RELIGION: Dates palm was known in Coptic Egypt as ‘Bnne’. Christians of Jerusalem were carried fronds of date palm as they went out to meet their Prophet when he had announced “On the next day people that were come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him.
Gospel of St. John. “…. A great multitude which no one could number of all nations and kindred’s and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice:” Salvation to our God who sitteth on the throne, and unto the lamb.” Revelation of St. John.
TRADITIONS: Christians have never ceased to adorn their churches with palm leaves for the celebration of the last Sunday before Easter. Beneath the domes of Ancient Coptic churches or the double towers of more recent ones, Palm Sunday still commemorated with rituals dating back to the first centuries of Christian faith. Palm fronds are everywhere: In the sanctuary above the screen separating the officiating priest from the faithful as well as in the hands of the worshippers.
Palm leaves were also carried by every attendant of the solemn morning procession, along with fragments of fronds the leaflets of which had be painted into various decorative shapes (Bircher,1990). Palm groves surround the fortress-like desert monasteries; some of them were the sites of the very first convents ever built and where the embittered monks had faced constant danger of pillage, depredation and death. Dates were mentioned sparsely as Coptic remedies, once in a poultice with other ingredients for stomach ache (Darby, et al 1977).
LEGENDS: There are some charming legends concerning the Divine Child and the date palm based on Bircher (1990): One of them is connected with the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt. They having left their country in great haste and utter anguish. Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary had taken no food with them on their way. As they entered the palm groves of Egypt. One of these fine date bearing trees gently bent its head towards them; inclining it so deeply that could feast on the delicious fruits while the cherubs who were seated on the fronds welcomed them by singing and wishing them peace.
Dates Palm in Islam; Traditions and Legends
Palm tree was mentioned in Quran (the book of books) twenty times. On fifteen occasions it is mentioned among other plants in a God’s bounty towards the human race. Quran statements will be mentioned according to Ali (1934) and verified with (English copy by international group for computer systems, 1995).
“It is He who sendeth down rain from the skiers: with it We produce vegetation of all kinds: from some We produce green (crops), out of which We produce grain, heaped up (at harvest); Out of the Dates palm and its sheaths (or spathes) (come) clusters of dates hanging low and near”.
(An’ am 99)
“It is He who produceth gardens with trellises and without, and dates, and tilth with produce of all kinds and olives and pomegranates, similar (in kind) and different (in variety). ((An’am 141)
“Set forth to them the parable of two men: For one of them We provided two gardens of grape vines and surrounded them with date palms; in between the two We placed corn-fields.” (Kahf 32)
(Pharaoh) said: “Believe ye in him before I give you permission?
Surely this must be your leader who has taught you magic! be sure I will cut off your hands and feet on opposite sides, and I will have you crucified on trunks of palm trees: So, shall ye know for certain, which of us can give the more severe and the more lasting punishment” (Ta -Ha 71)
“And corn-fields and date palms with spathes near breaking (=with the weight of fruit (Shu’araa 148)
“And tall (and stately) palm trees, with shoots of fruits stalks, piled one over another”.
(Qaf 10) —” Plucking out men as if they were shoots of palm trees torn up (from the ground)”. (Qamar 20) “Therein is fruit and date palms, producing spathes (enclosing dates)”. (Rahman 11)
“In them will be fruits, and dates and pomegranates” (Rahman 68)
“So that thou could see the (whole) people lying prostrate in its (path): As if they had been roots of hollow palm trees tumbled down!” (Haqqa 7) — “And produce therein corn and grape and nutritious plants and olives and dates” (Abasa 27-29).
And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree: She cried (in her anguich): Ah! Would that I had died before this! Would that I had been a thing forgotten and out of sight! (Maryam 23)
“And shake towards thyself the trunk of the palm tree it will let fall fresh ripe dates upon thee”. (Maryam 25).
“Does any of you wish that he should have a garden with date palms and vines and streams flowing underneath, and all kinds of fruits”? (Baqara 266)
“And the earth are tracts (Diverse though) neighboring and gardens of vines and fields sown with corn, and palm trees growing out of single roots or otherwise: Watered with the same water “. (Ra’d 4)
Date palm in the Prophet Mohammed’s speeches and life:
Abd Alla Ebn Omar Said that “Prophet Mohammed said that: Among the trees there is one with non-fallen leaves, it’s similar to the muslim; think about it”. The Muslims said that: That is date palm tree.
Salama Bent Kais said that “Prophet Mohammed said that: Feed women with Tamr after their delevary (on puperium stage); whose feeds on Tamr her child grows up most merciful; it was the food of Virgin Mary in Juses birth. If the God knows other best one ‘He’ had to feed her on it”.
Soliman Ebn Amer El Dabbi said that “Prophet Mohammed said that: If one eats one eats after fast, it is preferably to eat Tamr if not available, her drinks some water it is cleared and pure”.
Annas said that “Prophet Mohammed had eaten Rutab after fast and before his prayers, if no Rutab he eats Tamr if no Tamr, he drinks some water”.
