Palestine! Palestinians, and Olive trees. Much has been written and will continue to be written about the ancient and symbolic
olive trees, their importance, and significance in the very lives of the Palestinian people. This connection runs thousands of years
and continues to this day. Olive trees and their fruit not only provide a livelihood and income to most Palestinians farmers, but
they are also embedded in the very fabric of their every day lives just as they have been for many centuries.
Many of the elders in the Palestinian society today still practice the ritual of drinking a “shot” of fresh cold pressed virgin olive
oil every morning. They swear by its medicinal powers of maintaining good health and longevity. Who can argue with them?
Not when they start telling of their age the absence for needed medical care. Also, olive oil has many other uses in Palestinian
society and life. Olive oil has always been and continues to be a staple in the diets of Palestinians. It used in many types of
salads and for cooking many foods. The oil is also often times used to massage aching joints and bones as well. Its powers of
healing are very well entrenched in Palestinian life and lore. When a child is sick with a cold or cough, it is not unusual for
Palestinian mothers to rub warm olive oil on the children’s chest and backs.
There aren’t many Palestinian babies, whether born in Palestine, or in the Diaspora, who have not been introduced to the world
of Palestinian olive oil at infancy. The Grandmothers of Palestinian babies are given the honor of introducing the infants to their
Palestinian roots and connection to the olive trees. The Palestinian Grandmothers live for the day when they can see their
grandchildren so that they can rub and lather them in the olive oil of Palestine. I remember watching my mother take my
newborn nephew in her arms and lather him in warm, fresh, pure olive oil. She would take a small glass bowl or tin cup and
place it over the flame of a candle so that the oil could be warmed. She would then take her hand, dip it in the olive oil and
begin to massage the oil into the babies flesh. She would do this from head to toe as she massaged his body and skin. The baby
was then be wrapped in a blanket and put to bed. They would sleep soundly as they had never before. My sister, the baby’s
mother, would stand by, watch and learn, in the hopes that she too might someday be doing this for her own grandchildren.
Thus a circle would be completed. The new born baby would be immersed and massaged in the oil that came from the very
same trees that had been planted, sometimes, many centuries before, by its ancestors. A tree, planted by hand, hundreds and
sometimes thousands of years before, by the baby’s Palestinian ancestors, provided the very same oil that was now being
lathered on him or her.
My very own children, all three of them have been introduced to this very same custom. My mother in law, traveled from
Palestine to the US to be present when my wife had our first child, a boy. She had the honor of massaging my oldest son with
the oil that was sent by my mother, who picked the olives from the very same trees, that provided the oil that was massaged
into my skin as an infant, as well as my siblings, father, grandfather, and so on…A thread, if you will, that connects a long line of
my family as well as many Palestinians to the land and its bounty, that, God willing, will never be interrupted.
Today, my wife looks forward to the day, that God willing, she will have the honor of introducing her very own grandchildren to
the very same oil, from the same trees, that their parents, grandparents, and ancestors had massaged, and soaked into their
own bodies as well…Connecting in ways that are not even remotely imaginable to those that either refuse to see or are still in
denial as they set out to uproot and destroy Palestinian society and its symbols, the ancient trees of Olives…
Mike Odetalla
12-2003 All Rights Reserved
| Olive Oil By Mike Odetalla |