Ceremonial pole

A ceremonial pole is a pole to symbolize a variety of concepts in several different cultures &/or religions. Since ancient times poles (many times of bamboo or Trees after cutting branches) are used as reverence/veneration/adoration/devotion or ceremonial objects; towards a faith, religion or cultuaral celebration amongst family or community. Pole celebrations, festivities and devotions are obsrved from north to south and from east to west almost on all continents either in past or present.

In some cases poles are or may have been worshiped as devine spirits, ancestor spirits or as deity in some other instances. Instances of ancient pole reverence can be cited from many geographic locations from across the world.

Evolution
In The Evolution of the Idea of God, Grant Allen notes that Samoyeds of Siberia, and Damara of South Africa plant stakes at the graves of ancestors. According to Zelia Nuttall in The Fundamental Principles Of Old and New World Civilizations, tree and pole reverence to Anu in ancient Babylonia-Assyria may have evolved from the fire-drill and beam of the oil press, stating that it was extremely probable that the primitive employment of a fire-stick by the priesthood, for the production of "celestial fire," may have played an important role in causing the stick, and thence the pole and tree, to become the symbol of Anu.

European festivals that include poles
A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place.

The festivals may occur on May Day or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some countries it is instead erected at Midsummer. In some cases the maypole is a permanent feature that is only utilised during the festival, although in other cases it is erected specifically for the purpose before being taken down again.

Primarily found within the nations of Germanic Europe and the neighbouring areas which they have influenced, its origins remain unknown, although it has been speculated that it originally had some importance in the Germanic paganism of Iron Age and early Medieval cultures, and that the tradition survived Christianisation, albeit losing any original meaning that it had. It has been a recorded practice in many parts of Europe throughout the Medieval and Early Modern periods, although became less popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Today, the tradition is still observed in some parts of Europe and among European communities in North America.

Some scholars classify maypoles as symbols of the world axis (axis mundi). The fact that they were found primarily in areas of Germanic Europe, where, prior to Christianisation, Germanic paganism was followed in various forms, has led to speculation that the maypoles were in some way a continuation of a Germanic pagan tradition. One theory holds that they were a remnant of the Germanic reverence for sacred trees, as there is evidence for various sacred trees and wooden pillars that were venerated by the pagans across much of Germanic Europe, including Thor's Oak and the Irminsul. Professor of Social Anthropology, Liverpool University, James George Frazer (1854–1941) notes in his The Golden Bough/Relics of Tree Worship in Modern Europe that "in the north of England it was formerly the custom for young people to rise a little after midnight on the morning of the first of May, and go out with music and the blowing of horns into the woods, where they broke branches and adorned them with nosegays and crowns of flowers. This done, they returned about sunrise and fastened the flower-decked branches over the doors and windows of their houses." He also informs that,'Sir Henry Piers, in his _Description of Westmeath,_ writing in 1682 says: "On May-eve, every family sets up before their door a green bush, strewed over with yellow flowers.." and 'In Northamptonshire a young tree ten or twelve feet high used to be planted before each house on May Day so as to appear growing'.

It is also known that, in Norse paganism, cosmological views held that the universe was a world tree, known as Yggdrasil. There is therefore speculation that the maypole was in some way a continuance of this tradition.

The floor of the Mære Church, Norway, was excavated in 1969, and found to contain the remains of a pagan cult structure. The nature of that structure was not clear. Lidén felt this represented the remains of a building, but a critique by Olsen (1969:26) in the same work suggested this may have be been a site for pole worship. A recent review of the evidence by Walaker (Norddide 2011: 107-113) concluded that this site was similar to the site in Hove (Åsen, also in Nord-Trøndelag) and was therefore likely a cult site for pole worship.

China and East Asia


A jangseung or village guardian is a Korean ceremonial pole, usually made of wood. Jangseungs were traditionally placed at the edges of villages to mark for village boundaries and frighten away demons. They were also worshipped as village tutelary deities.

The Middle East
An Asherah pole is a sacred tree or pole that stood near Canaanite religious locations to honor the Ugaritic mother-goddess Asherah, consort of El. The relation of the literary references to an asherah and archaeological finds of Judaean pillar-figurines has engendered a literature of debate.

The asherim were also cult objects related to the worship of the fertility goddess Asherah, the consort of either Ba'al or, as inscriptions from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud and Khirbet el-Qom attest, Yahweh, and thus objects of contention among competing cults. The insertion of "pole" begs the question by setting up unwarranted expectations for such a wooden object: "we are never told exactly what it was", observes John Day. Though there was certainly a movement against goddess-worship at the Jerusalem Temple in the time of King Josiah, it did not long survive his reign, as the following four kings "did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh" (2 Kings 23:32, 37; 24:9, 19). Further exhortations came from Jeremiah. The traditional interpretation of the Biblical text is that the Israelites imported pagan elements such as the Asherah poles from the surrounding Canaanites. In light of archeological finds, however, modern scholars now theorize that the Israelite folk religion was Canaanite in its inception and always polytheistic, and it was the prophets and priests who denounced the Asherah poles who were the innovators; such theories inspire ongoing debate.

South Asia
In present times in Indian subcontinent several festivals and celebrations, as in Hinglajmata Sindh, Gudi Padwa, KathiKawadi, Jatarakathi, Nandidhwaja, khambadev (Maharashtra), Nimad (Madhya Pradesh), Gogaji temple (Rajasthan) and khambeshvari (Orisa) then in Tripura and in Manipur, central poles are features in temple and festival settings.

According to Adi Parva (critical edition) of Indian epic Mahabharata a Bamboo festival named Shakrotsava was Celebrated in Chedi Kingdom. Uparichara Vasu was a king of Chedi belonging to the Puru dynasty. He was known as the friend of Indra. During his reign, Chedi kingdom introduced 'Shakrotsava' festival in his kingdom in the honor of Indra. The festival involved planting of a bamboo pole every year, in honor of Indra. The king will then pray for the expansion of his cities and kingdom. After erecting the pole, people decked it with golden cloth and scents and garlands and various ornaments. (1,63).

Pole dances and festivals
Kay Htoe Boe is a Karenni ancient dance and prayer festival, held by the men in the Kayan community in Myanmar. In the Kayan creation story, the Eugenia tree is the first tree in the world. Kay Htoe Boe poles are usually made from the Eugenia tree.

Kay Htoe Boe poles have four levels, named for the stars, sun and moon, and the fourth level is a ladder made with a long white cotton cloth.

Staff god
In Māori mythology, Rongo, the god of cultivated food, especially the kūmara, a vital food crop is represented by a god stick called whakapakoko atua.

In the Cook Islands Cult figures called staff-gods or atua rakau from Rarotonga, apparently combine images of gods with their human descendants. They range in length between 28 inches (71 cms) and 18 feet (5.5 m) and were carried and displayed horizontally.