„I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.“
Charles Dickens
If I could be honest I barely stand winter, especially because of extremely cold days, ice and frosting. Actually, the only thing about winter and snow that makes me happy and somehow the only thing that can make this dreamy period easily to get over is this shiny, sparkly and cheerful atmosphere around this time of the year, Christmas and New Year’s Holiday. Fully decorated Christmas tree, Christmas ornaments, plenty of presents, a sparkling atmosphere which surrounds us everywhere we go (and all possible Christmas style decorations are allowed at this time of a year), in addition, various and delicious holiday feast, music and dance, beautiful, handsome and well-dressed people, and as it also happens only at this time of a year, in these cold and winter days, we immediately forget about all the problems we have and suddenly, we are expecting that Christmas will magically wash away all negative things, that all bad stuff will go away and with the beginning of a New Year the good days for our happiness will come. Something that specifically makes me happy is decorating the Christmas tree. Honestly, I’m trying to decorate it early as possible so I can take a look at it as long as I can and whenever I like. I can watch it all day with admiration and love, such beautiful decoration with colorful and shiny ornaments, little figures and ribbons. This year I masterly succeed to overcome myself, I decorated my Christmas tree and it wasn’t even December. While I’m sitting in my armchair and watching the Christmas tree I’m suddenly starting to think… Why do we use the evergreen tree at all and decorate it during this time of a year? And where do these ornaments come from, what do they represent actually? And in the end, why do we celebrate the new beginning and the new year with the decorated tree, ornaments and lights? Who came to this idea? This thinking led me to research and this is what I found out…
According to history the first beginnings of this beautiful and traditional custom we can find deep in the past, in the period of paganism and under the Roman rule. Back then, ancient Romans decorated there own temples during the festivities called Saturnalia.
Saturnalia was one big feast which similarly looked like this one we celebrate today during Christmas and New Year. In ancient Rome, somewhere in the middle of December, the feast was traditionally held like a festival in honor of Saturn, who was known as the god of agriculture. They celebrated the winter solstice, the time when the day is the shortest day and the night is the longest night in the year. Romans then believed that the winter was finally over, that the spring will come soon and that they could expect warmer weather with lots of sunshine. Also, they knew that farms and fields will be green and fruitful again. During the Saturnalia, people would decorate their homes and temples with wreaths and various evergreen plants. In those ancient days, when they celebrated the festival nobody worked and the children were not at school – a couple of days the schools and ancient Roman courthouses were closed. Instead of daily work people would sing and dance, they would enjoy in delicious feasts and also lots of presents. But in the end, why do we use evergreen trees? We constantly wonder… Evergreen trees and plants had an important role during the long and cold winter. Exactly these evergreen trees would have stayed green and in its own natural state whole year.
Ancient people of Egypt also had their own kind of winter festival. They celebrated it in honor of their god Ra, who was the sun god. He was presented with the head of a hawk and he wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown. The ancient Egyptians also decorated their homes with evergreen trees which displayed some kind of a victory of life over death. This type of celebration symbolized the god’s recovery from illness and therefore indicates that the sun will rise again and rebirth as well.
We now realize that winter festivals have already been celebrated thousands of years and that this pagan tradition found its way at present time, in Christianity.
The origins of the first decorated evergreen tree we can see among Germans. Germans were the first who started with Christmas tree tradition, the custom we know today.
Martin Luther, a German professor of theology, priest and a significant figure in the Protestant Reformation who lived in the 16th century, was the first person who brought Christmas tree into the house and it was also genuinely believed that he was the first person who added lighted candles to the evergreen tree. It happened one night during his walk around Christmas Eve and in the cold night where everything was covered in snow. Martin Luther was fascinated by sparkly and bright moments he experienced that holy night. Suddenly, he felt that everything looked like a divine atmosphere, such as sparkly and shiny glow of snowflakes on the evergreen trees and crystal clear and bright starry sky above, twinkling on the moonlight. It all reminded him on Jesus Christ and the night he was born.
