Olive/Elia/Zaytun
“If the Olive Trees knew the hands that planted them, their oil would become tears”– Mahmoud Darwish
Personal Stories
Olive in Palestine
The Gifts of Olive
Poems for Olive
Affirmations from Olive
1.Olive trees are one of my dearest plantcestors, they represent my homeland, my food ways, my history, my nourishment, my dance and my ancestor’s spirit of resilience. One of my earliest memories is in my Yiayia’s kitchen in Thessaloniki. I must have been four years old, I was lanky and way too skinny in my Yiayia’s eyes. She had endured a life of poverty and the famine which was a result of WW2, Nazis stole Greece’s food supplies to feed their soldiers in Europe. That mixed with our cultural pride in feeding our loved ones had me in a special position of being locked in her kitchen, like literally, door was locked! She sat me down and she told me “ela na fas koukla!”. I gritted my teeth..no! A big spoonful of olive oil was coming my way! After some struggle, she bribed me with a chocolate bar and drank the olive oil straight, then fish, potatoes, feta, cucumber followed. Drinking olive oil straight is a Mediterranean medicine used since time immemorial. The ‘zoomi’ or juice of the olive is truly the definition of liquid gold. It gives your body sustenance and your spirit light. Full of good fats, antioxidants, vitamins and anti-inflammatory properties, it is truly a gift from the earth. This is my Cancerian Yiayia’s love language, food made with love and lots and lots of olive oil.
My dear Greek-Anatolian sibling Iele says “my first and strongest memories of olive oil (outside of cooking) are the ways it’s used ritually. I love the aspect of massaging the baby with olive during baptism for instance. But I also was taught to use it in the xematiasma ritual, which is a secret prayer to get rid of the evil eye. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to pass down that ritual as a genderqueer person, since traditionally it is meant to be passed on “across the sexes” (so a elder man to a younger girl, or a elder woman to a younger boy) which I don’t really ascribe to in terms of my beliefs about expansive gender, and yet I still carry the superstition! I also recognize that in a patriarchal society, this way of passing on the xematiasma ritual was actually quite egalitarian, so certainly not all “bad”. So I’m trying to dream up a way that still honors this aspect of the ritual while also honoring my own gender identity and expansiveness. I’ve playfully dreamed of maybe teaching the ritual while in “drag” - sort of like whatever the “opposite” of my gender identity is, meets and recognizes the “opposite” of whatever your gender identity might be. We’ll see! But as a folk herbalist and someone interested in etymology, it was very powerful to learn about the etymological connection between “κύριε ελέησον”/ lord have mercy and the Ancient Greek “έλαιον” for olive oil, as something in the plant world that naturally offers mercy or soothing to physical pain.
When I get to spend time with Olive, I always learn something new from them. I revere their medicine so deeply, in my bones and blood. As an herbalist, it is my duty to not only honor how plants grow in their environment, but likewise how the people who grow alongside the plants are interwoven with them. They are the keepers of the sacred wisdom the plants carry.
2.When I see pictures such as the one above from our neighbors in Palestine, my heart breaks. This photo truly speaks 1,000 words and pretty much sums up the last 75 years in one shot. The people of the land understand so intimately the value and the sentience of Olive/Zaytun . Likewise, settlers/IOF officers, in the context of Israel and Palestine understand the profound presence of Zaytun on the land. Yet they do not know or care for these trees, they do not care to learn them and honor them. They know that each tree represents a Palestinian person, that they are interwoven, that they belong to the earth, they belong to each other. They know that their ancestors have tended those trees from seed to fruit, from fruit to seed, since time immemorial. The war on Palestinians has gone hand in hand with the destruction of sacred, ancient olive groves in the holy land. Olive is an extremely important economic, food and cultural source of life for Palestinians. Zaytun’s deep roots in the land mirror the unbreakable connection Palestinians have with their land. Olive is a drought resistant, extremely resilient tree that can bear fruit and thrive in poor soil conditions. The oldest olive trees in the world range from 3-6,000 years old, one of the oldest being in Bethlehem, Palestine. The olive trees of Palestine have been living alongside the people, like ancient immortal ancestors for generations. Many trees are tended and held in family lineages, passed down through the generations, from grandparent to grandchild. Over 100,000 families in the West Bank depend on the Olive harvest for income, which is becoming increasingly more difficult with each year of the occupation. Gangs of settlers with guns and usually protected by the IOF, have taken to attacking farmers and destroying their trees in front of them. Over 800,000 Olive trees have been destroyed since 1948, mirroring almost exactly, the number of displaced Palestinians from the first Nakba.
