The Baobab tree (known scientifically as Adansonia
digitata) is often called the Tree of Life (and considered a miracle plant)
because it stores life-sustaining water inside its trunk and branches.
In Africa and Madagascar, where the tree grows in arid
regions, the tree's water is a valuable resource. The Baobab tree is an ancient
survivor; some Baobab trees have lived more than 1,000 years.
The phrase "tree of life" is rooted in
religious history. The original tree of life was in the Garden of Eden, Jews
and Christians believe. In the Torah and the Bible, cherubim angels guard the
tree of life from humans who had fallen into sin: "After he [God] drove
the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a
flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of
life" (Genesis 3:24). Jews believe that Archangel Metatron now guards the
tree of life in the spiritual realm.
Miraculous Water Help
When nomadic people and wild animals (such as giraffes
and elephants) can't find enough water from their usual sources during a
drought, they would be in danger of dying from dehydration if it weren't for
the Baobab tree, which stores the water they need to stay alive.
People cut the tree's branches or trunk to access
drinking water that is miraculously available even during severe droughts.
Animals chew on the Baobab tree's branches to open them up, and then use the
branches like straws to drink the water from inside the tree. Large Baobab
trees may contain more than 30,000 gallons of water at once.
In his book The Remarkable Baobab, Thomas Pakenham
writes that the Baobab tree "is found in 31 African countries -- in fact
in every part of the African savannah where the climate is hot and dry and most
other plants (and people) find it difficult to live. This is the miracle that
the Baobab performs. It's like the salamander that revels in the fire. The
Baobab puffs itself up to a gigantic size, to become one of the largest living
things in the world, were other plants would wither and die."
Healing Fruit
Fruit from Baobab trees (sometimes called "monkey
fruit" because baboons love to eat it) contains high concentrations of
antioxidants, which protect the cells in people's bodies from damage.
Baobab fruit, which tastes like cream of tartar,
features lots of the popular antioxidant vitamin C (which may help prevent
cancer and heart disease). The mineral calcium (which helps keep bones strong)
is also abundant in Baobab fruit. Other healing ingredients found in Baobab
fruit include vitamin A, potassium, magnesium, and iron.
People can also eat the fruit's seeds and the leaves
of the Baobab tree. Pakenham notes in The Remarkable Baobab that the tree is
"a godsend to the poor" because people can make nutritious salads for
free from its leaves and flowers.
A Baobab Miracle Shrine
In Eritrea, a shrine commemorating a miracle of the
Virgin Mary is located inside a Baobab tree and attracts millions of pilgrims
each year. The shrine, which is known as Maryam Dearit ("the Black
Madonna") features a statue of Mary that people visit in the tree to pray
there and remember a miraculously answered prayer that was reported there
during World War II.
Baobab trees can grow so large that people sometimes
take shelter by their trunks. In the book Padre from the Monastery to the
Forest: A Memoir of My Life Journey in a War-Torn Eritrea and My Immigrant Life
in the USA, Hiabu H. Hassebu tells the story of that miracle: "Two Italian
soldiers, to avoid being targeted by a British jet fighter, hid themselves
under a Baobab tree. While they were under the tree, they were reciting their
Rosary. The British jet fighter, though it dropped the bomb exactly where they
were hiding, the bomb shell hit the Baobab tree without being exploded. That
was the time, the survivors realized, that a miracle had occurred."
Reference
Hopler, Whitney. (2020, August 28). Baobab: The
Miraculous Tree of Life. Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/baobab-the-miraculous-tree-of-life-124418
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