IMC 2018: Sessions

Session 1740: Ancestral Roots: Memory and Arboreal Imagery across Cultures, III - Origin and Appropriation

Sponsor:	Trames Arborescentes Project
Organisers:	Pippa Salonius, School of Philosophical, Historical & International Studies, Monash University, Victoria Naïs Virenque, Centre d'Études Supérieures de la Renaissance, Université François Rabelais, Tours
Moderator/Chair:	Pippa Salonius, School of Philosophical, Historical & International Studies, Monash University, Victoria
Paper 1740-a	Christian Trees and German Roots: Otto Huth's Völkisch Christmas Tree (Language: English) Lays Farra, Faculté de théologie et de sciences des religions, Université de Lausanne Index terms: Art History - General, Language and Literature - Scandinavian, Pagan Religions, Religious Life
Paper 1740-b	Adorned and Adored: India's Sacred Trees (Language: English) Louise Fowler-Smith, Faculty of Art & Design, University of New South Wales Index terms: Art History - General, Mentalities, Performance Arts - General, Religious Life
Abstract	Our final session evaluates the tree as symbol of life and axis mundi across cultures. The first paper examines Christmas trees; an invention of recent history, and seeks to understand Otto Huth's efforts to link them to Yggdrasil, the German World Tree. Our final paper examines the link between the aesthetic and the sacred in trees worshipped by Indian Buddhists, Hindus, and Jains, reflecting on the potential of arboreal imagery to inspire ethical, eco-conscious, and transcultural responses in contemporary spectators.