Vandals cut down 2,000 year old "holy thorn tree" in Glastonbury

[cali]

2,000-year-old Holy Thorn Tree of Glastonbury is cut down

Rich Shulman says:This tree and the Glastonbury Abbey has an amazing history. As the Daily Mail reported today:

Vandals have destroyed one of the most celebrated Christian pilgrimage sites in Britain and chopped down a tree said to have sprouted from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea 2,000 years ago.

The Holy Thorn Tree of Glastonbury, Somerset, is visited by thousands every year to pay homage and leave tokens of worship. Those visiting today were moved to tears on finding the tree cut to a stump.

The sacred tree is unique in that it blossoms twice a year - at Christmas and Easter - and sprigs taken from the thorn are sent to The Queen each year for the festive table.


http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/09/5617269-2000-year-old-holy-thorn-tree-of-glastonbury-is-cut-down

[cbdo2007]

1. That's sad. Hopefully they find who did it and cut off their branches too.

[dbonds]

2. The one that was cut down was planted in the 1950's from ...

root cuttings. It may possibly grow new shoots in the springs. We can hope for this.

The Thorn as said to have sprouted from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea in the
1st century CE. Interestingly, it has been proven that the trees have a
Middle-Eastern origin, and are not native British.

The Puritans cut down the original sacred Thorn on Wearyall Hill during the
British Civil War, but local people secretly grew sprouts from the its roots.
These were gradually re-distributed around the area, and became trees again. If
the trunk of the tree on Wearyall cannot be saved, maybe the roots can, as
before.

[applegrove]

12. Thank god.

[uncle ray]

17. thank god for plant cuttings!

or else we'd never have good tasting apples.

[eleny]

They need a Clockwork Orange treatment

Lashing out here but this brings me down immensely.

[snooper2]

5. that would probably be the correct punishment in this case..

I could care less about the "religous" overtones of the tree, but just the fact that it was over 2000 years old is enough for me...

[Lucinda]

3. :(

People make me sad sometimes...

[DearAbby]

4. How extremely stupid

or callus or both.

[LiberalEsto]

6. Appalling

It makes me feel as sick as I did reading that the Romans and later the Christians burned and destroyed the holy groves of druids and other pagans all over Europe.

[MNBrewer]

7. That was mean

[progressoid]

8. I could care less about the holy part

but cut down a 2000 tree? Morons.

[Heddi]

14. naw, not 2000 years. About 60 years. This one was planted from rootlings in the 50's

Rootlings from the older tree, but certainly this was not a 2000 year old tree

[ladjf]

9. That stupid act of vandalism shows you, as a metaphor of how

far we have fallen. For 2,000 years, no one, not one person, ever thought that cutting down that tree was a good idea, not even for firewood if they were freezing. The person or persons who did it are the worst vandals in at least 2,000 years.

Note: Just read that tree was only 60 yrs old., not as bad as I had previously thought.

[NoNothing]

10. I think it's instructive

That nobody is concerned about a violent retaliation.

[Psephos]

15. A good point. n/t

[ooglymoogly]

11. only folks with a dump for a mind could have done such a thing.

Religious connotations aside.

[hfojvt]

13. Glastonbury, I thought you meant Connecticut

It figures that there would be another one.

[Odin2005]

16. Calling them assholes is too good for them.