Sacred trees - Holy land

摘要

A cult of sacred places in the landscape has existed in Palestinesince time immemorial, as attested to in a wide variety of historical, archaeological and literary sources, both ancient and modern. A sacred place is a physical location that has becomemythical - that is to say, a site that has formed around a sacred object and is of a wholly different order from natural realities, denoting a manifestation of the sacred. In Hebrew, the word maqom, meaning 'place' incorporates all these connotations, from physical site or location in space to sanctity and metaphorical reference to God.