The olive tree (Olea europea) is an ever green noble tree, native to the warm climate of the Holy Land and the Mediterranean basin. It is short, squat and rarely grows more than seven meters in height with numerous and uneven leafy branches. The silvery green leaves are oblong in shape and a source for many medications. The trunk is gnarled, twisted and becomes hollowed from the inside when the tree reaches an old age. Olive trees are slow growing trees and can survive up to 2000 years. According to the Holy Bible, Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane amongst olive trees that still exist nowadays. The age of an olive tree in Crete Island, claimed to be more than 2000 years old, was determined according to tree ring analysis.
The oldest olive tree in Bethlehem area.
Olive trees flourishes in May, millions of tiny white perfumed flowers emerge in groups in front of every single leave. Only about 5% of these flowers germinate to develop into the blessed olive fruit with its sharp bitter taste. Fruits are harvested in September at the green stage to make pickled olives for daily consumption, or left to further ripen to a dark purple color to extract the golden precious olive oil from.
The Olive tree is one of the plants most cited and respected in recorded literature and history. It was an olive branch that Noah’s dove brought back to the ark as a sign of peace, since then both the olive branch and the dove became symbols of peace between all nations. Olive oil was used to anoint prophets and kings, Jesus was anointed with olive oil, and he is called in Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic languages (Messiah) which means (The Anointed). Leafy branches of olive trees were considered a symbol of abundance, majesty and glory; victors of Olympic Games were and still are crowned with olive branches in Greece. King Salomon decorated the Temple of Jerusalem with cedar and olive wood and lit its lamps with olive oil. Nowadays, churches in the Holy Land use only olive oil to lit the altar’s oil lamps as a symbol of blessing and sign of peace and conciliation between God and mankind.
Olive trees must be pruned every other year to eliminate old infectious branches, thus giving space to new healthier branches to emerge, and to expose the inner part of the tree to sun rays. Sometimes in some pruning methods, the whole trunk of unproductive trees is removed so that new sprouts emerging from the roots can grow to form a new young tree.
At Holy land Community we are environmentally friendly, we use only the wood resulting from tree’s pruning throughout all our production process, we never use the wood of illegally rooted out trees. According to legislation in force in the Holy Land, olive trees are a protected species.
Through the following paragraphs, we’ll introduce to you the Bethlehem olive wood as a raw material and its real value as a noble wood.
Mount of Olives, Jerusalem
Olive wood is not timber in the conventional meaning; one cannot buy it in boards and blocks, but in logs and branches that rarely exceeds 120cm/4feet in length and various diameters ranging from 3cm/ 1” to a maximum of 25cm/ 10”. Logs with diameters larger than 15cm/ 6” are very rare to get since they are normally hollowed from the inside and full of holes and fissures from the outside. Usually such logs are heavily inhabited by black scorpions.
Olive tree in Gethsemane Church, Jerusalem
Bethlehem olive wood is dense and heavy with a range of colors varying between creamy to golden brown with irregular dark brown grains. Alongside to its high water content (50-65 % when green) it contains a considerable quantity of oil and acids which makes it extremely difficult to dry without developing shrinks and fissures. At Holy land Community we pay special attention to this matter, together with our special drying techniques and patience, we use the latest technology in kiln drying techniques to guarantee well dried products with as low as 8% of water content.
However, perhaps all the irregularities and problem generating nature of the olive wood, is what makes it one of the most beautiful, unique and attractive natural materials from which a vast range of artistic, religious, ecclesiastical and spiritual artifacts were and are made to be appreciated all around the world. Perhaps too, and due to its independent noble nature, it refuses to reveal its beauty unless when carved or hewed by experienced hands.
