The Tejo de la Senda is a hundred-year-old specimen that has exceeded four centuries of life, it is the oldest specimen of this species in the forests of Canencia. Many more yews grow in the surrounding area, but none display such a stately, arrogant bearing, though many branches are somewhat decrepit with age. The trunk measures four meters in circumference, is ten meters high and the crown occupies fifteen meters. The ground is littered with rocks and it seems that they suggest a moment of reflection on the energy of the trees and the meaning they have had in some cultures. The birch is the tree of regeneration, vitality and enlightenment, in the sense of attaining wisdom. In the Celtic alphabet it occupies the first month of the solar year and was considered an elixir of eternal youth. In the Sestil del Maillo stream is the stellar tree. The oak is the sacred tree of the Celts, it represents energy and strength, its planet is the sun, the origin. The celebrations together under singular oak trees, as in Gernika, is an evolution of the tree worship of many ancient cultures. The druids revered the mistletoe as a divine plant and the tree where it grew, the oak, a chosen one of the gods. The holly represents the dark months of the year, winter, the renewal of the vital force. The custom of placing sprigs of holly in homes, especially at Christmas, seeks good luck and protection against negative energies and calamities. And the yew was the tree of death for the Greeks and the Latin peoples, who avoided sleeping under a yew for fear of not waking up. The wood is comparable to that of boxwood, hard and resistant. In ancient times, bows made of yew wood were reputed to be the best for warfare. While the oak occupies the cusp of the Celtic calendar, the yew is located on the opposite side, it is the door of the sidh, the entrance to the dark side where time stops and emptiness reigns.
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