in The Fundamental Principles Of Old and New World Civilizations, tree and pole reverence to Anu in ancient Babylonia-Assyria may have evolved from the fire-drill and beam of the oil press, stating that it was extremely probable that the primitive employment of a fire-stick by the priesthood, for the production of "celestial fire," may have played an important role in causing the stick, and thence the pole and tree, to become the symbol of Anu.^[3]

European festivals that include poles

Dancing around the maypole, in Åmmeberg, Sweden

A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place.

The festivals may occur on May Day or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some countries it is instead erected at Midsummer. In some cases the maypole is a permanent feature that is only utilised during the festival, although in other cases it is erected specifically for the purpose before being taken down again.

Primarily found within the nations of Germanic Europe and the neighbouring areas which they have influenced, its origins remain unknown, although it has been speculated that it originally had some importance in the Germanic paganism^[4] of Iron Age and early Medieval cultures, and that the tradition survived Christianisation, albeit losing any original meaning that it had. It has been a recorded practice in many parts of Europe throughout the Medieval and Early Modern periods, although became less popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Today, the tradition is still observed in some parts of Europe and among European communities in North America.^[5]

Some scholars classify maypoles as symbols of the world axis (axis mundi). The fact that they were found primarily in areas of Germanic Europe, where, prior to Christianisation, Germanic paganism was followed in various forms, has led to speculation that the maypoles were in some way a continuation of a Germanic pagan tradition.^[4] One theory holds that they were a remnant of the Germanic reverence for sacred trees, as there is evidence for various sacred trees and wooden pillars that were venerated by the pagans across much of Germanic Europe, including Thor's Oak and the Irminsul.^[6][7] It is also known that, in Norse paganism, cosmological views held that the universe was a world tree, known as Yggdrasil.^{[8][9][10][11][12]} There is therefore speculation that the maypole was in some way a continuance of this tradition.

The floor of the Mære Church, Norway, was excavated in 1969,^[13] and found to contain the remains of a pagan cult structure. The nature of that structure was not clear. Lidén felt this represented the remains of a building, but a critique by Olsen (1969:26) in the same work suggested this may have be been a site for pole-related rituals. A recent review of the evidence by Walaker (Norddide 2011: 107-113)^[14] concluded that this site was similar to the site in Hove (Åsen, also in Nord-Trøndelag) and was therefore likely the site of a ceremonial pole.

Pole symbolism in Asia

Korea

A predominantly wooden ovoo in northern Mongolia

A jangseung or village guardian is a Korean ceremonial pole, usually made of wood. Jangseungs were traditionally placed at the edges of villages to mark for village boundaries and frighten away demons. They were also worshipped as village tutelary deities.^[15][16][17]

The Middle East

An Asherah pole is a sacred tree or pole that stood near Canaanite religious locations to honor the Ugaritic mother-goddess Asherah, consort of El.^[18] The relation of the literary references to an asherah and archaeological finds of Judaean pillar-figurines has engendered a literature of debate.^[19]

The asherim were also cult objects related to the worship of the fertility goddess Asherah, the consort of either Ba'al or, as inscriptions from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud and Khirbet el-Qom attest, Yahweh,^[20] and thus objects of contention among competing cults. The insertion of "pole" begs the question by setting up unwarranted expectations for such a wooden object: "we are never told exactly what it was", observes John Day.^[21] Though there was certainly a movement against goddess-worship at the Jerusalem Temple in the time of King Josiah, it did not long survive his reign, as the following four kings "did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh" (2 Kings 23:32, 37; 24:9, 19). Further exhortations came from Jeremiah. The traditional interpretation of the Biblical text is that the Israelites imported pagan elements such as the Asherah poles from the surrounding Canaanites. In light of archeological finds, however, modern scholars now theorize that the Israelite folk religion was Canaanite in its inception and always polytheistic, and it was the prophets and priests who denounced the Asherah poles who were the innovators;^[22] such theories inspire ongoing debate.^[23]

South Asia

In present times in Indian subcontinent several festivals and celebrations, as in Hinglajmata Sindh, Gudi Padwa, KathiKawadi,^[24] Jatarakathi, Nandidhwaja,^[25] Khambadev^[24] (Maharashtra), Nimad (Madhya Pradesh), Gogaji temple (Rajasthan) and Khambeshvari (Odisha)^[26] then in Tripura and in Manipur, central poles are features in temple and festival settings.

According to Adi Parva (critical edition) of Indian epic Mahabharata a Bamboo festival named Shakrotsava was Celebrated in Chedi Kingdom.^[27] Uparichara Vasu was a king of Chedi belonging to the Puru dynasty. He was known as the friend of Indra. During his reign, Chedi kingdom introduced 'Shakrotsava' festival in his kingdom in the honor of Indra. The festival involved planting of a bamboo pole every year, in honor of Indra. The king will then pray for the expansion of his cities and kingdom. After erecting the pole, people decked it with golden cloth and scents and garlands and various ornaments. (1,63).

Burmese Kay Hotoe Boe festival

Kay Htoe Boe is a Karenni ancient dance and prayer festival, held by the men in the Kayan community in Myanmar (Burma). In the Kayan creation story, the Eugenia tree is the first tree in the world. Kay Htoe Boe poles are usually made from the Eugenia tree.^[28]

Kay Htoe Boe poles have four levels, named for the stars, sun and moon, and the fourth level is a ladder made with a long white cotton cloth.^[28]

Pacific staff gods

In Māori mythology, Rongo – the god of cultivated food, especially the kūmara, a vital food crop – is represented by a god stick called whakapakoko atua.^[29]

In the Cook Islands Cult figures called staff-gods or atua rakau from Rarotonga, apparently combine images of gods with their human descendants. They range in length between 28 inches (71 cm) and 18 feet (5.5 m) and were carried and displayed horizontally.^[30]

See also

Maypole dancing at Beltaine Festival Cape Town 2010

• Asherah pole
• Bisj pole
• Candle-pole
• Festivus
• Maypole
• Ovoo
• Peace pole
• Sacred groves
• Sotdae
• Totem pole
• Trees in mythology
• Yggdrasil

References