The Wish Tree - A Wish for Peace

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Create Your Own Wish Tree

The Wish Tree is a lovely concept to create for your family at the holidays or any day. Everyone writes down their wishes and then hangs the wishes on the Wish Tree. 

Since the 1990's the Wish Tree has been a part of many peace-promoting art exhibitions staged by Yoko Ono. With the Wish Tree, people are invited to write their wish on a piece of paper and hang it to a tree branch. Some wishes of the wishes are deeply personal, others global wishes for peace and better future for all of humankind.

Yoko sees the Wish Tree like a collective prayer in a way. People are encouraged to keep wishing as they participate.

As a child in Japan, I used to go to a temple and write out a wish on a piece of thin paper and tie it around the branch of a tree. Trees in temple courtyards were always filled with people's wish knots, which looked like white flowers blossoming from afar.

She had been collecting Wish Tree Wishes for years. This year the wishes were all place in the Imagine Peace Tower that was unveiled in October on Videy Island in Reykjavik, Iceland in memory of John Lennon.

Image Source:
Mosieur J. Wish Tree / Arbre a souhait. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved. Public Photo.
Quote Source: Yoko Ono. Imagine Peace. Wish Tree.

Make Your Own Wish Tree 

You can make an Imagine Peace Wish Tree in your your school, workplace or community.

You will need:
    *Tree (or bush)
    * Pencils
    * Wish tags
    * IMAGINE PEACE sign
    * Wish Tree Instructions - next section
For wish tags you can just use paper and string.

Let people write their wishes and add them to the tree by tying or hanging the wish tags.

If you want when the tree is full of wishes, you can put all the wishes in an envelope and send them to:
    IMAGINE PEACE TOWER
    PO Box 1009,
    121 Reykjavík, Iceland

You can also send the wishes by email:
Image Sources:
Modified Microsoft Clipart. Imagine Peace. 2007. Send Your Wishes.

Write Your Own Wish 

Wish Piece
    Make a wish
    Write it down on a piece of paper
    Fold it and tie it around a branch of a Wish Tree
    Ask your friends to do the same
    Keep wishing
    Until the branches are covered with wishes

    Yoko Ono
    1996 / 2007

Photo Source:
Joshin Yamada. 2007. Sample Wish. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved. Public Photo.
Make an Imagine Peace Wish Tree
Instructions for Making an Imagine Peace wish tree from the Imagine Peace website.
IMAGINE PEACE - Send Wishes
More Information for send your wishes to the IMAGINE PEACE TOWER is available from this page.

Make a Holiday Wish Tree and Start a New Tradition 

Another article that I wrote about making a Wish Tree part of a family holiday tradition.
Make a Holiday Wish Tree with Your Children: Start a New Holiday Tradition by Making a Tree full of Wishes
A Wish Tree is a wonderful concept promoted by Peace Activist Yoko Ono. The idea of writing and sharing wishes is a meaningful tradition you can share with your children.

The Wishing Tree on Amazon 

This book is going on my gift list for my girls. Not only does it teach children about the Wishing Tree, but also about coping with aging Grandparents.

The Wishing Tree

Amazon Price: $13.22 (as of 07/13/2009)Buy Now

The Wishing Tree tells the story of one family's tradition of writing wishes on special paper, tying them to an orange and tossing up into the branches of the tree each Lunar New Year.

Ming learns an important message when he finally realizes all of his wishes had been granted except for one: that his grandmother recover from a grave illness.

Yoko Ono's Wish Trees 

The Wish Trees are designed to be a participation work of hope and longing. Yoko Ono has said that, "all my works are a form of prayer or a wish."
Wishing in Yoko Ono's Art
About the Wish Tree from aiu: a yoko ono website.
Wish Tree 1996
Photo of a Wish Tree from 1996.
Wish Tree in Detroit - 2000
In front of a small tree, a boulder bears a plaque stating: "Wish Tree for Detroit/ Whisper your wish/ to the bark of the tree/ yoko ono/ 2000 spring." Yoko Ono has dedicated Wish Trees to cities all over the world.
Wish Tree in Helsinki, Finland March-April 2005
A series of Photographs by by Chris Gurney from the 2005 Wish Tree exhibit at the Rikhardinkatu Library in Helsinki, Finland.
Oklahoma City Wish Tree
A wish tree created at the 21st annual Peace Festival in Oklahoma City, sponsored by the Peace Education Institute.
Peace tree at Minnesauke Elementary School
A Peace Tree created by two elementary students for their Elementary School., Minnesauke, in Setauket, New York.

