After dinner tonight, my husband, Claude, takes Zeke, our chocolate lab, out to play a bit in the yard. I was in my office, logging onto Active Rain to read some posts, when Claude comes in and hands me a small branch that fell from one of our Dogwood trees. He proceeds to tell me about the legend of the dogwood tree, which I didn't know.
So, curious me, decides to look this up in the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (BTW, I use it all the time). Well, needless to say, Claude was right. Here is a statement from Wikipedia on the Legend of the Dogwood Tree:
"There is a Christian legend of unknown origin that proclaims that the cross used to crucify Jesus was constructed of dogwood. As the story goes, during the time of Jesus, the dogwood was larger and stronger than it is today and was the largest tree in the area of Jerusalem. After his crucifixion, Jesus changed the plant to its current form: He shortened it and twisted its branches to assure an end to its use for the construction of crosses. He also transformed its inflorescence into a representation of the crucifixion itself, with the four white bracts cross-shaped, which represent the four corners of the cross, each bearing a rusty indentation as of a nail and the red stamens of the flower, represents Jesus' crown of thorns, and the clustered red fruit represent his blood."
I was surprised and happy to learn about the legend, as we have six Dogwoods on our property. This is my favorite time of the year, when everything is blooming, especially the Dogwoods.
In case you have Dogwoods in your yard, or just driving by some.......you now know the legend of the Dogwood Tree.
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