COUNTER COVER 33

THE TREE OF LIFE

The Tree of Life is usually represented full of flowers surrounded by animals facing each other in many different symmetrical compositions around the central axis.

This symbol represents the sacred tree of Mediterranean cultures which emanated from Persia and Egypt and was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Arab and Jewish peoples. Many objects, ideas and concepts, common to all the cultures and mythologies of the world, were derived from this archetype.

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, it is the tree of knowledge, which connects heaven with the underworld through the Earth, and where all forms of creation are manifested through the circular flow of the energy of life, represented by its many branches.

It is one of the most commonly used iconographic elements in Serrano embroidery, which has multiple manifestations and forms that also incorporate animals such as trouts or characteristic birds.