A Ritual to worship Ocimum sanctum

Hi friends take a look at this lovely pic at my uncle's home.You are seeing Tulsi plant (Ocimum Sanctum) being decorated with flowers along with Embellica Officinalis(Amla) twig and surrounded by awe-inspiring oil lamps and nice incense.Even the Pot is decorated with Turmeric paste.

Trust me!, this is a Hindu ritual. For us Tulsi is Goddess Lakshmi (bestower of wealth) and Amla/Gooseberry is God Vishnu (the consort of Lakshmi and is supreme). The ancient scriptures suggest to worship like this in Karthika masam (roughly mid Nov. to Mid Dec.). I am just amazed by the way plants are worshipped in so many cultures and Religions especially in India and Hinduism.

I would be glad to know any such plant worshipping rituals in West or elsewhere.

That is interesting. Using a plant as part of worship is fairly common, but this is the first I've considered the concept of worshiping a plant. As a component of religion, I don't know any direct comparisons. The closest thing I can think of in mainstream American culture is local festivals dedicated to a particular plant that has a great impact on the local economy. Like peanut, pumpkin, squash, tomato, etc... festivals. But these generally do not involve living plants, just their harvest, and they are secular events.

How interesting. Is it the actual plant that is worshipped?

I know trees are worshipped in many cultures. A this time of year, Christians bring trees indoors and decorate them. I don't think that really counts, though. That's more symbolism of other things.

@kwanjin: Yes it is indeed the Ocimum plant that is worshipped. There are even more trees that are worshipped like Neem (Azadarichta Indica) and Peepal tree (Ficus religiosa) and not to forget Amla Tree (Phyllanthus_emblica). Indian culture and tradition is rich.

Our seers / Rishis must have predicted the importance of Flora and Global warming way back.

Even Christians worship Basil, but I don't exactly know how that ritual looks like.What about Christmas tree, what's it's mythology and it's latin name etc,.

I'm not sure how exactly you would define worship, but one of the tenets of all the Christian faiths that I'm aware of is that you only worship God, you don't worship plants, statues, things, etc. Plants could have religious significance and be used in various religious rituals, but in Christian faiths they wouldn't be worshipped.

Christmas trees did originally have some religious significance, but today they're much more of a secular symbol instead of religious. I'm not aware of any use of basil unless it's one of the things that goes into making incense which is used sometimes in church services (at least among Catholics--can't speak for any other faiths)

Nice to hear from you ecrane3 after a long time.Yes opinions may be divided but even it's a scientifically proven fact that plants help planet Earth combat Global warming and also are base of eco-system. Not to forget the meagre Algae without which Global warming may scorch this planet.

I think you're asking us to swallow global warming as integral with the given that plant cover helps keep the planet cooler; but not everyone worships at the altar of "global warming". Note that just last week the UK’s National Weather Service, which played a key role in advancing climate change (the new catch phrase for global warming) hysteria, quietly released a report conceding that so-called “global warming” actually stopped more than 15 years ago. Hmmmm - I wonder if that had anything to do with all the scandal associated with the bad science and intentionally manipulated data and models?

Al

Whatever report they give Tapla, it's simple science Plants take CO2 and give O2 and humans need O2, it's as simple as that.

The topic is getting diverted actually, I was interested in knowing if people worship plants or other cultures stress the importance of plants. For example in our culture they say not to disturb plants at night as it would be a sin. I would like know such and such dogmas if any in other cultures which protect plants.I am more interested in mythology.

I see no one answered your question about what species are Christmas tress. Christmas trees can be almost any coniferous tree. I was going to look up and list some of the genus that are used but here is a link to many, but I'm sure, not all of the various species that are used for Christmas trees. http://urbanext.illinois.edu/trees/types.cfm This link does as good a job as any of giving some information about Christmas Trees and the celebrations that go with them.

You won't find all the different species listed available every where. It varies with location. What species is popular changes with time. When I was young (1960's) Scotch Pines seemed to be all the rage. Today I think it might be a Fraser fir. I personally prefer a Balsam fir.


In Christianity you have the story of Adam and Eve and the Tree of Knowledge.
Flower bouquets are normal at an American Christian service. I say American, because I don't know if the practice is basically American or is practiced in other parts of the world.

Nice information Doug

I also wanted to mention that the Christmas Trees get their shape and density of branches from repeated pruning.