'Easter Legend' and Native American Folklore of the Dogwood Tree

If you're from the south, you're probably very familiar with the flowering dogwood tree. This small native tree grows all over the eastern United States but is especially plentiful in the south, where its fragrant blooms dot the woodlines each spring. The flowering dogwood has come to hold special significance for many cultures. From native Americans to the early Appalachian Christian settlers, there are several wonderful legends attached to the flowering dogwood tree.

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Native American Folklore

Once, there was a powerful chief who had four beautiful daughters. As suitors came to ask for the hand of his daughters, they came bearing gifts to impress the chief. The chief, knowing that his daughters were very beautiful, became greedy. Rather than look for happiness for his daughters, he used their beauty and his position to demand more and more riches and gifts from the suitors. The Great Creator was not happy with the chief and placed a curse on him. He was turned from a tall statuesque man into a small tree with crooked branches: the dogwood tree. The blooms of the tree were created with four petals to symbolize the chief's four daughters, and the center of the bloom was made to represent his thorny and evil nature.

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Cherokee Folklore

The Cherokee have many legends of the "Little People," a tiny race of beings with special powers that live in the forests in harmony with nature. Some legends say that the Little People live among the dogwood trees and are sometimes even called "the Dogwood People." Many legends of the Little People tell about their helping children, the old and sick, and people who become lost in the forests. As the Cherokee converted to the English language, the Little People were often called "Brownies."

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Appalchian Christian Folklore

The Christian legend of the dogwood tree was very popular with Appalchian settlers, for whom the dogwood tree held special significance at Easter - the time the dogwood tree normally blooms. The legend says that the dogwood tree was once a strong and mighty tree similar to the oak. Therefore, its wood was used to make the cross upon which Christ was crucified. Ashamed and repentant for the use of its wood, it asked Christ to change it so that it could never be used for that purpose again. Answering its prayer, it was changed into a small tree with crooked branches. As a lasting symbol of the crucifixion, it was given blooms with four petals in the shape of a cross. The ends of the petals appear to have blood-stained scars, and the center of the bloom represents the crown of thorns on Christ's head. There is a very old poem that accompanies this legend:

When Christ was on earth, the dogwood grew
To a towering size with a lovely hue.
Its branches were strong and interwoven
And for Christ’s cross, its timbers were chosen

Being distressed at the use of the wood
Christ made a promise which still holds good:
“Not ever again shall the dogwood grow
To be large enough for a tree, and so

Slender and twisted it shall always be
With cross-shaped blossoms for all to see.
The petals shall have bloodstains marked brown
And in the blossom’s center a thorny crown.

All who see it will think of Me,
Nailed to a cross from a dogwood tree.
Protected and cherished this tree shall be
A reflection of all of My agony. - Author Unknown

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