The wonderful ability of trees to grow up from a tiny seed into a huge plant, almost real death in autumn and picturesque revival in spring, the sound of leaves and branches in the wind –all these were inexplicable mystery for ancient people. They considered the trees to be creatures that followed not earthly laws, but divine ones. This 1897 work of J. H Philpot offers a detailed account of the topics ranging from the deity-inhabited sycamores worshipped in Egypt to the dreaded moss-women in Central Germany. It is the purpose of the present volume to deal as concisely as possible with the many religious observances, popular customs, legends, traditions and ideas which have sprung from or are related to the primitive conception of the tree-spirit. There is little doubt that most if not all races, at some period of their development, have regarded the tree as the home, haunt, or embodiment of a spiritual essence, capable of more or less independent life and activity, and able to detach itself from its material habitat and to appear in human or in animal form. This belief has left innumerable traces in ancient art and literature, has largely shaped the usages and legends of the peasantry, and impressed its influence on the ritual of almost all the primitive religions of mankind.