Birthday of the Trees

When I first learned about the Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shvat, I was delighted. When the Temple in Jerusalem was still standing, Jews offered the first fruits of their trees on the Shavuot holiday. The trees had to be at least four years old, and this date was for figuring out the age of the trees. You could call it the official tree birthday.

This year it's on February 8. Hug a tree this week!

Here's a handy guide to major Jewish holidays and festivals, with dates, customs and greetings.

I would very much like to be able to post resources like this for all the major faiths, so if any of my faithful readers knows of any, please send links to me at bayathread@yahoo.com. The person who created the one for Jewish holidays, Ruth Abrams, would also be interested in knowing about them, for posting on her interfaith website. See her site at http://www.interfaithfamily.com/. Thanks, Ruth!

Photo taken on Picnic Island at Fort Snelling State Park. That's the Mendota Bridge in the background.

All photographs by Baya Clare, CSJ unless otherwise noted.