Pi de les tres branques (; meaning "the three-branched pine") is a dead pine tree located in the countryside near the town of Berga in north-central Catalonia, Spain. It has long been regarded by some Catalan nationalists as representing the unity of the three "Catalan Countries" and is the site of regular political-cultural gatherings.
The tree has been dead since 1915 and is in poor structural condition, due in part to politically-motivated vandalism, but there is a very similar living tree a short distance away known as Pi jove de les tres branques ("the young three-branched pine"), which is regarded as its successor. Both are protected as "monumental trees" by the Catalan Generalitat.
Location
The tree is a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), tall, and as its name suggests, consists of three main branches or trunks rising from a common base. It is located in the centre of the Campllong plain, which measures about by and occupies the flat floor of a valley, surrounded by forested mountains of the Pre-Pyrenees, at an altitude of . To the south, separating the valley from Berga town, is the ridge, home to the religious complex, and to the north are the Rasos de Peguera mountains and ski resort. Berga is away by road.
The tree previously dominated the valley's farmed and grazed land, due to its height and full foliage, and was visible from a long distance, as is shown in old photographs. However, much of the surrounding land has now been taken over by forest, and Pi de les Tres Branques now has many other trees in its vicinity, which, together with its current skeletal form, make it much less visible than before.
The valley is traversed by a minor road which terminates at the small settlement of Castellar del Riu at its western end. The road passes close by Pi de les Tres Branques, which is indicated by a signpost.
History
Origin Although legend places the tree much earlier, it has been estimated that Pi de les Tres Branques took root between 1630 and 1632, when the local farmhouse was built.
Cultural recognition
The tree had been traditionally celebrated as a symbol of the Holy Trinity, and it is still a venue for religious ceremonies. The first reference in extant records was in 1685, when a cartographer wrote that it was known as the Tree of the Trinity. It is also recorded that in 1746, the bishop of Solsona granted indulgences to those who prayed at the site.
In 1876, the landowner of the site, in a letter to a local magazine denying that he was planning to sell the tree for timber, pointed out that it also represented the revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity.
The Catalan language cultural revival of the 19th century saw a great increase in Catalan literature and culture. In 1875, playwright published a play Lo Pi de las Tres Brancas,Spellings varied until the early-20th-century language reforms of Pompeu Fabra. which is set in Berga and at the tree, and contains a passage suggesting that the tree was already a Catalan national symbol.From the play (translated):Guenyo: ... Look, see at the foot of the slope, on the plain, that gigantic pine with the half-bare stump.Tivat: Pi de les Tres Branques.Guenyo: You know its name?Tivat: Every good Catalan knows it; it's the household tree. However, it was the 1888 poem "Lo Pi de les Tres Branques" by the poet Fr Jacint Verdaguer, published in his anthology Pàtria, which brought the tree to widespread attention, converting what was mainly a local religious symbol into a significant secular national symbol. In his poem, Jacint Verdaguer created the so-called 'legend' of the king-child King James I of Aragon who after being released from captivity in Narbonne (France) travelled with his retinue through Catalonia back to his seat at Monzón in Aragon, supposedly spending one of the nights sleeping under Pi de les Tres Branques, and it was there that he had an inspirational dream that he was destined to rule three kingdoms, represented by the three trunks of the tree, conquering the Balearic Islands and the Kingdom of Valencia from the Moors, which in fact he later achieved.
Preguem que sia aqueix Pi l'arbre sagrat de la pàtria.
Per on baixa el Llobregat dels Pirineus a la plana, don Guillem de Mont-rodon a trenc de dia davalla, voltat de comtes i ducs en ufanosa colcada. De l'alta sella en l'arçó, sobre arabesca gualdrapa, seu en Jaume nostre rei; no du més corona encara que la de son cabell d'or que algun àngel li ha deixada. Lo tenia presoner Narbona dins sa muralla: al vencedor de Muret Mont-rodon lo demanava; Montfort no l'hi vol donar, per gendre diu que se'l guarda. Si serà son gendre o no Mont-rodon ho diu al Papa; la resposta que li fa al vell Montfort no li agrada: —Que torne el Rei a Aragó i als Pirineus la seva àliga.—
Catalunya, aixeca el front, doble sol avui t'aguaita, lo sol que et surt a Orient i el que t'ix a tramuntana. Lo que et surt al Pirineu te vol donar una ullada, mes ell, infant de sis anys, no vol ésser vist encara, ja el veuran a Lleida prou davant la cort catalana. Abans d'arribar a Berga s'enfilen per la muntanya, per entre Estela i Queralt de Campllong envers la plana; quan són al mig de Campllong la nit fosca és arribada.
Lo Campllong té com un breç dues serres per barana, per coberta un bosc de pins verds tot l'any com l'esmaragda. Corona immensa de tots és una hermosa Pinassa, pinetells semblen los pins entorn de llur sobirana, geganta dels Pirineus que per sang té rius de saba. Com una torre és son tronc que s'esbadia en tres branques com tres titans rabassuts que sobre els núvols s'abracen, per sostenir en lo cel una cúpula de rama que fa ombra a tot lo pla com una nova muntanya.
Don Jaume cau de genolls i en son èxtasis exclama: —Al Pare, Fill i Esperit per tots los segles hosanna! tres persones i un sol Déu que aquí sa firma ha posada, com en l'arbre de Mambré on Abraham reposava.— Fent la senyal de la creu se recolza a la Pinassa, i la son del paradís a ses parpelles davalla. Don Guillem de Mont-rodon, que és son àngel de la guarda, l'abriga amb son gran escut on vermellegen les Barres. Alça els ulls a l'Infinit que obira en sa tenda blava clavetejada d'estels i al cim lluna minvanta.
