The Story of the Christmas Tree
Posted on 8th February 2017 at 15:53
Over the next few weeks I would like to take you through the many stories of the origin of the Christmas Tree. It goes back much further than you imagine, if not quite as we know it today.
From my research it appears that the Christmas tree is believed to have connections as far back as the Egyptians who used it to celebrate their God Ra and the Romans who used it to celebrate the feast of Saturnalia.
There is an early story which relates to St Boniface in the year 722 in Germany. St Boniface came across some Pagans who were about to make a sacrifice at the base of an Oak tree. St Boniface cut down the tree to prevent the sacrifice from taking place. It is told that a Fir tree grew from the base of the Oak. St Boniface told everyone that the lovely evergreen was a Holy tree with its branches pointing to Heaven.
This leads nicely onto the thought that in the middle ages the Germans and Scandinavians put evergreen trees just outside their homes to show hope that the Spring would arrive.
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