Wish Trees for Pasadena on YouTube 

Wish Trees for Pasadena is an art installation that consists of 21 living crape myrtle trees installed amongst the cafe tables and chairs in the Courtyard of One Colorado. Visitors are invited to write their wishes on pieces of paper and hang them on the tree branches. Yoko Onos Wish Tree for Pasadena is free and open to the public.

Wishes from Wish Trees for Pasadena will be joined with others from all over the world and placed in specially constructed capsules to be installed in the area surrounding Yoko Onos Imagine Peace Tower on Videy Island, off the coast of Reykjavik, Iceland.

The artwork is dedicated to the memory of John Lennon.

Yoko Ono: WIsh Trees for Pasadena (2008)

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What is Your Wish? 


These are some of the wishes that have been left on the Wishing Trees.

If you could add any wish to the Wish Tree, what wish would you add?

No more War

4 points

Peace in the Family

3 points

Imagine Peace

2 points

Peace on Earth

2 points

Love

2 points

Everybody don't fight!

1 point

Listen to Each other

1 point

Peace in Relations

0 points

Best Christmas Wish Ever Lens 

Washington Wish Tree on Flickr 

Images from the Washington D.C. Wish Trees exhibit from Spring 2007.

Wish Tree by mj*laflaca

The Wishing Tree by Pati's Moment in Time

Yoko Ono wish tree by Keith.Fulton

Wishes Blowing in the Wind by Jessica Leas Photography

Wishes Tree-Yoko Ono by Sirita in the Streets

I have a wish by p2wy

A Plea for No War by Jessica Leas Photography

Make a wish by pedestrian shots

Square Foot of Wishes #2 by Jessica Leas Photography

Yoko Ono Tree by beading heart liberal

Imagine Peace wisher by lynnjo

The Washington Wish Tree Exhibit 

Wish Tree for Washington D.C. Wish Trees are also located near the Jefferson and Vietnam memorials as well as at The ARC in Anacostia.

Yoko Ono exhibited 10 trees around Washington, D.C. for the 2007 Cherry Blossom Festival.
Yoko Ono's Peaceful Message Takes Root
Yes, that was Yoko Ono whispering into the bark of a cherry tree at the Tidal Basin yesterday morning. The artist, performer and widow of John Lennon visited Washington on Sunday and Monday to bring her "Imagine Peace" project to the city. From the Washington Post.com
Yoko Ono's wish tree
Yoko Ono presented her interactive "Wish Tree" exhibit to the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC. Watch Video Footage of the event.
Recent Acquisitions
Website with information from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.

The Wish Tree at the Getty Center on Flickr 

This piece is kindly presented by Yoko Ono in collaboration with PoNJA-GenKon as part of the Rajikaru! Experimentations in Japanese Art 1950 - 1975 conference, April 27 - 29, 2007.

The Wish Tree was displayed at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, CA.

Yoko-Ono---Wish-Tree by Marshall Astor - Food Pornographer

Yoko Ono's Wish Tree by ales_partyzan

Yoko-Ono-Wish-Tree-Label by Marshall Astor - Food Pornographer

Yoko Ono Wish Tree by Choctopus

Marshall adding his wish by Choctopus

Yoko Ono on the Wish Tree in Finland - The Tree becomes a Forest 

In an interview with by Hans Ulrich Obrist with Yoko Ono, she talks about the response to the Wish Tree in Finland in 2002.

When they did it in Finland they said one tree was not enough. Because the wish was becoming much larger than one tree.

They added so many trees it became like a mini-forest.

You suddenly see very strong emotions of people coming out. It is fantastic.

I'm keeping all the wishes from all the countries, although I never read any of them. I feel it's not right to read people's private wishes.

Yoko Ono


We now know that those wishes were included in the Imagine Peace Tower, dedicated in October 2007 on on Videy Island in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Source: Obrist H.O. 2002. An Interview of Yoko Ono by Hans Ulrich Obrist

The Fate of So Many Wish Tree Wishes 

Yoko discusses the fate of all of the Wishes:
    I have saved all the wishes people made and hung on my work, called 'Wish Tree' in many different countries.

    The number of those wishes I collected and kept has now reached over 495,000 and they will all be buried in capsules around this light tower on the Isle of Videy.

The Imagine Peace Tower on Squidoo 

A Wishing Tree Wish 

That all these wishes result in some action
I wish for secrete smiles to strangers on the train
I wish that what you say is true
I wish for cold summer rain and hot winter sun. . .

