Why are oak leaves a symbol of he alth, longevity and military prowess?

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

Many people think that oak leaves are all the same in nature. But it's not. It is known that there are more than six hundred varieties of this tree found in different parts of the world. As for the color, in summer the leaves can be from light and dark green to silver. Moreover, oaks growing on the Himalayan slopes have a lot of differences from Scottish or tropical Polynesian ones, if only because in warm climatic latitudes they are evergreens that do not shed their leaves for the winter, as happens here.

However, all oak leaves are always wide, so some confuse them with maple leaves, especially in autumn, when they turn into amazing variegated colors of all shades. Like most broad-leaved, they have a thin plate, and intricate teeth are their characteristic feature. It is by these cloves that one or another type of oak differs from each other, as well as by the presence or absence of fluff on the leaves and by geometric features - they can be oval or elliptical in shape.

Places where these plants grow compactly are calledoak forests. Oak leaves in spring on Russian territory appear rather late and also fall last, trying to stay on the tree even in a dry state.

The tree grows slowly, at first actively stretching upwards, because it cannot stand shading, which is why it strives with all its might to the sun. Only when it reaches a height favorable to it, it begins to expand its trunk. Its root system is so powerful that this giant is not afraid of any natural disasters, and therefore its life expectancy is several centuries. So, only in Russia over the past two years, twenty-eight old-timer oaks have already received a safe-conduct from the state, having lived from three hundred to five hundred years.

These giants are so amazing that since ancient times people have attached sacred significance to them and used oak leaves in many household rituals and medicine recipes aimed at restoring strength, strengthening he alth and maintaining beauty.

For the same reason they were so actively used in heraldry by various tribes and peoples. The most famous example of this is the German principalities. The Germans at all times revered the oak leaf so much, the design of which they depicted on coats of arms and shields in the Middle Ages, on awards and insignia in later times, that at the beginning of World War II they engraved it on the highest award - the knight's cross, which was awarded the most valiant officers, and only from the introduction of the Fuhrer himself.

BCurrently, according to the legislation in force in the United States of America, if the military who have shown heroism have received the same award for the second, third, fourth time, then instead of the orders themselves, they are given a badge with five degrees of valor - a silver oak leaf. The photo of these awards clearly demonstrates that each of the signs differs in size and is attached to the order bar. On it, the leaves are collected in a bundle along with the stems and acorns.