First documents show us that the true origins of the decorated evergreen tree at Christmas and New Year celebrations were in Tallinn, Estonia in 1441 and in Riga, Latvia 1510. People of Riga are very proud about their first fully decorated Christmas tree in history. In the capital of Latvia, there is a plaque which is engraved with: ”The First New Year’s Tree in Riga in 1510”, in eight languages. The first evergreen tree in Riga was decorated with artificial roses which were the symbol of the Virgin Mary.
In addition, there is also information that somewhere in Bremen (Germany) in 1570, the first Christmas tree was decorated with apples, paper flowers, hazelnuts, dates, and sweets. Later on, the decoration was expanded with items such as colorful small presents, candles, ribbons, tasty candies, etc. People who didn’t have a real evergreen tree would usually make the wooden pyramid adding to it papers, apples, and candles. Many early Christmas trees were used to hang upside down, from the ceiling using chains. This type of decoration symbolized Christianity and Trinity.
The next appearance of the used evergreen tree for the Christmas festivities was in England in the 19th century. Prince Albert completely decorated the Christmas tree around 1840 in Windsor, along with his wife Queen Victoria. In that way, he started the new and modern tradition among English people.
When we talk about the history and early beginnings of decorated Christmas tree we have to mention a holiday decoration with various ornaments and small items which have an important role and that is to make our holiday tree dazzling and splendid.
Candles and Christmas lights symbolize bright stars that twinkle in the winter nights, which makes this whole atmosphere around Christmas divine and magical at the same time.
In the early beginnings, at the top of the evergreen tree, we put the small figure of Jesus Christ. In time the things were changed and now it happens that the top ornament is either little angel, the one who whispered to the shepherds about the birth of Jesus Christ or the star, the same one which The Wise Men saw in the sky and the one which led them to the place where the Christ was born. There is also an interesting story about the mentioned star and here it goes: “When Jesus Christ was born the star led these Three Wise Men or Kings from the East to the stable where Jesus was born. The star which they then followed has traditionally become known as the Star of Bethlehem. These Wise Men and also shepherds came in the stable and brought little gifts for the baby. High above the stable, there were three trees – pine tree, cedar, and fir. The trees also wanted to provide gifts to the newly born baby Jesus. Cedar shook its branches and then small tree needles with wonderful scent fell as a gift to the baby. The pine tree, on the other hand, dropped the most beautiful cones. However, the fir neither had tree needles with wonderful scent nor cones, so the fir immediately got sad. The Star of Bethlehem saw the sadness and fir’s honest tears. She didn’t want her to be sad in this holy night so she decided to help the fir. She sent a little star to fall on top of the fir tree and in that precise moment to make the fir shines with bright light. Then, the fir tree placed its own star in front of the stable where the baby was born and brought the desired gift to Jesus Christ.”
Tinsels, those thin strips of sparkling metal foil attached to a long piece of thread producing glitter, originally came from Germany. This decorative material represents the glitter effect of icicles, that we usually see on evergreen trees during cold winter.
The different colors also have its own meaning and the most frequently used colors for Christmas and New Year’s decoration are:
Green – which represents the evergreen trees, the triumph of life over illness and death, renewal and the new beginning
Red – the color of life which represents the blood of Jesus Christ, his death and rebirth
Golden – it reminds us of the glorious sun which symbolizes the victory of life over darkness and illness
Silver – it reminds us of twinkling and glowing stars in the bright winter night
White – represents the snow and winter
I truly love fully decorated Christmas tree and really adore everything that this holiday represents. I’m looking forward to the next days of feast and celebration and each year I buy various ornaments as I would like my Christmas tree to be more beautiful than it was last year. With its appearance and shiny presence, the Christmas tree makes my room delightful and more beautiful. Also, it fills me inside with some positive energy and big desire to celebrate life. At this present time we live, we forgot to be thankful and happy for the life and health. We always need to look at the bright side of life, that tomorrow is another day, and that means that we can expect better days to come when the sun is shining in its full glory and the rebirth and new beginning are smiling upon us. And now, while I’m looking at my tree so sparkly and colorful with ornaments and Christmas lights, I’m thinking how is it possible that this same evergreen tree came from the ancient past, bravely survived thousands of years, found a way to stay in each tradition and culture and also remained present in the hearts of people, for eternity. The Christmas tree indeed must be divine, eternal and magnificent.
With Love, Andy