Jesus, Pomul Vieţii
I have a not-so-secret passion for traditional Romanian textiles. From Oltenian rugs to the richly-embroidered forms of traditional dress, the designs and motifs stretch back into the mists of time - and are very beautiful.
This Advent, I have started work on a small cross-stitch sampler of the Pomul Vieţii motif - the Tree of Life.
This is a very common symbol in traditional Romanian embroidery, and comes in a wide-range of styles. The pattern I have been using comes from MăiestrIA, a Moldovan group that promotes traditional needlework. You can see some examples of the forms this Tree of Life motif takes on their website: https://maiestria.com/en/semne/nggallery/semne/pomul-vietii
Descriptions of the motif say that it is about the union of earth and heaven, and of the harmony between the material and the spiritual. But to my mind, its significance is much more religious than that implies - for, in Romanian, un pom is usually a fruit tree. This Tree of Life, Pomul Vieţii, takes us right back to the Book of Genesis and the Garden of Eden.
As I was stitching this Pomul Vieţii motif, I found myself humming the hauntingly-beautiful melody of a well-known Christmas carol - Elizabeth Poston’s setting of Jesus Christ the Apple Tree.
You will find a recording of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SixnHKwyrjI
The carol dates to the eighteenth century, and was likely written by the Baptist clergyman Revd Richard Hutchins of Northamptonshire. The text may be based on an interpretation of a verse from the Song of Solomon (2.3), which takes the apple tree to be a metaphor for Jesus: ‘As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.’
It has some wonderful verses:
The tree of life my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit and always green;
The trees of nature fruitless be,
Compared with Christ the Apple Tree…
I'm weary with my former toil -
Here I will sit and rest awhile,
Under the shadow I will be,
Of Jesus Christ the Appletree…
I’ll sit and eat this fruit divine,
It cheers my heart like spirit’al wine;
And now this fruit is sweet to me,
That grows on Christ the Appletree.
This fruit doth make my soul to thrive,
It keeps my dying faith alive;
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the Appletree.
The Pomul Vieţii motif takes us to the beginning of the Christmas story - the story of the Lord’s coming and of our salvation. We might think of another famous (and much more ancient) Christmas carol, Adam lay ybounden, which surprisingly describes Adam and Eve’s taking of the forbidden fruit as blessed; as without it, God would not have become incarnate in the womb of Mary:
Adam lay ybounden/ Bounden in a bond/ Four thousand winter/ Thought he not too long.
And all was for an apple/ An apple that he took/ As clerkës finden written/ In their book.
Nor had one apple taken been/ The apple taken been/ Then had never Our Lady/ A-been heaven's queen.
Blessed be the time/ That apple taken was/ Therefore we may singen/ Deo gratias!
But the Pomul Vieţii motif also propels us forwards - to God’s coming among us in Jesus Christ, and the blossoming of new life in him. In a text that is often read in our Advent carol services, the Prophet Isaiah writes (Isaiah 35.1): ‘The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom.’ As Jesus comes to us, the winter gives way to the spring: our hard, icy hearts put forth tender shoots.
I am enjoying the interaction between these traditional English carols and this traditional Romanian embroidered motif. I hope this Advent and Christmas, they might also inspire you to know more fully the beauty of Christ’s coming among us.