Tree Knotting

Tree Knotting is a funerary tradition most commonly found in Eco-Isolationist societies, but that is also practiced regularly in Isolationist ones. It involves the manipulation of a growing tree that is planted over the body of a deceased individual by training the trunk and main branches to grow in elaborate spirals and patterns. This is done in certain ways to denote the achievements of the person in life, and therefore a highly elaborate tree, tended to carefully over many years, is considered a labour of love and an honour to the person its life represents.

History

Tree Knotting first emerged in the Anapteros Forest, shortly after The Northern Alliance formed in 2497. Although seeming to counter the Eco-Isolationist mandate of not interfering with nature, a solution was needed to mark the site where a person was buried, and it was deemed unacceptable to displace forest for gravestones. Instead, new trees are planted over a body and made recognisable by the way in which it had been trained to grow. For recording purposes, the tree is marked with a serial number that can allow access to information regarding the gravesite, but the deeper meaning behind a person's life - their personal history - is told through the intricate spirals, the curve of a trunk, and how many knots a branch has. Reading this form of artwork can be a skill unto itself, but those in the know are treated with a tapestry of a person's achievements and status.

Despite very much being a practice of forest-based societies like The Northern Alliance, tree knotting has seen considerable growth in other places further to the south in recent years. The Southern Alliance brought the practice with them from the Anapteros and practice it most commonly on the trees native to the tropical and semi-arid regions of New Lakonia. Some of the trees from this region are particularly well-suited to the practice, giving rise to new patterns and shapes that have different meanings from those found in the north. Over the years, Isolationist communities such as the CFAS and AEU have had more and more people wanting to be buried beneath trees - most likely due to the rise of quasi-Eco-Isolationism among their populations - which has led to tree knotting becoming a by far more common practice.

Components and tools

Typically, tree knotting is undertaken with some basic tools, such as wire to train the trunk and branches to grow in certain shapes or directions. Clippers are used to trim unwanted branches and foliage. Often, the practice is referred to as 'bonsai on a large scale' due to its inherent similarities and almost identical tool usage as the ancient Japanese art.

Participants

As the process of growing a tree in this manner takes skill, patience, and many years of dedication, the practice throughout history has typically been performed by the loved ones of the deceased. Those without any family to speak of generally have trees knotted by friends or close colleagues. Regardless, those who know the deceased best tend to be the obvious candidates to undertake the task, as they know enough about their life to portray it accurately. Sometimes, the leader of a faction or other important organisation could have a whole community tending to their tree, adding parts to it that represent some facet of their life that a particular person remembers well. The difficult part of any tree that has been knotted is keeping it in a reasonable state over many decades, even centuries, so as to keep its story intact. Some existing trees are so old that there is no family left who remember the deceased, or the family line died out, leaving their trees to grow somewhat wild. These trees tend to be maintained by the community in which they belong to, with arborists trained in tree knotting taking on the duty of preserving the deceased's achievements.

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