One of the most common traditions around the world at Christmas is to decorate the Christmas tree. During the month of December and part of January in all the houses the center of attention is the tree, butwhat is the meaning of the christmas tree?. Next in Sobrehistoria we tell you everything, join us!
The origin of the Christmas tree dates back to the first Christians when evangelizing, they arrived in northern Europe. They saw how the peoples of the north celebrated the birth of the sun king and fertilitythat is, the birth of Frey.
This celebration was carried out by adorning an ash, very abundant in northern Europe. The date of this celebration, coincidentally seemed to coincide with the celebration of the Nativity Christian.
The interpretation of universethey staged it through this tree, which they called Yggdrasil. The top of the tree or Asgard was where the gods inhabited and where was it Valhalla what was the abode of the god Odin.
The roots deepest in the tree was the place where he was the realm of the dead or Helheim. Later, as the Christians evangelized these lands, the new Christians did not completely abandon their old rites. These were incorporated into their new religionthey no longer celebrated the birth of the sun king with the tree, but the birth of Christ.
doWhen the meaning of this tree was changed? It is said that it was Saint Boniface, around the year 740 when preaching in these northern lands, he saw how some peoples continued to worship their ancient gods, so he cut down the Yggdrasil tree with an ax and replaced it with a pine . He chose the pine because it was perennial like God’s lovedecorating it with apples – symbol of original sin – and with candles – symbolizing the light of Christ.
About him December 8 is customary in many families get together to put up the christmas treethis date is chosen because it is the Day of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The tree remains until January 6Kings Daysince they are, according to our tradition, the Three Wise Men who will leave us gifts at the foot of the tree, next to the shoes, the date from which Christmas ends.
But What is the origin and meaning of putting up and decorating the Christmas tree? Although many think that it is a commercial tradition, it is not like that, it is linked to prosperity and religion.
The Christmas tree for Christians, symbolizes the tree of good and evil, the tree of forbidden fruit from which Adam and Eve ate, whose consequence was Original Sin. Is he tree of Life, since it does not shed its leaves. The placement of the tree at Christmas symbolizing the joy at the birth of Christ, is nothing more than a reminder of the true meaning of his birth, redeem us from original sin.
Therefore, we could say that the Christmas tree has a double meaningone is like Original Sin symbol and the second meaning, more related to dates, symbolizes the birth of the redeemerthe arrival of Christ to free us from Original Sin.
The first Christmas trees were fir treeswas not chosen randomly, but because of its Triangular shaperepresentation of the Holy Trinitya triangle symbolized by the apples, the candles and the fir tree.
Surely you are interested to know true story of the Origin of Christmas
As we have mentioned before, Christmas tree It arose in the lands of northern Europe, surely it was Germany. But there is no reliable data 1605date on which there is evidence that it was implanted and therefore, it is considered the first time it was used to represent the cold of Christmas, spreading throughout the rest of the world.
The first Christmas tree which was used in:
- Finland it was in the year 1800
- England in 1829, at the royal residence somewhat later in 1841
- Spain in 1870 in Madrid in the Palace of Alcañices
They started decorating the trees with candles and apples but little by little it evolved and changed the way of decorating, today we do it with spheres, colored lights, garlands… everything is little to make our tree beautiful and Christmassy.
Now let’s meet the meaning of ornaments most popular in christmas trees:
Christmas balls or spheres: Christmas balls signify and represent the graces and virtues that God grants to men. According to each color they have a meaning: blue means repentance, golden praises, silver thanks and red requests.
The star: the most important decoration of the tree is the star that we place in the crown. The star symbolizes faith and light to guide our lives on the right path.
Ribbons and garlands: It is very common to surround the tree with colored ribbons and garlands. With them we symbolize the union of the family, our loved ones
angels: sometimes we place an angel by the tree, they serve as communication between humans and heaven, they mean protection, so they cannot be missing.
White or colored lights: The color doesn’t matter, it only matters that the lights turn on and off. Its meaning is very clear, to illuminate the path of faith.
To know the history of the christmas tree in the united states we have to go back to the time of George Washington and the war with the Hessian Germans around 1776. The Hessians were a kind of mercenaries in the service of the British government.
With the war of the independencethe British were forced to spend large sums of money paying their own soldiers, so they used this type of much cheaper services.
War between both sides it seemed that the Hessians already had clear winners, however, fate allied itself with the army of George Washington. The battle took place in full Christmas datesFor the Germans, these dates meant abundant food, parties and decorated trees. They were so determined to organize their festivities that they neglected their own defensive lines.
An unforgivable mistake that George Washington took advantage of to stealthily break through their lines and attack the enemy. After the warmany of these German remained in the United States and with them their traditions that were also shared among them, the celebration of christmas around a decorated tree, the Christmas tree.
Originally this tree was limited in height with a maximum of 2.4 m, while its decoration was with hanging dolls and sometimes with sugar candies. Slowly, this tradition was penetrating in the population and the need arose to establish a christmas tree market.
Mark Carr, a man raised in the Catskill Mountains, started cutting down fir and sprucevery abundant in the area, to take them to New York where he rented a small space and started trading trees of different sizes. A business that he maintained until 1898.
In the beginning, American society, many of them puritans, saw a pagan symbol in the tree and wanted to put an end to this sale and placement of trees to celebrate Christmas. With the end of Puritanism in the early 20th century, Christmas trees became a tradition decorating themselves with colored popcorn and other types of household items that embellished the branches.
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