In India, bamboo is a symbol of friendship and in China it represents longevity.  There is a story that bamboo lies beneath the earth for up to five years, and then can be seen when it is above the soil to grow up to one metre a day.  The question is when does the bamboo start to grow?

Bamboo has a strong resonance in several creation stories.  In is believed that humanity emerged from a bamboo stem, In the Philippine creation myth a man and a woman emerged from a split in a bamboo stem.  In Hawaiian culture bamboo is a body form of a creator god Kane Milohai.

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