why we're scared of old banyan trees (cây đa) and not just for the snakes

if you've driven the countryside here you've seen it: a huge ancient banyan, gnarled, roots everywhere, and a little altar at the base with incense and fruit. that's not decoration. cây đa = ghost magnet in our folklore. there's a proverb, 'than cay da, ma cay gao' basically every old tree has its s……