What Happens After the Olive Harvest
While many people outside the Holy Land now know about our traditions of the autumn olive harvest, few are aware of the work that happens between harvests, when buckets and tarps are put away, patiently awaiting their moment in the sun once again.
Pruning and Cutting Olive Trees in the Holy Land
Another stage of the olive harvest cycle is pruning the branches of healthy trees, and culling dead or dying trees to make space for new shoots. While some pruning and cutting does occur during the olive harvest, trees are pruned after the winter rains and before the summer blossom.
Why Are Healthy Olive Trees Pruned?
People who are not familiar with the olive tree may find it puzzling that healthy green branches are pruned, especially in a land where anything green and growing seems to be such a welcome sight. The answer is not a disease in the tree, but rather the productivity of olives.
1. A Richer Olive Crop
Olive trees are pruned to allow maximum sunlight into the tree, which yields a richer crop. Young trees and new shoots are not pruned. Usually the first pruning occurs after a tree reaches its fourth or fifth year, when it begins to yield a crop. The pruning method most often used is called a thinning cut, which focuses on cutting specific branches of the tree to allow in more sunlight rather than cutting back most of the branches.
Conventional folk wisdom in the Holy Land says that a tree should be pruned well enough so that a bird may fly through its branches. The older an olive tree is, the more it needs to be pruned to yield a better harvest.
2. How Long Do Olive Trees Live?
Olive trees can live for a very long time. Some of the oldest olive trees can live for over a thousand years. Some of the most famous examples are found in the Garden of Gethsemane at the Church of All Nations at the base of the Mount of Olives, where Christ prayed that He would not be led into temptation immediately before His Passion (Matthew 26:36 to 46). Most olive trees do not live that long, but as trees go, they generally live comparatively long lives.
Ancient olive trees still stand in the Garden of Gethsemane.
3. Do Olive Trees Die?
All things pass, and so does the olive tree. The most common causes of death include:
- Infection, such as the disease known as olive knot, which appears as an unsightly bacterial growth, often after a frost or heavy rain on poorly pruned trees.
- Wildfires, which are an ever present risk in the dry Mediterranean climate, especially during high winds in drought conditions.
- Excessive flooding and water runoff during heavy storms, which can damage the soil foundation of trees.
- Construction projects that require transplanting, which some trees do not survive.
- Old age, when very elderly specimens simply reach the end of their natural lives.
From Olive Tree to Olive Wood: Fuel and Carving Material
When an olive tree reaches the end of its life, it enters a second stage of use for humanity: fuel or carving material.
The trunk and heftier branches of a dead olive tree often become fuel for the wood burning stoves of kitchens and living rooms in family homes throughout the Holy Land. In a region with brief but harsh winters, stone and cement homes, and no central heating, fireplaces are a far more worthwhile investment than people from northern climates may realize. Many bakers and restaurants still use wood burning ovens for bread and pizza.
The second purpose, of course, is carpentry and olive wood carving. Wood cannot be used indiscriminately to create religious art. Only select pieces of wood, once cut and dried, that meet the qualifications of the carver are chosen. Once a piece of wood passes the test, the incredible process of transformation begins.
Hand Carved Olive Wood Masterpieces from Bethlehem
Each masterpiece begins as a piece of Holy Land olive wood, hand carved by Christian artisans in Bethlehem into a sculpture of Christ, the Virgin Mary, a saint, or a nativity scene.
Shop our hand carved olive wood masterpieces and view each sculpture in full 360 degree detail.
Bethlehem Handicrafts puts the Holy Land in your hands with original olive wood carvings, made by Christian families in Bethlehem, the very birthplace of Jesus Christ.
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