Christmas greenery
I thought I would explore the topic of plants used at Christmas – the ubiquitous Christmas tree, holly greenery, and the like. In researching, I discovered (new to me) an unlikely anonymous Victorian Era book published in 1890 that likely didn’t reach the circulations’ shelves of the local public library. It is entitled: Cultus Arborum – a descriptive account of Phallic Tree Worship with illustrative Legends, Superstitions, Usages, &c., Exhibiting its Origin and Development Amongst the Eastern & Western Nations of the World from the Earliest Time; with a Bibliography of the works upon and referring to the Phallic Cultus. The publisher, like the author, is anonymous. In this book, the author explains that the Christmas tree has its origins in ancient Egypt.
At the completion of the winter solstice, a branch of a palm tree with 12 shoots (representing each month) was used in ceremony to symbolize completion of the year. This tradition of tree symbolism to mark the end of the solar year was adopted in Christian traditions, later developing to the Christmas tree we known today. Older traditions of tree worship from pre-Christian centuries were easily transformed into Christmas rituals.
Commonly used evergreens for Christmas trees including various pines and balsam firs, and if one uses a native tree in the Ozarks, a scraggly red cedar becomes the tree of choice.
Another well-known Christmas foliage is the holly. The use of the holly tree and hanging its crimson berry-laden branches about homes for decorative purposes is a tradition that evolves out of an ancient Teutonic practice of dangling holly branches in homes as a refuge for sylvan spirits.
Aside from the greenery of Christmas trees, no evergreen is more familiar during the Yuletide season. Perennially green, the holly remains a symbol of Christian history. Some say the wood of the cross was made of holly wood.
The organized Christian faith of two millennia past adapted old festival rites to the purposes of the new faith. Modern traditions have origins beyond our memories. The Christmas tree and holly branches are symbols of that continuity.