Ripping up the roots of these ancient trees sends visceral waves of horror through my body, not unlike the waves we have collectively been feeling watching this most recent catastrophe unfold before our eyes. ‘In August 2021 alone, more than 9,000 have been removed, and on February 9th 2020, 50 olive trees were forcefully uprooted and destroyed in the occupied West Bank region of Salfit.4 ‘ The reason for these brutal attacks on the olive trees of the West Bank are for the purpose of building more illegal Israeli settlements. Somehow, all the land that has been taken is still not enough. It reminds me so much of narcisstic relationship abuse, when the abuser purposefully targets what or who means the most to the victim. Also, keep in mind that it takes 15-20 years for an olive tree to mature, so imagine a child growing up in a family whose grove was destroyed. It will take until they are an adult for the (hopefully) replanted trees to produce fruit which can be used for making olive oil. Elder farmers may have their last memory of their grove be on fire. There is a lot of red tape put down by the Israeli army as to who can receive permits to farm Olive and how much water access they get. Only 24% of applicants are accepted. Additionally, farmers are restricted from visiting their trees whenever they want, which affects the yield of olives because they cannot properly tend the trees. I cannot even put into words how egregious it is to bar Palestinians from their ancestral connection to their earth ways. How can the Holy Land be treated with such impunity? Such lack of sanctity?
Ironically, Olive is the symbol of peace and they are being attacked. The olive harvest takes place in October, which this year was the beginning of the worst aggression on Palestine since 1948. Vivien Sansour says the olive harvest is typically ‘a national picnic’, a joyful time for community to eat, sing and harvest zaytun together. This year’s harvest is stained with blood. My prayer is that after Palestinians are given back their land and homes, they may plant thousands more olive trees, perhaps to honor each martyr, so they may live on their land for eternity and nourish future generations of Palestinians.
3. The gifts of Olive/Elia/Zaytun are many! The wood of olive is very durable, resilient and beautiful. Olive wood is used mostly for furniture and kitchenware. The complex wood grain is challenging to work with, but oh so gorgeous! Olives are a delicious treat when cured properly. They are rich in good fats, vitamin E and antioxidants. Olive oil carries these same properties and studies show its protectiveness for the heart and bones. Bassem Youssef recently made a post about Palestinian olive oil, he said “Just put some oil” is the answer for everything in Palestine. Hungry? Add oil. A bit sick? Rub oil. Want to feel better about the world? Oil as old as the earth is there for you. They are not just olive trees. They are family. They are there to feed you, heal you and take care of you. How can you uproot a member of the family and call this land yours?”
Olive leaf is one of my favorite herbal remedies. My plant teacher in Greece said Olive is used energetically for processing grief, especially when there has been a sudden or abrupt separation. Like an unseen divorce, a death or having to uproot and move. Energetically Olive offers the spirit flexibility, flow and patience during very hard times. Olive helps to tether you back to earth if you’re floating away, yet also extend grace into the world. Iele also shared with us olive’s association to mercy and relieving pain. If you see old Olive trees, you can see they move like dancers, they twist and wave together. Olive leaf is one of my go-to anti-viral herbs and really just a lovely, nourishing soothing herb to add to any blend!
4. Poems about Olive
Olive
Your father,
his inheritance shed of him
like the skin of a snake.
only he cried afterward.
Walking through barren olive fields
he envisions their roots active with sprout,
alive, as they once were, with the fruit of his ancestors.
The bitter black taste of Palestinian soil
accompanied by the toasted pita-bread and melted white cheese,
he dreams
of children's olive-like eyeballs
their sparkling gaze
like onyx,
but the dream is shot with the poke of an empty hand
a branch, fringed-ash and embroidered by greed
whose jugglers and smugglers in moan
have thrown staunch families into pleas
they sneeze
to rid of the fumes clenching their inner lung
constricted black and frightened tongue,
ambitions sullied, by ancestor's songs unsung
life squeezed out of my grandfather's love
he blows the ash from a branch
wind carrying it from his eyes
open eyes, lashes curled toward the heavens
he inhales their deeply embedded fragrance
buried beneath layers of activity and reactivity
from which this culture will continue to flourish.
By Farrah Sarafa
Folk Song
A little bird came out of the earth and came
out of Hades and built a nest
on an olive tree branch,
its leaves are bitter
and its flowers are acrid.
Women stricken by fate heard about it
and they ask:
-Tell us, long live, my little bird,
How is it in Hades?
Are young men armoured
and young women with jewellery?
And are little children with many toys?
-There, they don`t wear jewelry
and they aren`t armored
and poor children ask for their mother.
Greek, Unknown
5. The Spiritual Affirmations of Olive
I can never be removed or destroyed, my roots kiss the heart of the earth. I am as durable as steel and as fluid as water. I am the child of the Sun and the Moon, I dance to my own tune. I am the earth’s witness and scribe. I am the keeper of sacred records and rituals.
