Bloomin' Beautiful
ON December 25 each year 2.2 billion Christians throughout the world celebrate the birth of Christ.
Shortly after his birth that day he was visited by three wise men who bowed down before him and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh – things of great value at that time.
This month I want to tell you about frankincense.
You will all know about maple syrup (from maple trees), gum (from our eucalypts) and rubber (from rubber trees). These products are got from “bleeding” the trees they come from.
Frankincense is obtained the same way. The resin is tapped from the boswellia tree by slashing the bark and allowing the gum to bleed out and harden.
The resulting product looks a little like crystallised ginger. It is tapped two to three times a year.
The boswellia is considered one of the hardiest trees in the world and will grow in environments so unforgiving that the plants sometimes grow out of solid rock.
We saw them growing in Oman, where the whole area was complete desert – just sand – not a plant to be seen except in areas where gardens had been created.
The temperature there can reach up to 50C in summer so only the really tough survive – plants or animals.
Frankincense is used to make perfume. It is also used in aromatherapy as well as traditional medicines in Africa and Asia for digestion and healthy skin. In India they use it for treating arthritis.
In 2008 a study reported that frankincense smoke was a psychoactive drug that relieves depression and anxiety in mice!
There are some suggestions it also might be beneficial in the treatment of cancer – time will tell.
Many Christian, Islamic and Hebrew faiths use it in their ceremonies. It has been traded all over the Arabian Peninsula, in North Africa and Somalia for more than 5000 years.
A mural showing sacks of frankincense adorns the walls of the temple of Egypt’s Queen Hatshepsut, who was buried there around 1458 BC.
It is interesting that something that has been around for so long still has uses in today’s society.
