What’s In A Tree?

Thanksgiving is over and it’s only a few short weeks to Christmas.

Can you believe it? The home stretch of 2016 is here.

One of the widely observed Christmas traditions is the putting up of a festive tree.

I love Christmas Trees.

Who doesn’t?

Growing up  I always knew what the Christmas Tree meant to my family and what I’ve passed down to my children  but when writing this post I thought I would use the ever useful Google and see what other meanings of the Christmas Tree were out there.

In my search I found a couple things I found of interest I wanted to share:

Evergreens were thought to represent the ever-burning fire of life. The color green signified the life force through the year. Eventually decorative balls represented the planets, while the star that radiates from the top reminds us of Bethlehem. The entire tree and decorations teach us that the universe is witness to the Incarnation.

Red at Christmas reminds us of the fire of the Spirit. Green affirms nature, and the ongoing life. And in the Incarnation, Spirit unites with nature.

In fact, the Christmas tree symbolizes to us a further appreciation of Jesus’ birth. It is a means of retelling a miracle in a colorful and beautiful way so that we can further understand and appreciate Jesus’ entering our world. Read More.

Pagan lore indicates the time between December 25 until about early-mid January are some of the coldest days of the year.  It was believed evil spirits were at their strongest during these months.  To thwart the nasties, evergreens were brought into the home as symbols of protection.  These evergreens were alight with candles, the idea here was to “light up” the darkest, coldest conditions and thereby shoo away naughty spirits.   It wasn’t until about the nineteenth century that we find Christianity absorbing the bright, cheery symbolism of the Christmas tree. Read More.

Regardless of your beliefs, the thing I enjoyed about reading many, many different symbolic reasons for the Christmas tree is because it shows how meaningful things can be and how we treasure something to believe in. Even something as simple as a sparkly tree.

I love the making memories aspect of the holidays. It’s about the people and the traditions. What’s your favorite Christmas season tradition?

 

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