Whats with the tree's

[beejw]

Hi all,

just wondering, whats with the christmas tree tradition? where did it come from?

does anyone else here not have a tree at christmas?

cheers

beej

 

[Sasquatch]

The Germans decorated pine trees for hundreds of years until German prince Albert married Victoria of England and brought the tradition to England. When Queen Victoria decorated the tree in 1848, following her husbands custom, and started a tradition that swept England and then the States. The traditional tree was more closely related to celebrating the end of Fall and the beginning of Winter but soon became associated with Christmas.

That's the brief version anyway.

Merry Christmas!

 

[Wildcard]

Didn't the pagens start decorating trees for winter solstce or something like that?

 

[beejw]

ahh interesting.

i thought it might have had something to do with pagen tradition.

I was actually quite surprised that in the vatican city there are a lot of pagen artifacts. it was an amazing experence, espcially after having read the Da Vinci Code

Merry Christmas!

Beej

 

[Queen]

I'm not really into decorating of any sort (my house is pretty plain) so I don't bother putting up a tree. It's a big enough deal to my folks that when I was at work the other day they let themselves into my place and put up a tree...very odd.

 

[wardric]

isn't it "pagan"?

anyway, what kind of tree do you decorate in Oz? eucalyptus?

Fir is # 1 here but some use pine trees. Synthetic is also becoming more popular for it's safety and "no-mess" properties. My region export a lot of Xmas trees to the US, we have major producers around here.

 

[beejw]

yeah. we use a synthetic tree, but before we got that we used to buy pine trees and stick it in a bucket of sand

Ive spent a christmas in calgary and we had a Fur, or a Spruce.

Hmm. i think your right its pagan. my bad.

 

[wardric]

yeah spruce are good too, but they dry faster, or so I heard.

I know a bit what your Xmas looks like, thanks to Almytywife. She even sent me a cd with illustrated book called Aussie Jingle Bells from Colin Buchanan (dashing through the bush..., etc.). Now the kids ask me to play it over and over.

 

[DennisW]

The tree is from a Pagan tradition to celebrate the "Yule" or Winter Solstice. Many of our Christian traditions are combinations of Pagan and Christian celebrations.

 

[wardric]

Christmas itself is of pagan origin. Easter is the most important and first christian holiday.