Palo Santo Altar

Palo santo trunk for altar.

The “Palo Santo”, (Bursera Graveolens), is an aromatic tree native to the Galapagos Archipelago, which grows in greater volume in the dry forests of Peru and Ecuador, to a lesser extent it is also found in the rest of the countries on the coast of South America.

The Palo Santo, is from the Burseraceae family, like the incense (Boswellia carteri), the Mirra Commiphora myrrha and the Copal.

It was also called “quebracho” by the Spanish colonizers since it broke the ax when cut due to its hardness, and “holy stick” for the various uses and magical properties that they discovered from the Inkas.

Harvest:

In order for the palo santo to retain its properties, the wood must be harvested with a particular method. “Their maturity is from 50 to 70 years, which in relative terms is not much. Once the tree dies of natural causes, it should be left in place for at least five to eight years for the oils in the heartwood to mature sufficiently and the wood to acquire its aromatic and medicinal properties,” explains Jonathon Miller Weisberger, ethnobotanist and author. from Rainforest Medicine: Preserving Indigenous Science and Biodiversity in the Upper Amazon