What are the Origins of the Christmas Tree?
The tradition of the Christmas tree has been around for over a thousand years. While a Christmas tree is a popular sight in today’s Christian homes, the Church widely opposed it well into the Middle Ages. In fact, Christmas trees did not become popular until the mid-19th century. Ancient Germanic tribes were the first to use Christmas trees and other evergreens to celebrate the winter solstice or Yule, which occurs every year between December 20 and 23. Other Pagan cultures, such as the Druids and the Celts, also used trees and mistletoe as symbols of eternal life and to honor the coming spring. The first hint of the modern use of the Christmas tree happened in the 8th century. St. Boniface, commissioned by Pope Gregory II, was trying to convert Germanic tribes to Christianity and faced several difficulties, including the widespread use of pagan symbols. One of these symbols was the fir tree. Because it looks like a triangle, St. Boniface came up with the idea of using it as a symbol o
One scholar says that morality plays in Germany during the Middle Ages were set in the Garden of Eden. The plays pointed out the contrasts between Adam, the first man, and Christ; between sin and redemption. The Tree of Knowledge was a central aspect of those plays. It’s just possible that the tree from which Eve plucked the fruit is the tree that evolved into the later German Christmas tree. One of our members told the Hanukkah story. It originates from about 135 BCE, when the king, or emperor, Antiochus, and the Greeks ruled what is now Jerusalem. Under Antiochus, Jews were forbidden to practice their religion and were forced to pay obeisance to various Greek deities. Finally a few brave people rebelled, retreated into the mountains and waged a guerrilla war against the army of Antiochus. More Jews joined them; eventually the Greek army was driven from the region. Following the defeat of the Greeks, the Jews reclaimed and purified the Temple, which the Greeks had profaned. But when t
