Old people recall that men used to comfortably lounge in its shanty during the summer sweltering days. For many years, the natives remember the hut full of owls, but later the hornets moved in. In an attempt to drive them out, someone threw a smoke bomb there in 1985 in the evening, the tree caught fire and with great effort it was extinguished. The tree was quite damaged and two years later it was cared for, after which it recovered. In the 18th century, the local inhabitants were told that the Virgin Mary appeared in the crown of the tree, so they attached her image to the tree trunk and later built a chapel. In 1913 a fire swept through the village, destroying almost all the houses from the oak down, but the oak survived without much damage. In 1995 it was struck and damaged by lightning. The people of Dubin have preserved their oak to this day, although its fate, firmly linked to that of the natives, has been very turbulent. According to available written records, during the Brethren movement in Slovakia (1440-1465), it was protected from being cut down only by paying a high indemnity, which was collected by all the inhabitants of the village. Similarly, it was saved during World War I and World War II, when it served as an orientation and aiming point for artillerymen. They begged the Austrians not to fire on it and later convinced the Germans, who wanted to cut it down, that it could not serve the Soviets just for artillery targeting. Later they protected it during the electrification of the village, as it was too much of a nuisance to the planners and builders.
Source/Photo : Municipality of Dubinné
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