For most of us, Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without that tree lighting up the room. Long before a tree became one of the
main symbols of the season, it played an important part in the celebrations of other religions.
The ancient Egyptians treasured and worshipped evergreens. They would bring green date palm leaves into their homes during the winter solstice to symbolize life's triumph over death.
Saturnalia, the Roman festival of the winter solstice, was dedicated to the god of agriculture. Trees were ornamented with trinkets and candles. Houses were decorated with greens and lights.
The Romans would often, at this time, exchange symbolic gifts of coins for prosperity, pastries for happiness and lamps to light one's path through life.
To the Vikings, the evergreen was a reminder that the darkness and chill of winter would end.
The Druids of ancient Britain and France placed evergreen branches over doorways to chase away the evil spirits. Mistletoe and holly were symbols of etenal life.
There are many traditions surrounding how evergreen trees came to be associated with the celebration of Christmas. Perhaps the most popular is the one surrounding Martin Luther.
It is said that walking through the forest on Christmas Eve, around the year 1500, he was struck by the beauty of the stars shining through the branches of the pine trees. When he got home, he set up
a small fir tree indoors to share the beauty with his family. To recreate the effect of starlight, he put candles on the branches, which were lit in honor of Christ's birth.
In the mid-nineteenth century, Prince Albert, husband to Queen Victoria, popularized the Christmas tree in England. In 1841, the first Christmas tree at Windsor castle was decorated by the royal family
with a variety of fruits, sweets and gingerbread cookies. As the tree gained in popularity, wealthy families would try to outdo each other with extravagant objects for ornamentation. Charles Dickens described a tree
decorated with dolls, miniature furniture, tiny musical instruments, costume jewelry, toy guns and swords and the ever popular fruit and candy!
The first recorded public Christmas tree in America was in Pennsylvania in the 1830s. The German settlers decorated a tree, an oddity at the time, to raise money for a local church.
The custom eventually caught on and by the 1890s toy importers were bringing in ornaments from Germany. Most decorations, however were homemade - apples, nuts, cookies in a variety of shapes, popcorn strung with nuts and berries.
Edison had his first mass demonstration of Christmas lights in 1879. These were quite expensive, however.
In 1900 one in five families had a Christmas tree. By 1920 the custom had become nearly universal.
European trees were rarely taller than 4 feet while trees in America stretch to the ceiling!
In a season where nothing flowered, holly and ivy were believed to be magical and it was considered good luck to adorn your home with them.
Later, holly took on a religious significance. It produces a white bloosom which represents Jesus' purity; has clusters of
scarlet berries which reflect the blood He shed for us; and the prickle represents the crown of thorns.
A later tradition stated that if the holly that was brought into to decorate the house had prickles, the man would rule the house throughout the coming year;
if it was the smooth kind the woman would reign.
Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that grows in the tops of oak trees. It's roots dig under the bark of the tree. It was commonly believed that
mistletoe grew from bird droppings - hence it's name: mistel meaning dung and tan meaning twig or literraly dung on a twig!
The belief in mistletoe's power comes from the Viking myth of the resurrection of their god of the summer sun, Balder. Balder had a dream in which he died. His mother, Frigga, the goddess of
love and beauty, was upset, because if Balder died, so, too, would all life on earth. She went to the gods of all the elements - fire, earth, water and fire - and begged them to spare her son.
They agreed and so she felt that Balder was now immortal. But Balder had one enemy - Loki, the god of evil. He found the one thing that Frigga had overlooked - mistletoe, since it does not grow on or under the ground. Loki
made a poisoned arrow of the mistletoe and tricked Balder's blind brother, Hoder, into shooting him with the arrow. Balder died and for three days there was darkness over the earth and it poured with rain. Her tears during these three days turned into berries on the mistletoe but eventually Frigga was able to bring him back to life.
In her joy at his resurrection, she kissed everyone who passed beneath the tree on which mistletoe grew and issued a decree that all who pass beneath mistletoe should have a kiss and then no harm could befall them.
In the Middle Ages, mistletoe was hung over entrances to homes and stables to prevent witches from entering.
Farmers would give the bunch of Christmas mistletoe to the first cow that calved during the new year, thinking this would insure fertility throughout the coming year.
In Scandinavia, mistletoe was considered a plant of peace under which enemies could declare a truce or spouses could kiss and make up.
Tradition states that a man should pluck a berry from the mistletoe when ever he kisses a woman under it's branches. When the berries are gone - no more kisses! In some places, they even burn the Christmas mistletoe on the twelfth day of Christmas; otherwise they believe that all who kissed under it will never marry!
In ancient Greece a laurel wreath was awarded to victors in sporting events. The Romans adopted this custom, hanging the wreaths outside their homes to brag of their victory. Wreaths were also used in Rome much as we use house numbers.
Every one would have their own distinctive wreath hanging on the door or outside the house to identify their family.
Much symbolism may be attached to the Christmas wreath. It is usually in the shape of a circle which represents the eternal nature of God's love. Evergreens are used to represent immortality.