Eisha (Prophet Mohammed’s wife) said that: “A house free from Tamr their owner hungry”.
Eisha said that” Prophet Mohammed said that: Excellent Agua has a curative effect”.
Eisha said that “Prophet Mohammed had named Tamr and Milk, the two best (best among all food)”.
Emam Musleim was mentioned that:” Abd Alla Ebn Ghfar had seen the Prophet Mohammed eats cucumber with Rutab”.
Ebn Ody said that: Ali was mentioned that: “Prophet Mohammed Said that: The best of your Tamr is ‘Berni’ it is curative”. Or Abi Hourira Said that” Prophet Mohammed said that: ‘Berni’ is curative and free from infection”.
Saad said that “Prophet Mohammed said that: Whose eat seven fresh Tamr fruits at breakfast, he gets over magic and poison on that day”.
Date Palm in Judaism
The Ancient explanations of Tawrah (The Law) were believed that the fermented juice (Le Skiar) which not permitted to Jewish monks was made of date palm honey ‘Dabas’. Jewish children were offering this drink to the ever-persistent God from the earliest production of date trees. Date palm tree was depicted among the Hebrew’s drawings (Qudama, 1985).
Jews were given the name ‘Tamara’ (the word derived from the word Tamr); to their girls. They dreamed that their girls became smart, tall, pretty and fertile like date palm tree (Qudama, 1985). PALM (Heb. תָּמָר, mishnaic Heb. דֶּקֶל), the Phoenix dactylifera. In the Bible the word Tamar refers only to the tree; it refers to the fruit also only in rabbinic literature.
According to rabbinic tradition, the “honey” enumerated among the seven species with which Israel is blessed (Deut. 8:8) is the honey of the date. The date palm is tall and straight (Song 7:8–9), and the righteous are compared to its straight trunk and evergreen foliage (Ps. 92: 13). In its shade the prophet Deborah judged the people (Judg. 4:5). Because of the arched appearance of the tree top, it is also called kippah, symbolizing the “head” (Isa. 9:13, 19:15).
Its long leaves are called the kappot of the palm tree and are one of the four species taken on the feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:40). According to the rabbis, the “kappot of palm” means the lulav, this being the stage when the leaves are close together (kafut, Suk. 32a). The tradition of using the closed leaves and not the open ones termed ḥarut may originate in the potential danger from the prickly leaflets of the latter, especially during festival processions (cf. Suk. 4:6).
The palm needs a hot climate for its fruit to ripen and grows mainly in the valley of Jericho, the lowland of the southern coast, and the plains of the wilderness, so that Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel asserted that “palms are an indication of valleys” (Pes. 53a). It does grow in the mountains but does not produce edible fruit there, whence the rebuke, “You are a mountain palm” (Sifra, ed. by J.H. Weiss (1862), 68a).
It was therefore laid down that first fruits may not be brought from mountain palms (Bik. 1: 3), but only from those growing in Jericho (Tosef. ibid. 1:5, cf. Deut. 34:3). Dates were a valuable export (Dem. 2:1), and Pliny refers to the reputation of the Jericho dates and their excellent quality (Natural History 13:45). He describes four varieties of dates, which are also mentioned in the Mishnah (Av. Zar. 1:5). In the Bible a number of places are named after the palm: Hazazon Tamar (Gen. 14:7), Ba’al Tamar (Jud. 20:33); Tadmor (Palmyra, I Kings 9:18).
Three women were named Tamar: *Judah’s daughter-in-law, *David’s daughter, and *Absalom’s daughter. Its beautiful form was used as a model for sculpture (cf. Jer. 10:5). There were ornaments like timmorot (“palm trees”) in the Temple (I Kings 6:29; cf. Ez. 40:16, timmorim). The aggadah compares Isaac and Rebekah (Lev. R. 30: 10), Moses and Aaron (Targ. to Song 2:12), David and the Messiah with the palm tree (PdRE 19). The Hasmoneans took the palm as an emblem of their victory (I Macc. 13:37; II Macc. 14:4), and it appears on their coins.
The Romans also engraved the image of captive Judea – Judea capta – sitting in mourning beneath the palm. A palm branch symbolizes the victory of the Jew against his accusers (Lev. R. 30:2): “dreaming of palm trees is a sign that one’s sins have come to an end”; “dreaming of a lulav [“palm branch”] indicates that one is serving God wholeheartedly” (Ber. 57a).
Rabbinic literature contains much information about the growing of palm trees. Among other things, it mentions that there are male and female palms, that it is necessary to pollinate the female from the male blossom in order to obtain fruit, and that this must be done during a limited number of days (cf. Pes. 4:8). It is asserted that “the palm has desire,” and in that connection the story is told of a female palm in the vicinity of Tiberias which longed for a palm in Jericho, and only began to yield fruit after being pollinated by it (Gen. R. 41:1).
Of its many uses the Midrash (ibid.) says: “As no part of the palm has any waste, the dates being eaten, the branches used for Hallel, the twigs for covering [booths], the bast for ropes, the leaves for besoms, and the planed boards for ceiling rooms, so are there none worthless in Israel.…”.
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