Legend has it that the rare thorn tree on a hill in southern England had ties to the earliest days of Christianity, and pilgrims often left offerings at its base. In more recent times, local children honored its current incarnation each year by cutting sprigs to place on Queen Elizabeth II's Christmas dining table.Now British police want to know who sawed the limbs off the Glastonbury Holy Thorn Tree, reducing it to a stump. And they want to know why."I've just driven past the site, and people are coming out in tears," said Glastonbury Mayor John Coles. "I've never seen a sadder sight, or a more serious act of vandalism, in my 60 years in Glastonbury."Religious tradition holds that the original tree was planted by St. Joseph of Arimathea the wealthy merchant who volunteered his prepared tomb to Jesus after he first made landfall in England some 2,000 years ago. The chopped-down tree is ...read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvc7gK-6AbuRbdcfP53quOIYOtdg?docId=9bfac8d85be64e6a86b0d72f83e911a2
_________________SI Moderator - Greg Gordon