I think most relatively educated people are aware of the sketchy origins of the Christmas Tree. I figure since we’re a few days away from Christmas and we have snow in many places in the U. S. that I might as well show a little holiday spirit myself!! As we all know the modern day Christmas Tree was originally a Pagan Tradition. However, little details get skewed and removed and added whether they are factual or not. There’s nothing sinister about this, of course every faith wants to take a tiny bit of credit for Christmas and the beauty of Lighted Trees, too!
In my household everyone is either Kemetic (like me) and practice the Ancient Egyptian Polytheistic (pagan) faith….or Wiccan. Needless to say, this makes Christmas rather easy for us. We still celebrate it as “a celebration of the Winter Solstice” and “Yule” of course. The Christmas Tree was originally meant to celebrate eternal life, the bountiful harvest, and of course was often focused around honoring the Ancient Sun Gods. More specifically I believe the very first “midnight mass” was done by the pagans who worshipped the sun god “Mithra”. They was done by a pagan priest in a dark cave at midnight on Dec 24 and is supposedly where the modern “Midnight Mass” of the Catholics came from.
The Christmas tree itself was decorated as an “offering” of apples, nuts, and whatever other edible offerings the pagans could find. The celebrations typically start anywhere from December 17-20 depending on the variations in the early Pagan faiths. Some timed it by the actual shortest day of the year…..and others just go by a general Solstice timeline. The pagans did not, however cut DOWN the trees and bring them into their homes. They decorated them where they were because cutting them down is essentially snuffing the life from them and would be considered an insult to the Pagan Gods (and still would be today which is why we use an artificial tree).
Pagans instead clipped boughs and wreaths of evergreen to bring into their homes to decorate and honor nature and the Solstice, which of course most of us still do today to some degree no matter what our faith (or lack thereof). Christmas Trees came long before the Christians did and the bible actually specifically CONDEMNS the use of Christmas Trees, gift giving, singing carols, and “joyful merriment” as an insult to Christ and his “Birthday” (I believe it was the book of Jeremiah). Furthermore, as we all know Christ was likely to have been born in approximately March and the December 25 Christian “Christmas” was chosen to intentionally thwart the Pagan Celebrations that had always taken place on that day. Christians made no bones about openly smiting and TAKING the holiday for their own back in those days. I’m of course linking the actual FACTS about the origins of the Christmas Tree, but all that really matters to most of us is that they are beautiful, warm, cheerful, and festive. What, did you think I was going to make a controversial issue out of this? If you want to read the various histories, click the links provided. NOOOOO, I’m trying to spew a little holiday spirit here. Not holiday controversy. I think that most people can agree that the Christmas Tree has it’s roots in just about EVERY faith, one way or another…..what’s to fight about? No matter how bad Christmas sucks for us adults who have to provide a fantastic Christmas Morning for our kids (and pretend that Santa did it all) things like beautiful fir trees, lights, snow, and the warmth of a fire can still put most of us into the holiday spirit. Here I am linking The 15 Most Beautiful Christmas Trees in the World for your viewing pleasure. For some reason, though I’ve noted that no sites mention the Six Flags Great Adventure Christmas Tree which is actually a good bit more impressive than the Times Square New York tree were are all familiar with. I haven’t seen a blogger or a news source that mentions it for whatever reason so I’m linking that too. Go check out that link if you are interested. They actually remove all the branches from the tree after cutting it down for shipping reasons. They branches are then reattached one by one to the tree with metal brackets and bolts before it is decorated and lit.
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom--Christmas Tree Christmas comes in all sizes and shapes around the world and is something special to nearly all religions, cultures, and non-religions, if nothing else as a time to be grateful for your family, friends, and loved ones. I think 99.9% of us are completely UNgrateful for our loved ones, a warm home, and food on our tables….keep that in mind when you are battling the assholery in stores and frantically traveling here and there on a “high stress” Christmas schedule.
Take a minute to read a story, watch some falling snow, or even just light a candle in thanks…..whatever you do, enjoy the simple things and remember how much you have to be grateful for this year. It can’t be counted in a stack of gifts, a bigger dinner, or the best decorations…..remember, you are never truly “poor”…..just broke for awhile.