What did the Christmas Tree mean to the pagans?
The use of the Yule Tree or Yule Log is mostly Germanic and Saxon. An evergreen tree was usually cut and placed in the middle of the village/town. It was decorated with edible nuts and berries for the woodland creatures and birds. The fact that the evergreen stayed green all winter was a sign of hope and knowledge that life is never ending. The tree used was very large and at the end of the Yule season, the tree was taken down and chopped up. Every household received a section of the tree trunk which was known as the Yule Log. The Yule Log was then burned on the following Solstice night once it had had a year to cure and dry. When Christianity came into the Germanic area, the custom was converted into a way to celebrate Christmas and it redubbed a ‘Christmas Tree’. Individual trees for homes did not come into common practice until much latter, probably in about the 1400’s or so, if then, and only in the homes of nobles or the wealthy with space enough in their homes for such a thing.
