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Trees may bear blossoms, fruits, or pinecones, or the weight of birds and squirrels, or just plain snow. They are not normally found in houses, nor are they decorated with candles, straw stars, tinsel, or glass balls. And most trees have roots that stretch deep into the ground beneath. But the Christmas or Holiday tree as we know it today usually has only its crown and trunk – and its place is in the home. It has developed a life of its own, and there is an entire ritual surrounding it.
Is it really just a pagan remnant – as common mythology has it? What can account for the imaginative combination of natural and cultural elements, for our splendid Christmas tree? It seems like different traditions came together: Wood has been used for thousands of years in celebrations of the winter solstice in northern Europe. To honor the gods, it was set alight to scare away the spirits. And mid-winter greenery was thought to radiate and summon life force and fertility, to keep harm at bay. The custom of celebrating the changing year with greenery was already known among the Romans, who used bay branches. Some of the objects used as tree decorations have long been found in the context of Christmas. For instance, in the 10th century it was common in the German lands for children to give apples as presents at Christmas time – a custom that soon also included other foodstuffs such as bread and cheese.
The solstice evergreen, a freestanding tree usually found next to the village well, was much loved in Northern and Central Europe. It was freed of its bark and branches, while leaving the treetop. Sometimes this was later replaced by a new treetop and the tree was then decorated with string, small figures, and blown eggs. This tree had an established place in the life of the community – the girls of the village formed a round dance, singing and dancing around it.
Then there is a custom that dates all the way back to the 13th century of making cuttings of deciduous trees – above all cherry, apple, lilac, plum, hazel, and linden – on the 4th of December, the day of the patron Saint Barbara, and then bringing them into the warmth of the house until Christmas so that they may blossom.
I suggest that the Christian paradise play, popular in Europe in the late Middle Ages, with its decorated tree of life and death at the center, might have lent particular emphasis and dynamism to the custom as we know it today. It was performed on Christmas Eve and retold the story of how original sin came to be and showed the banishment of Adam and Eve from paradise. This tree then freed itself from the religious context of this play and began its path toward the Christmas celebrations of some guilds in the Southeast of Germany. As early as 1419 the Freiburg Fraternity of Baker’s Apprentices appears to have seen a tree decorated with apples, wafers, gingerbread, and tinsel in the local Hospital of the Holy Spirit. A few decades later tree felling must have become so prevalent that a Strasbourg town clerk found it necessary to forbid the custom of cutting off pine branches and bringing them home. But not much is known about the popularity of the tree in the households in this region.
Another two centuries had to pass until the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie of the German states discovered the Christmas tree, where it soon became a focus of the Christmas celebration. Its popularity is tied to the rise of a new way of living, and the architectural division of the houses and mansions. Now the decorated tree could be placed in a “parlor” and unfold its particular effect. From here onwards, it’s easy to see how the tree evolved into what it is today.
When it’s snowy and dark outside and the days are short, the tree lets us dream of nature’s life force returning again. Its decorations anticipate the buds and blossoms of the coming season. The tree lightens the gloom of winter and awakens joy and hope that the sun will soon return.
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/12/23/the-long-strange-history-of-the-christmas-tree/?mod=e2tw
Is it really just a pagan remnant – as common mythology has it? What can account for the imaginative combination of natural and cultural elements, for our splendid Christmas tree? It seems like different traditions came together: Wood has been used for thousands of years in celebrations of the winter solstice in northern Europe. To honor the gods, it was set alight to scare away the spirits. And mid-winter greenery was thought to radiate and summon life force and fertility, to keep harm at bay. The custom of celebrating the changing year with greenery was already known among the Romans, who used bay branches. Some of the objects used as tree decorations have long been found in the context of Christmas. For instance, in the 10th century it was common in the German lands for children to give apples as presents at Christmas time – a custom that soon also included other foodstuffs such as bread and cheese.
The solstice evergreen, a freestanding tree usually found next to the village well, was much loved in Northern and Central Europe. It was freed of its bark and branches, while leaving the treetop. Sometimes this was later replaced by a new treetop and the tree was then decorated with string, small figures, and blown eggs. This tree had an established place in the life of the community – the girls of the village formed a round dance, singing and dancing around it.
Then there is a custom that dates all the way back to the 13th century of making cuttings of deciduous trees – above all cherry, apple, lilac, plum, hazel, and linden – on the 4th of December, the day of the patron Saint Barbara, and then bringing them into the warmth of the house until Christmas so that they may blossom.
I suggest that the Christian paradise play, popular in Europe in the late Middle Ages, with its decorated tree of life and death at the center, might have lent particular emphasis and dynamism to the custom as we know it today. It was performed on Christmas Eve and retold the story of how original sin came to be and showed the banishment of Adam and Eve from paradise. This tree then freed itself from the religious context of this play and began its path toward the Christmas celebrations of some guilds in the Southeast of Germany. As early as 1419 the Freiburg Fraternity of Baker’s Apprentices appears to have seen a tree decorated with apples, wafers, gingerbread, and tinsel in the local Hospital of the Holy Spirit. A few decades later tree felling must have become so prevalent that a Strasbourg town clerk found it necessary to forbid the custom of cutting off pine branches and bringing them home. But not much is known about the popularity of the tree in the households in this region.
Another two centuries had to pass until the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie of the German states discovered the Christmas tree, where it soon became a focus of the Christmas celebration. Its popularity is tied to the rise of a new way of living, and the architectural division of the houses and mansions. Now the decorated tree could be placed in a “parlor” and unfold its particular effect. From here onwards, it’s easy to see how the tree evolved into what it is today.
When it’s snowy and dark outside and the days are short, the tree lets us dream of nature’s life force returning again. Its decorations anticipate the buds and blossoms of the coming season. The tree lightens the gloom of winter and awakens joy and hope that the sun will soon return.
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/12/23/the-long-strange-history-of-the-christmas-tree/?mod=e2tw
