Dublin April 23, 2018. The Cuban Ambassador to Ireland Hugo Rene Ramos Milanes, together with a group of accredited Head of Diplomatic Missions, participated in the planting of a tree in the Grove of Nations, in the gardens of the famous Farmleigh residence.
It is a tradition destined to cultivate friendship and peaceful coexistence among peoples, as well as care for nature.
The ceremony was chaired by Micheál Mac Donncha, Mayor of Dublin who recalled that trees have a special meaning in the Irish tradition; many of their famous legends revolve around the various tree species. Trees in general are seen as the support of man, symbol of life, they also represent unity.
The Mayor also recalled that tomorrow April 24 marks the 102nd anniversary of the Easter Rising, a remarkable event in the process of Ireland's independence.
The Celtic tradition recognized a group of trees as sacred and their felling could be sanctioned with a severe fine, thus sacred groves were born. Among these trees are recognized oak, hazel, holly, yew, ash, pine and apple, appreciated for their woods or their fruits, each with its own symbolic meaning such as strength, purity, love, fertility, etc.
It is said that when a new village was built, a tree was always left at the center: "the tree of life", which embodied the safety and integrity of the people.
It is also said that the popular expression "touch wood" comes from the sacred character that the Celts dispensed to the trees, because they believed that their druids - priests - after death, reincarnated in them and thus continued caring for their people.
Also famous is the cloverleaf, which is said to have helped Saint Patrick –Patron of Ireland- to explain the Holy Trinity, "as three leaves are born from a single stem, so the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one same".
The Farmleigh House in whose gardens grows the Grove of Nations, was originally a small Georgian house built at the end of the eighteenth century, then acquired and expanded by the Guinness family, founder of the brewery of the same name.
In 1999 the Irish Government bought the house from the Guinness family, and it was carefully renovated to serve as lodging for visiting dignitaries and guests of the Nation, for government meetings and as a museum house.
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