The égig érő fa ("sky-high tree"), also called életfa ("

tree of life The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythological, religious, and philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The Assyrian Sacred Tree: A History ...

"), világfa ("

world tree The world tree is a motif present in several religions and mythologies, particularly Indo-European religions, Siberian religions, and Native American religions. The world tree is represented as a colossal tree which supports the heavens, thereb ...

"), or tetejetlen fa ("tree without a top"), is an element of Hungarian

shamanism Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a Spirit world (Spiritualism), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as tranc ...

and native faith, and a typical element of Hungarian folk art and folk tales, and also a distinct folk tale type. Several of these tales have versions in the

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

n, Germanic,

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

, Croatian,

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

and other cultures in Asia, but the origin of the Hungarian tales goes back to the táltos traditions of Hungarians. The ''

táltos The táltos (; also "tátos") is a figure in Hungarian mythology, a person with supernatural power similar to a shaman. Description The most reliable account of the táltos is given by Roman Catholic priest Arnold Ipolyi in his collection of fo ...

ok'' (shamans) are the humans who are entitled to climb up the ''égig érő fa'' and wander in the seven or nine layers of the sky. One version of these tale is about the ''kiskondás'' (small swineherd) who climbs up the tree to save the princess who is held captive by a dragon (as told in the Világhírű Szép Miklós tale). The tree is a frequent element of certain funny tales, in which for example a gypsy climbs up into heaven and then down into hell. The world tree often grows out of a reindeer or a horse. It often carries among its branches the Sun and the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

. This latter concept is typical of Finnic and

Siberian peoples Siberia, including the Russian Far East, is a vast region spanning the North Asia, northern part of the Asian continent, and forming the Asiatic portion of Russia. As a result of the Russian conquest of Siberia (17th to 19th centuries) and of t ...

. The tree often stands on the

world mountain In astronomy, axis mundi is the Latin term for the axis of Earth between the celestial poles. In a geocentric coordinate system, this is the axis of rotation of the celestial sphere. Consequently, in ancient Greco-Roman astronomy, the ' ...

, with its top in the sky and its roots in

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

, where snakes and toads live. In the tales birds often sit on the tree, for example eagles, hawks or the mythical Hungarian bird, the ''

turul The Turul is a mythological bird of prey, mostly depicted as a Falcon, in Hungarian tradition and Turkic tradition, and a national symbol of Hungarians. Origin The Turul is probably based on a large falcon. The Hungarian language word ''tur ...

''.

Scholarly analysis

Hungarian scholarship argues that the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index tale type AaTh 468, a tale type that involves climbing a giant tree, is a reflexion of ancient shamanistic practices. In particular, Hungarian-American scholar Linda Dégh, based on an analysis of ca. 70 variants of Hungary and nearby countries, concluded that the type AaTh 468, "The Tree That Reached to the Sky" is a "Hungarian ethnic tale", associated with "the prehistoric shamanistic religion of ancient Hungarians and their linguistic kindred". Slavicist Karel Horálek, studying variants of the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index tale type ATU 302, "Ogre's Heart in the Egg", remarked that a particular Central European (in Hungary and neighbouring countries) version of this type shows the hero climbing a giant tree and arriving at a hidden upper realm. After a series of adventures, he marries a princess of this upper realm and she gives him a set of keys, warning him never to open a certain door. He disobeys her and releases the villain of the tale - an episode very similar to the Russian tale

Marya Morevna The Death of Koschei the Deathless or Marya Morevna (russian: Марья Моревна) is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in ''Narodnye russkie skazki'' and included by Andrew Lang in ''The Red Fairy Book''. The character ...

. Hungarian ethnographer

Gyula Ortutay Gyula Ortutay (24 March 1910 – 22 March 1978) was a Hungarian ethnographer and politician, who served as Minister of Religion and Education between 1947 and 1950. Biography Early life Born in Szabadka (now: ''Subotica'', Serbia) to a Catho ...

was of the opinion that this narrative was "a valuable Hungarian tale". On the other hand, Karel Horálek suggested that this narrative developed as a Hungarian oikotype, with its prominent feature the tall tree and the actions that surround it.

Tale combinations

According to scholar

Christine Goldberg Christine may refer to: People * Christine (name), a female given name Film * ''Christine'' (1958 film), based on Schnitzler's play ''Liebelei'' * ''Christine'' (1983 film), based on King's novel of the same name * ''Christine'' (1987 fil ...

, further studies of tale type AaTh 468 using the

historic-geographic method Julius Leopold Fredrik Krohn (19 April 1835 – 28 August 1888) was a Finnish folk poetry researcher, professor of Finnish literature, poet, hymn writer, translator and journalist. He was born in Viipuri and was of Baltic German origin. Krohn wo ...

concluded that "its characteristic motif" is a shaman's tree; the tale type is "not widely known outside Hungary"; it shares episodes with other tale types, namely AT 300-310. In the same vein, Linda Dégh, in her tabulation of all known variants available to her, indicated that type 468 included, in its narrative sequence, episodes of "a small circle" of other tale types: ''The Dragon Slayer'' (types 300-302), the ''I Don't Know'' complex (types 314, 530, 532), ''The Bride of the Other World'' (type 400), ''The Magic Flight'' (type 313). According to her, combination with type 301 appears in South Slavic variants, and with type 400 in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

.Degh, Linda. "The Tree that Reached Up to the Sky: Type 468 (1963)". In: Degh, Linda (ed.). ''Studies in East European Folk Narrative''. .l. American Folklore Society, 1978. p. 312.

Adaptations

The tree features in an episode of the Hungarian television series ''Magyar népmesék'' ("Hungarian Folk Tales") ( hu), with the title ''Az égig érő fa'' ("The Giant Tree").

Footnotes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Egig ero fa Trees in mythology Hungarian mythology ATU 300-399 ATU 460-499 tr:Yaşam ağacı