Source: Pati Gaitan. Flickr Quote. I wish on the Wishing Tree

Wishing Tree Wishes on Flickr 

I wish on the Wishing Tree by Pati's Moment in Time

Wishing on the Wishing Tree by Pati's Moment in Time

My-Wish-on-Tree by Marshall Astor - Food Pornographer

I Wish For George W. Bush to Be Tried for Treason by Meepocity

I wish for perfect Grammar by Meepocity

I wish I were fearless by Meepocity

i wish for... by buddhasit

I Wish For by B Tal

everybody don't fight! by *wanderlust*

A wish hung in Yoko Ono's wishtree in Washington D.C. by Jill

Change the World - Wish for Peace 

Each one of us has the power to change the world.

Power works in mysterious ways.
You don't have to do much.

Visualise...and just start thinking PEACE.
Thoughts are infectious.
Send it out.

The message will circulate faster than you think.

Yoko Ono, 2007

Happy Xmas Video Showcase on Squidoo 

A collection of videos with John and Yoko's special Christmas Wish.

More Wish Trees from Around the World on Flickr 

Wish Trees in Stockholm, Sweden; London; Roskilde, Denmark; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Oregon; Glasgow, Scotland; Paris, France and Utah.

Wish Trees by * INVERSEFUNCTION

stockholm38 by * INVERSEFUNCTION

Wish tree by <<graham>>

13072006(007) by Curry Club

Free toilet by thorbak

Árvore dos Desejos by murciélagando

Array by murciélagando

Wishes by murciélagando

The Wish Tree by femaletrumpet02

Make a wish... by femaletrumpet02

Tree of Hope, or Something by Jeff Wheeler

PORTLAND JAPANESE GARDENS by Dita2711

wish by digizen

wish by cafesiren

wishing tree by novamade

Wishing trees by chatirygirl

wish_tree_1 by chatirygirl

Wish Tree / Arbre à souhait by Môsieur J. <au ralenti>

The Wishing Tree by Silus Grok

The Wishing Tree by Silus Grok

Wish Tree Trio in Paris 


Mosieur J. Wish Tree / Arbre a souhait. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved. Public Photo.

Wishing Trees on YouTube 

Two videos show the tradition in Hong Kong and China to write your wishes on a ribbon and throw it into the Wish tree and the wish will come true.

One Video shows a Wish Tree of Poems in Israel.

Two Videos show an interactive installation "One Garden One Night One Wish" created for Nuit Blanche 2006 in Toronto.

The final wish comes from Thomas the Tank Engine series, when Henry the Green Engine wishes on the wishing tree.

Wish Tree

Wish Tree

wish tree

nuit blanche 2006 wish tree

ONE GARDEN ONE NIGHT ONE WISH

Gifts with Wishes of Peace on Squidoo 

We Cherish, Laugh, Heal, Breathe and We Survive 

We cherish the moment of peace and quiet
We cherish the moment of having fun
We cherish every moment of warmth and love
We laugh, we heal, and we embrace

We breathe for life
We'll survive
Remember: we are one


Yoko Ono
October 9, 2007

The Latest on Wish Trees in the News 

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Wishes Available on eBay 

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eBay

Wish Tree Guestbook 

What is your Wish Tree Wish?

sandyspider wrote...

Congrats on your win in the Squidoo Home for the Holidays contest 2008

ReplyPosted January 01, 2009

pmolinero wrote...

A wonderful lens again. I like your lenses, they show that Christmas is not just a commercial issue. Welcome to the Christmas decorations group.

ReplyPosted December 04, 2008

RinchenChodron wrote...

I'm wishing everyone a happy holiday season. Thanks for this wonderful lens *****

ReplyPosted November 12, 2008

The_Party_Animal wrote...

I absolutely love this idea - I am going to email this to others - what a great idea.
I wish 5 stars, lensrolling and favorited for you - wish granted

ReplyPosted October 27, 2008

Marelisa wrote...

Beautiful lens. I've seen these around Christmas time: kids whose parents can't afford to get them presents write down what they want for Christmas and people who want to help select a list hanging from the tree and then purchase what is written on there for that particular child.

ReplyPosted July 07, 2008

WhiteOak50 wrote...

As always what can I say...except I LOVE the thought of this lens. Thank you for submitting it to Everything Spiritual! Blessings

ReplyPosted March 03, 2008

NoLimitReality wrote...

I just came across your group and found your blog. Keep up the good work. 5*

ReplyPosted February 09, 2008

Karendelac wrote...

5 Stars for you !
Your site was really great ~~ I really want to make this for next year...thanx
Please give me ratings and sign my guest book as well.
best wishes to you,
http://www.squidoo.com/Harland-and-Wolffs-Titanic/

ReplyPosted December 29, 2007

 
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