Christmas Trees: History, Symbolism And Traditions

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Christmas is synonymous with Christmas trees and gifts. Actually, the Christmas tree is a pine tree, that is spruced and decorated with glittery lights and ornaments and as all of you have seen, a bright star at the top.
What is the reason behind choosing the tree as an important part of the Christmas ritual? The Christmas tree means a world of different things for different cultures.

Christmas Trees: Origin

With the arrival of every winter solstice, the ancient Egyptians decorated their temples and homes with evergreen trees. The Christmas tree symbolised immortal life, peace and prosperity which was important to have at home at that time when their sun god was feeling weak.

The evergreen tree symbolised the victory of life over death when the Sun God regained his splendour after winter. Apart from Egyptians, even Vikings, druids, and the English decorated with indoor plants. Druids worshipped Oak trees at first and later influenced by the English Benedictine monk St. Boniface, offered the Druids a triangular-shaped balsam fir tree to represent the Trinity, and replaced the Oak by the Balsam tree.
Martin Luther is also famous for introducing the Christmas tree to Germany and including it as an emblem of the Christian tradition. German Christians decorated wooden pyramids with trees and candles that signified Jesus' birth. Luther then brought the tree inside his house and covered it with wires and candles to enhance its beauty.

Christmas Trees: Spiritual symbolism

The Christmas tree in totality outlines the entire lifespan of Christ. The birth and resurrection. Branches and shrubs indicate immortality and the crown of thorns that Christ wore on the cross, each decoration represents a phase of Christ's life and the spiritual values that he upheld were equal to the ornaments that people wear and hence adorned the Christmas tree, as representations of it. People cherish the time they spend decorating the tree and every year, each member of the family has something to decorate the tree with. After all this, wishes are made for a joyful and happy life.
A star guided the wise men to Jesus Christ in Bethlem and an Angel announced his birth. So both star and angel figures adorn the tree at the top.
While the hanging bells signify the happiness that this day gives, the candy cane-shaped crook represents god's shepherd. The wreath stands for true unconditional love.
On the other hand, it also symbolises the following aspects.

● The give-take spirit lesson of life through the exchange of gifts

● Accepting nature's role in life and its changing seasons

● Immortality

● Welcoming the holiday tradition into our lives

Christmas Trees: Different Traditions

The tree has a world of connotations for religious-minded amongst Christians.
1. Japanese and Chinese: Pine and cypress trees were associated with immortality and long life these trees were chopped to build holy structures like altars, and temples. The pine and cypress were thought to possess the force of life which was felt at these holy places.

2. Greeks: The coniferous pine was held as sacred by Attis, the Greek God. Pine was decorated with silver trinkets, and bells and offerings were placed under the tree as sacrifices.

3. Germans: Germany is the first country to start the tradition of decorating the interiors with Christmas trees and Martin Luther added candles to the tree.

4. Celtic: Trees of firs and pines were embellished with gold torcs and jewellery, which was done to pay tribute to deities to ensure a good harvest.

5. Romans: Evergreen trees were a source of light to them. They celebrated the festival of Saturnalia to honour Saturn for this reason, they decorated their homes and temples with boughs.