Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The Tree is Up

So someone tell me again... why do we put a dead tree in the middle of our living rooms during this time of year?

1 comment:

Syd said...

I think you are asking a rhetorical question, but this is something I've wanted to look into so here is what I found:

"Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce." from The Holiday Spot

"The Christmas tree is often explained as a Christianization of pagan tradition and ritual surrounding the Winter Solstice, which included the use of evergreen boughs,[37] and an adaptation of pagan tree worship." from Wikipedia

There are many many more pages on the Internet about this--but I won't clog your comments. One thing of note, most christan site regard the christmas tree as a tradition passed down from Martin Luther, symbolizing everlasting life. Most non-christan site regard it as a pagan ritual adopted by the roman catholic church to compete with the Winter Solistice festival.

There you have it. Happy holidays, whether you are celebrating Christ's Birth or the continuation of the seasons.