Wishing Trees

 

Tree of wishes for cancer patients or tree of offerings. Photo by Myriam Mahiques, personal archives 2018

The first time I've seen a wishing tree, it was a tiny tree, a branch I'd say, that was part of an Altar during the celebration of Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos, back in 2018 (picture above). I felt pretty emotional because it was meant for good wishes for cancer patients, or even for offerings to those who had passed away. People could select the ribbons, in different color, and I said a prayer dedicated to a dear friend of mine. 

Everybody has wishes, expectations, and in hard times, Covid times, the Wishing Tree of Descanso Gardens was "in bloom" with around 10,000 pink notes.

The "Wishing Tree", picture from Descanso Gardens.org

The "Wishing Tree," was a participatory installation by artist Kaz Yokou Kitajima, it has been on view at Descanso Gardens since Nov. 14. It has "bloomed" bigger daily, as visitors added more wishes, dreams, and hopes. (Adapted from NBCLos Angeles.com). Visitors have been invited to leave their notes with the "good vibes" for 2021. The tree was created with reclaimed wood from a "downed" tree in the garden.

The "Wishing Tree" in full bloom, photo from NBCLosAngeles.

Other interesting Wishing Trees are Yoko Ono's in Pasadena. These one I've seen in a You Tube video, I don't know what happened next but Yoko would be receiving all the notes (around 10,000) with wishes, she'd bury them in Iceland and create a sort of Lantern with light of hope as an homage to John Lennon.

What I like from all those trees, regardless the aesthetics in the different results, is the human expectation. A woman reads in the video a note expecting that at least 50% of those wishes would come true!

Yoko Ono’s interactive artwork WISH TREE (1996) has been integral to many of her exhibitions around the world in museums and cultural centers where people have been invited to write their personal wishes for peace and tie them to a tree branch. (Text and picture from imaginepeacetower.com) By the time this article  on Imagepeacetower was written, she had collected 1,000,000 notes.