Johanny OrtegaDAY 15 — My Favorite Tree: The Kapok Tree
There are trees that simply exist in the background of our lives, and then there are trees that hold stories. Trees that feel ancestral. Trees that remind us of who we are and who we come from. For me, that tree is the kapok tree, known as the ceiba in the Dominican Republic and across much of the Caribbean and Latin America.
The kapok tree is enormous, ancient, and awe-inspiring. It towers over landscapes, reaching heights that make you pause and take in its presence. Its trunk is thick and powerful, its roots sprawling like a foundation laid down before memory. In many cultures, the kapok is more than a tree. It is a connection point between earth and sky. A spiritual pillar. A reminder that the natural world has its own elders.
When I was writing The Ordinary Bruja, the kapok felt like the only tree worthy of carrying the story’s symbolism. Not just because it is culturally significant, but because of what it represents emotionally and metaphorically. In the Dominican Republic, the kapok tree is one of the oldest, most sacred trees. It is woven into indigenous Taíno stories and Afro-Caribbean folklore. It is a witness of time, survival, migration, and spiritual resilience.
The kapok is native to tropical regions across the Americas—Mexico, Central and South America—and West Africa. It has since spread to Southeast Asia, thriving in rainforests around the world and often rising above the canopy like a guardian. And that origin story matters. The kapok moved, migrated, rooted itself in lands far from where it began, and still grew into something magnificent.
That is the reason I planted the kapok tree in Ohio within The Ordinary Bruja. It does not belong there—at least not botanically. But symbolically? It belongs perfectly.
Because the kapok is the immigrant story.
It is the story of people who leave their original soil, whether by choice or by force, and find themselves somewhere unfamiliar. Somewhere colder. Somewhere different. Somewhere that may not understand them at first. But still, they grow. Still, they adapt. Still, they root. Still, they rise.
The kapok in Ohio reflects every immigrant’s journey, including my own. It reflects the journey of the Espinal family in the Las Cerradoras series. It reflects the experience of standing in a country that is not your birthplace and learning to belong without losing who you are. It reflects the tension between origin and adaptation, between identity and transformation.
I wanted the kapok tree to show up in the series because it is one of the most powerful symbols of Caribbean identity and diasporic survival. It will appear again in The Forgotten Bruja because that lineage is not limited to one character or one generation. The Espinal magic is tied to land—not just the physical land they walk but the ancestral land that lives inside them. And the kapok is a vessel for that magic.
For me, the kapok tree also symbolizes spiritual height. In many traditions, the ceiba is considered a bridge between worlds. Its massive trunk and exposed roots represent grounding, while its towering branches stretch into the heavens. It is seen as a tree that holds both worlds—earth and spirit, past and present. A place where ancestors gather. A place where offerings are made. A place where stories linger.
When I was writing Marisol’s journey, I knew she needed a symbol that reminded her—and my readers—that belonging is not about location. It is about endurance, heritage, and the ability to adapt without erasing yourself. The kapok tree in Ohio is a disruption. It is unexpected. It raises questions. It stands out.
Just like many of us who grew up between cultures.
Growing up Dominican American means learning to navigate dual identities. You may not fully blend into American society, and you may not fully blend into Dominican culture either—especially if you were raised outside the island. You become like the kapok: familiar yet foreign, rooted yet wandering, powerful yet misunderstood.
But the beauty of the kapok is that it thrives anyway.
It grows in new soil.
It stretches toward the sky.
It becomes a landmark in places that never expected it.
It transforms the land simply by being there.
That is why the kapok in my series is more than scenery. It is a statement.
It says: We do not have to be from here to belong here.
It says: We thrive even when the soil is different.
It says: Our roots are resilient, expansive, and sacred.
It says: Immigrant stories are powerful, magical, and deeply rooted in something larger than geography.
Writing about the kapok tree allows me to honor the island that shaped me while acknowledging the life I built in the United States. It allows me to show how culture travels, how ancestry holds on, and how magic survives migration.
The kapok tree is my favorite not just for its beauty, but for its truth.
It is the embodiment of survival.
It is the embodiment of diaspora.
It is the embodiment of growing tall in unfamiliar places.
It is the embodiment of being rooted in two worlds at once.
And that is exactly why it will continue to appear throughout the Las Cerradoras series.
Because the story of the kapok tree is the story of so many of us.
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Spirituality & Religious Studies