What does Silk Cotton Tree symbolize?
The silk cotton tree symbolizes the sacred, unchanging rhythms of nature. The tree, like the Ibo people and their customs, is rooted in the soil; it is here that it finds its nourishment, just as the Ibo derive spiritual sustenance from their natural homeland.
What is the role of the Silk Cotton Tree?
Called Kapok in Asia, the fibers are used for insulation, padding in sleeping bags and life preservers, and for stuffing mattresses and pillows. In Puerto Rico the tree was often planted in the center of plazas for shade, and it is considered a valuable honey tree.
Is ceiba tree poisonous?
It is native to southeastern Asia. The fibers are excellent for stuffing mattresses and pillows. However, the seeds are poisonous if ingested, and there are conical spines on the trunk.
Which tree has red flowers known as Silk Cotton Tree?
Bombax ceiba
Bombax ceiba, like other trees of the genus Bombax, is commonly known as cotton tree. More specifically, it is sometimes known as Malabar silk-cotton tree; red silk-cotton; red cotton tree; or ambiguously as silk-cotton or kapok, both of which may also refer to Ceiba pentandra.
Why is the ancient silk cotton tree considered sacred?
The ancient silk-cotton tree is considered sacred because the spirits of good children who are waiting to be born live there.
Who believed to live in sacred and ancient silk cotton tree?
Behind [the elders] was the big and ancient silk-cotton tree which was sacred. Spirits of good children lived in that tree waiting to be born. On ordinary days young women who desired children came to sit under its shade.
What is saba tree?
The Ceiba tree is a respected tree wherever it grows in the world. Ceiba trees grow in Mexico and Central America, in the tropical areas of South America, a few places in Africa and southeast Asia. These trees can grow from 45ft to 100 ft tall and have a massive trunk with strong outright limbs.
What is the scientific name of silk cotton?
Ceiba pentandra
Kapok tree/Scientific names
How many types of cotton trees are there?
Actually, there are four types of cotton grown commercially worldwide: Gossypium hirsutum – upland cotton, native to Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean. Gossypium barbadense – known as extra-long staple cotton, native to tropical South America. Gossypium arboreum – tree cotton, native to India and Pakistan.
What does Ekwefi mean when she says that she thinks the Ezinma her daughter has come to stay?
She means that her other children have died, but Ezinma has not and she will not for a long time. What does Ekwefi mean when she says Ezinma has come to stay? They killed them and ate them because they were a rare delicacy and were very good.
What is the significance of the beating of the drums in the village playground?
What is the significance of the beating of drums in the villlage playground, the ilo, where all the great ceremonies and dances of the village take place? It means there is something happening, the beginning of the wrestling match.
What kind of tree is the silk cotton tree?
The Silk Cotton or Ceiba Tree [Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn.] is one of the largest trees in the American tropics. The tree has played an important role in the spiritual and economic lives of the peoples who live in the circum-Caribbean region.
How old is the silk cotton tree in Jamaica?
Bill estimated that the tree is 200 to 300 years old. While working at the site in 2002, a local volunteer noticed that the tree appeared to be smoking. Part of the mythical qualities associated with these trees?
Where was the silk cotton tree in Paradise Park?
Bob Gezon emerges from a cavity in the huge buttress. The tree in these photographs is growing on the Sweetwater archaeological site, Paradise Park, Westmoreland, Jamaica. All around the base of the tree there are broken pieces of pottery, shells, and stone from a Taino village that was occupied during the 15th to 16th centuries.
What are the fibers of a silk tree used for?
The fibers are almost pure cellulose, buoyant, impervious to water, and have a low thermal conductivity, but they do not lend themselves to spinning. Called Kapok in Asia, the fibers are used for insulation, padding in sleeping bags and life preservers, and for stuffing mattresses and pillows.
