The Double Life of a Holy Tree: The Quishuar in Catholic Temples and Andean Homesteads

In many cultures, trees have importance, both, material and spiritual, which represents a potential for their survival. Several ethnographic studies from India, the Philippines, Madagascar and Papua New Guinea, offer accounts of trees being perceived as having a material life and existence that transcends human life: ¿trees never die; they just morph into a different form¿. This cultural assertion holds a potential that could prevent the extinction of many arboreal species. The quishuar o kishwar (Buddleja incana), from the Scrophulariaceae family, is a tree native of the Andes region shared by Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It grows at an altitude between 3000 and 3500 meters above the sea level. For centuries, Andean people have considered it a sacred tree. At the time of the Spanish conquest, trees had a symbolic and economic importance. During the Inca Empire, trees represented the origin of human life and embodied grandparents and ancestors. The quishuar in particular had multiple uses: as firewood, to manufacture tools, in buildings and to carve out keros (sacred vases). Also, this tree was perceived as tree with magical powers because of their capacity to link the underworld with the world of humans. Throughout centuries, quishuar has kept its sacred character. In Ecuador, in two catholic temples built during the 17th century, expose the body of Jesus Christ crucified, sculpted from quishuar, continues being worshiped.