En dolça contemplació lo sorprèn lo bes de l'alba; al bes de l'alba i al seu don Jaume se desvetllava: —He somniat que era gran i d'un bell país monarca, d'un bell país com aqueix entre el mar i la muntanya. Com eix Pi meravellós, mon regne posà tres branques, foren tres regnes en un, ma corona els coronava.— Esbrinant somni tan dolç lo sol li dóna a la cara i esporuguida a ponent la mitja lluna s'amaga. Lo somni del rei infant lo vell templari l'acaba en extàtica oració, espill de visió més clara. Veu Catalunya la gran fer-se més gran i més ampla, robant als moros València, prenent-los l'Illa Daurada. Unides veu a les tres com les tres cordes d'una arpa, les tres nimfes d'eixa mar, d'aqueix jardí les tres Gràcies. Mes al veure desvetllar lo lligador d'eixa garba, profeta, al Conqueridor sols li diu eixa paraula: —Preguem, que sols Déu és gran, los homes són ombra vana; preguem que sia aqueix Pi l'arbre sagrat de la pàtria.— We pray that this Pine will be the sacred tree of the fatherland.
Where the Llobregat descends from the Pyrenees to the plain, Sir William of Mont-rodon goes down at break of day, surrounded by counts and dukes in a pompous cavalcade. On the pillion of the high saddle, over an arabesque blanket, sits James our king; he wears no more crown than that of his golden hair that some angel has loaned him. He was held prisoner inside the walls of Narbonne: to the victor of Muret Mont-rodon asks for him back; Montfort will not give him back, saying he is growing up into a son-in-law. Will he be a son-in-law or not Mont-rodon asks the Pope; the reply he gives him does not please old Montfort: —The King should return to Aragon and his eagle to the Pyrenees.—
Catalonia, raise your brow, a double sun watches over you today, the sun which rises for you in the east and the one that appears in the north. The one that comes from the Pyrenees wants to have a look at you, but he, infant of six years, does not want to be seen yet, as they will see him full well at Lleida before the Catalan court. Before arriving at Berga they climb through the mountains, between Estela and Queralt towards the plain of Campllong; on reaching the middle of Campllong the dark night has arrived.
Campllong has like a cradle two ridges as a railing, for cover a forest of pines green all year like an emerald. The biggest crown of all is a beautiful Great Pine, other trees look like mushrooms around their overlord, giantess of the Pyrenees who has rivers of sap for blood. Its trunk is like a tower that splits into three branches like three stout titans embracing above the clouds, to support in the sky a dome of branches casting a shadow over the whole plain like a new mountain.
King James falls to his knees and in his ecstasy exclaims: —To the Father, Son and Spirit through all the ages hosanna! three persons and only one God who has put his signature here, like on the tree of Mamre where Abraham rested.— Making the sign of the cross he rests against the Great Pine, and the sleep of paradise descends on his eyelids. Sir William of Mont-rodon, who is his guardian angel, covers him with his big shield where the Bars blaze red. He raises his eyes to the Infinite which he discerns in its blue canopy studded with stars and at the summit a waning moon.
In sweet contemplation the kiss of dawn surprises him; at dawn's kiss and his kiss King James awakens: —I dreamed that I was great and monarch of a beautiful country, of a beautiful country like this between the sea and the mountain. Like this wonderful Pine, my kingdom had three branches, they were three kingdoms in one, my crown crowned them.— Finding this dream so sweet the sun shines on his face and frightened at the west the half-moon hides. The dream of the infant king is finished by the old Templar in an ecstatic speech, mirror of a clearer vision. He sees the great Catalonia make itself greater and bigger, stealing Valencia from the Moors, taking from them the Golden Island. He sees all three united like the three strings of a harp, the three nymphs of that sea, the three Graces of that garden. But seeing awake the binder of that sheaf, a prophet, the Conqueror says to him only these words: —We pray, since only God is great, men are a feeble shadow; we pray that this Pine will be the sacred tree of the fatherland.—
The previous year, Verdaguer had stayed a few days in the nearby Queralt Sanctuary and visited the tree. "Lo Pi de les Tres Branques" recounts the story of James and the tree's symbolism of the Trinity and the unity of the Catalan Countries, and expressed the wish that it be adopted as Catalonia's national tree. The poem has remained the tree's principal literary connection, regularly recited at gatherings there. It starts and ends with the often-quoted lines "Preguem que sia aqueix Pi / l'arbre sagrat de la pàtria." ("We pray that this Pine will be / the sacred tree of the fatherland.").
It is accepted that in fact Verdaguer invented the story of James's sojourn for his poem, since there is no record of it before then, and that the poem's popularity created the legend.
In 1901, when Verdaguer was presiding at the Floral Games, a traditional Catalan poetry contest, he coined the sobriquet "Guernica of Catalonia" for the tree, referring to the Tree of Guernica, an oak tree which symbolises Basque freedom. He also suggested the tree's trunks symbolised the three major awards of the contest: country, faith, and love.
In May 1901 the landowner transferred ownership of the tree to the Unió Catalanista, a grouping of various nationalist organisations, at their meeting in Terrassa, though the transaction was never legally registered. This new popularity coincided with the slow decay of the tree, which eventually died in 1915.