happy tu bshvat!

15 shvat 5781

today is the jewish new year of the trees. yaaaaaay! like mnay jewish holidays it occurs on the full moon for extra magic sparkles. 

why is today the new year of the trees you may ask. the tradition holds that during this time of year is when the sap in the trees starts flowing. this is a transition for the trees’ life cycle and is the beginning of them ‘waking up’ for spring.

 

this holiday was originally a time for israelites to mark when trees were planted or started bearing fruit for detaied tithing reasons that i dont fully understand... in the 1500s, kabbalists started to reframe the holiday in a new light choosing to focus on fruits and the beauty trees bring to our world. these sages developed a seder similar in style to Passover where people would gather to eat fruit, drink wine, and share teachings about nature. incase you didn’t know, there are a lot of teachings in Judaism about trees. the foundational ‘tree of life’ being just the beginning. 

 

part of this tu bshvat seder involved drinking 4 glasses of wine. white wine, white mixed with red, red mixed with white, and plain red to symbolize the four seasons. 

 

i did not do that with tea. sorry. maybe another time.

 

below is a picture of my gaiwan with bai cha and a tincture i made from cottonwood buds me and my partner harvested a couple of days ago. the tree in the picture is a cedar in the woods behind where i live.

 

thank you to all the trees for all that they give to us. even if trees didn’t give us things (like fruit, leaves, wood, air, beauty, wisdom, etc) they would still be amazing.

 

happy tu bshvat

 

xoxo,

atzei besamim