“For trees make a silence even in their noise of wind” is one of the most beautiful sentences by D.H. Lawrence, so unexpected and yet so true. We like to think of it when things unsettle around us and we imagine ourselves rooted firmly in the ground like a tree swaying gently with the wind.
Trees are one of Mr Poissonchat’s specialties and another “projet” of his (the Poissonchats life actually is brimming over with projets, it’s the projets that keep the Poissonchat world on turning in fact) . He intends to create an inventory of the trees surrounding us, trees we encounter on our journeys or on our everyday way to work. And here’s a sneak peek from his archive:
Yew tree (taxus baccata)
Height: 15 – 20 meters
Age: up to 3’000 years
Use: musical instruments, inlay work, cabinetmaking
Belief: the tree of life and the tree of the other world, ever-green with scarlet berries, protects from evil and bad spells. It grows on graveyards, its poison guarding the gates of the land where the dead go. Wear a splinter of its wood around your neck and no harm shall ever come to you.
Beech tree (fagus)
Height: 30 – 35 meters
Age: up to 300 years
Use: furniture, floorings, cooking utensils, tool handles and musical instruments
Believe: Take refuge under the nearest beech tree as the rainstorm approaches with heavy dark clouds, sudden lightning and distant thunder. The immense tree crown, like a generous coat, protects you and no thunderbolt shall ever dare to hit you. At least, this is what the legend tells. The Poissonchat family rather enjoys the warm and calm atmosphere of a beech tree fire in their living room when hail and thunder rage outside.
Chestnut tree (castanea sativa)
Height: 30 – 35 meters, but what is more impressive is that they can become very very stout with a trunk circumference of up to 15 meters
Age: 300 to 500 years, with some trees estimated to be over 2,000 years old
Use: carpentry, joinery and furniture; with about 25 years they begin to bear fruit, the savoury roasted chestnut
Believe: Look at its immense trunk, and your life will already feel much more balanced. Under the rich and thick foliage of it’s wide knobby arms, everything gets invisible and helps you to concentrate on the here and now. For others though, like the three furry poissonchats, the shiny brown fruit is just perfect to play around after having it freed from its spiky gown.
Les Poissonchats 