So we've covered a few types of greenery - holly and mistletoe - already. Both of these are evergreens and produce fruit in winter. In the Yule traditions, we're looking at regions that for the most part had, at this time of year, about six hours of daylight at best. Evergreens were a powerful symbol of the nature of life - cyclical and everlasting - and that with the return of light and warmth after Solstice, so would come growth.
There are a few traditions we have to look at - the Romans, the Europeans and more modern versions.
The Romans decorated evergreen trees - living ones, not cut trees - with silver and gold to honour Bacchus (hello, fertility!) in their Saturnalia celebrations. Saturnus, by the way, was the god of agriculture - fits right in with Solstice and the return of light and growth. Solstice celebrations in Northern Europe included evergreen boughs. Boughs were decorated with fruit and hung as a simple symbol of the season. Druids decorated living trees with objects to symbolize or bring fertility and prosperity. In some parts of Europe (I'm not sure at what point), trees might have been brought into the home as a warm place for the faery/woodland folk to hang while waiting on the return of light and warmth. For the less magickal, the trees may have served as a simple reminder that growth would come again. Green boughs were usually kept until Imbolc (early February), when they were burned to usher in spring.
There are a few traditions we have to look at - the Romans, the Europeans and more modern versions.
The Romans decorated evergreen trees - living ones, not cut trees - with silver and gold to honour Bacchus (hello, fertility!) in their Saturnalia celebrations. Saturnus, by the way, was the god of agriculture - fits right in with Solstice and the return of light and growth. Solstice celebrations in Northern Europe included evergreen boughs. Boughs were decorated with fruit and hung as a simple symbol of the season. Druids decorated living trees with objects to symbolize or bring fertility and prosperity. In some parts of Europe (I'm not sure at what point), trees might have been brought into the home as a warm place for the faery/woodland folk to hang while waiting on the return of light and warmth. For the less magickal, the trees may have served as a simple reminder that growth would come again. Green boughs were usually kept until Imbolc (early February), when they were burned to usher in spring.
Fast-forward to the Christmas tree. This gets a little confusing. One of the first recordings of a 'Christmas' tree, in Latvia, has a group of 'blackheads' (men in black hats) bringing out the tree, dancing and singing, and then burning it - a link to Imbolc?
Some folks hold that Martin Luther 'started' the Christmas tree - not likely. There are recordings of these trees in modern-day Estonia and the area pre-dating ML. Early recordings include dancing and singing around the tree - not likely a Christian tradition, given the solemnity with which the early churches approached Christmas, but it does smack of the heathen and pagan traditions. It was more popular with the Protestant communities - maybe a response to the Catholic nativity scene, or perhaps as a function of being a mainly guild-focused activity (guilds were very strong in German towns like Bremen, where some of the earliest recordings of Christmas trees come from). Eventually the trees became quite mainstream among most Christian traditions - but not for want of trying to stop it.
There have been objections to the Christmas tree, too -- as early as the third century or so, it was rejected by the early Christian church as a pagan trapping (Tertullian, I think). There is likely a biblical reference to it, too (probably referring to a Middle Eastern tradition, based on the region, but maybe a reference to the dying Roman traditions). From the King James bible, Jeremiah 10:2-4:
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it moveth not.
Puritans also condemned the tree as a symbol of Christmas. Oliver Cromwell is known to have preached against carols, decorated trees and joyful expression (it was held as a solemn occassion), and early Puritan governors in today's United States tried to eradicate such "pagan mockery" as 'Christmas' trees. (It's actually a little ironic that people credit Martin Luther with the Christmas tree.)
In spite of all this pagan mockery, Christmas trees became quite mainstream by the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. I do know that the earliest Christmas tree in Canada was around 1780, a tradition brought by a German military official and his wife to Sorel, Quebec. I believe the tradition came to Britain through the same means - German ancestry, probably by way of the Royals. I think there were Hessian troops during the American Revolutionary War - they might have brought the Christmas tree over. As late as 1851, a preacher who included a tree in his church was in danger of losing his post, for the outcry it cause. And I've heard that in 1900, only one in five American families had a Christmas tree.
One thing I'm not sure on, is the tradition of placing a star or angel on top of the tree. When did that start? I imagine it might have been a Christian response to the tree, but I'm not sure when it began... Could this be some kind of link to the rumour that trees were initially hung upside-down, but turned right-side-up by the Christians to point to heaven?
Some folks hold that Martin Luther 'started' the Christmas tree - not likely. There are recordings of these trees in modern-day Estonia and the area pre-dating ML. Early recordings include dancing and singing around the tree - not likely a Christian tradition, given the solemnity with which the early churches approached Christmas, but it does smack of the heathen and pagan traditions. It was more popular with the Protestant communities - maybe a response to the Catholic nativity scene, or perhaps as a function of being a mainly guild-focused activity (guilds were very strong in German towns like Bremen, where some of the earliest recordings of Christmas trees come from). Eventually the trees became quite mainstream among most Christian traditions - but not for want of trying to stop it. There have been objections to the Christmas tree, too -- as early as the third century or so, it was rejected by the early Christian church as a pagan trapping (Tertullian, I think). There is likely a biblical reference to it, too (probably referring to a Middle Eastern tradition, based on the region, but maybe a reference to the dying Roman traditions). From the King James bible, Jeremiah 10:2-4:
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it moveth not.
Puritans also condemned the tree as a symbol of Christmas. Oliver Cromwell is known to have preached against carols, decorated trees and joyful expression (it was held as a solemn occassion), and early Puritan governors in today's United States tried to eradicate such "pagan mockery" as 'Christmas' trees. (It's actually a little ironic that people credit Martin Luther with the Christmas tree.)
In spite of all this pagan mockery, Christmas trees became quite mainstream by the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. I do know that the earliest Christmas tree in Canada was around 1780, a tradition brought by a German military official and his wife to Sorel, Quebec. I believe the tradition came to Britain through the same means - German ancestry, probably by way of the Royals. I think there were Hessian troops during the American Revolutionary War - they might have brought the Christmas tree over. As late as 1851, a preacher who included a tree in his church was in danger of losing his post, for the outcry it cause. And I've heard that in 1900, only one in five American families had a Christmas tree.
One thing I'm not sure on, is the tradition of placing a star or angel on top of the tree. When did that start? I imagine it might have been a Christian response to the tree, but I'm not sure when it began... Could this be some kind of link to the rumour that trees were initially hung upside-down, but turned right-side-up by the Christians to point to heaven?
Oh, and a word on wreaths! Wreaths have long been symbolic of honour and victory in the Greek and Roman contexts. Evergreens represent everlasting life, as do circles (a.k.a., a wheel - possibly what the word "yule" means!). Northern European traditions have had evergreen wreaths with four candles to represent the four elements (earth, air, fire, water), and to bring on or welcome the return of light after Solstice. Wiccans and others decorate their homes from outside in, to invite the light and goodness inside the home - perhaps starting with a wreath on the door - which may be from the Druidic traditions. And perhaps the church co-opted this from the Germanic tribes... It reminds me of the Advent wreath and candles in Catholic churches at this time of year!So, Christmas trees and greenery belong to all of us! Globalism has nothin' on The Season.
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