The Olive Tree in Palestinian Culture: Roots That Hold

Ask a Palestinian family what they miss most about home and, sooner or later, someone mentions the olive trees. Not olives, the food. The trees themselves.

That sounds strange until you understand what an olive tree is in Palestine. It’s not a crop. It’s a family member with roots.

A Tree That Outlives Generations

Olive trees live extraordinarily long lives. Across Palestine there are trees believed to be many centuries old, gnarled trunks that were already ancient when a family’s great-great-grandparents picked from them.

That longevity is the whole point. A grandfather plants a tree knowing his grandchildren will harvest it. Families know their trees individually, the way you know the houses on your street. Groves pass down through generations along with the stories of who planted what and when.

So when Palestinians paint olive trees, embroider them, or put them on the cover of a coloring book, it’s not decoration. It’s a shorthand for continuity: we were here, we are here, we will be here.

The Harvest: Palestine’s Favorite Season

Every October and November, the harvest turns groves into family reunions. Tarps go down under the branches. Kids climb where the adults can’t reach. Someone brings tea, someone brings bread and za’atar, and the day moves at the speed of falling olives.

The first press of the season is an event of its own. New olive oil, bright green and peppery, gets passed around and judged like a sports final. Was this year better than last year? The debate is half the fun.

For children in the diaspora, the harvest is often the strongest image of a homeland they may not have visited. Which is exactly why we put it on paper.

Nothing Is Wasted: Oil, Soap, and Wood

Part of why the olive earned its place is that every bit of the tree gets used. The oil goes into nearly every dish on a Palestinian table, and dipping bread in oil and za’atar is the default breakfast, snack, and midnight meal.

The oil also becomes soap. Nablus has been famous for its white olive-oil soap for centuries, stacked in towers to cure and stamped with family seals. Pruned branches and old wood become spoons, bowls, and the carved crosses and camels sold in Bethlehem’s workshops.

Even the pits find work: crushed, they fuel fires and stoves. When a tree gives your family food, light, soap, and furniture, you don’t think of it as agriculture. You think of it as kin.

The Olive in Palestinian Art

Look through Palestinian art and the olive is everywhere: branches in political posters, leaves in jewelry, trees in village landscape paintings, and stylized olive motifs stitched into tatreez embroidery alongside cypress trees and wheat.

We wrote a full guide to Palestinian symbols and their meanings, where the olive sits beside the key, the watermelon, and tatreez itself. If you want the deeper story of the embroidery tradition, our post on tatreez, the art of Palestinian embroidery covers it.

Why Our Kids’ Book Is Called Lil’ Zaytooni

Zaytoon is Arabic for olive, and zaytooni is what you’d call a little one. Our book Lil’ Zaytooni, made with the kids’ brand of the same name, captures the small moments of Palestinian childhood in 20 tear-out coloring pages. The name says everything: little kids, big roots, exactly like the trees.

For older kids and adults, our Origins Book goes deeper into the landscapes and heritage behind the symbols, olive groves included.

Bringing the Olive Tree to Your Table

You don’t need a grove to pass this on. A few ideas we’ve seen families use:

Color the tree, then tell its story. While the pencils are out, talk about how olive trees are planted for grandchildren. Kids remember the idea because their hands were moving when they heard it.

This is one of our own olive tree pages, mid-coloring. The tree of life fills in slowly, leaf by leaf, which is exactly the point:

Do a tasting. Good olive oil, bread, za’atar. Let kids dip and judge the oil like harvest families do.

Plant something together. Even a small potted olive on a balcony makes the “trees take patience” lesson real.

For more ways in, our guide to teaching kids Palestinian culture through art goes deeper.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the olive tree symbolize in Palestinian culture?

Rootedness, patience, and continuity between generations. Olive trees live for centuries and pass down through families, so they represent an unbroken connection to the land.

When is the olive harvest in Palestine?

The harvest runs through October and November. It’s a family affair: relatives gather to pick together, and the first pressing of new oil is celebrated.

Why is your kids’ book called Lil’ Zaytooni?

Zaytoon means olive in Arabic, and zaytooni is the affectionate way to say a little one. The book celebrates Palestinian childhood, so it carries the most Palestinian name there is: a little olive with big roots.

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