Christmas Traditions

Christmas, that lovely time of year when the temperature drops a little low and folks choose to bring some thing that is normally outside in and place presents under it.  The Christmas tree is a fixture that lets you know that it is in fact Christmas.  Without it we would most likely be a small puzzled if we woke up one morning to discover piles of gifts.  We may well wonder the occasion.  Is these days a birthday, an anniversary?  The Christmas tree is like a flamboyant lighthouse beaconing us to come to shore to smell its Christmas aroma and partake in its Christmas tradition.  But the Christmas tree wasn’t always used in the identical manner as we know it in its modern day day role.

Just before there had been Christians and Christmas (and Christmas trees) folks decorated trees for festivals, rituals, and other traditions.  The Vikings revered the evergreen as it served to let them know that the harsh winter would end and the trees would return to life.  The Pagans, to honour their gods would decorate trees and had been under the thought that showing attention to the evergreens would incite jealousy in trees that had lost their leaves therefore causing them to come back to their regular state.  In Rome, the festival devoted to Saturn named for trees decorated with lit candles and other ornaments.  As for Christians there are some conflicting stories as to the origin of the Christmas tree.

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It has been said that an English monk, Saint Boniface, observed a group of Pagans acquiring ready to sacrifice a child.  The Pagans were gathered around an oak tree.  Saint Boniface, determined to save the child, knocked down the tree in 1 punch.  In spot of the oak tree a tiny fir grew.  Saint Boniface informed the Pagans that the tree represented the life of Christ and was the “Tree of Life.”  A Christmas tree story that conflicts with this 1 is of Martin Luther walking via some woods in the course of the night.  He noticed the star shine by way of the trees and the twinkling impact that it had.  This moved him so considerably that he reportedly cut down a tree and brought it residence with him so that he could re-enact the phenomenon by utilizing candles to simulate the twinkling of the stars.

Although the Romans, Pagans, Vikings, and Christians enjoyed their trees outside it was most most likely the Germans who brought the Christmas tree from the outside to the inside.  The Christmas tree of selection for the Germans was the evergreen but when there had been no evergreens to use they would construct a wooden structure that was festooned with branches and candles.  This structure was identified as a Christmas pyramid.  Some years later the Germans established a tradition of decorating their Christmas trees with fruits, gingerbread, and candy.

Folks in Europe would not commence buying Christmas trees until the middle of the 1800′s when Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, displayed the very first Christmas tree at Windsor Castle.  The Prince is stated to have decorated the Christmas tree in the tradition of the Germans (fruits, gingerbread, and candy).  It is difficult to imagine not acquiring a Christmas tree in modern day times but it was not until Prince Albert’s Christmas tree that the concept became popular in England.

In America the tradition of Christmas trees was brought by immigrants from Germany too.  Prior to their immigration such activities had been viewed with disdain as non religious customs.  The thought of a Christmas without a Christmas tree is now hardly regarded as Christmas at all.  Folks anxiously await the time when they can purchase a Christmas tree to take home and decorate, ushering in a beloved season.