How did the Christmas tree start?
Long before the Christian era, plants and trees that remained green all year round held a special meaning for people in winter. Just as people today decorate their houses with pine, spruce, and fir trees during festivals, the ancients hung evergreen branches on doors and windows. In many countries, evergreens are believed to keep away witches, ghosts, demons and disease.
Do you know? All 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska, plant Christmas trees.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year is December 21st or December 22nd, known as the Winter Solstice. Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god, and it came every winter because the sun god became sick. They celebrate the winter solstice because it means that the sun god will finally begin to recover. The evergreen branches remind them of all greenery, which grows again when the sun god is strong and summer returns.
The ancient Egyptians worshipped a god named Ra, who had an eagle’s head and a bear plate with the sun in his crown. By the summer solstice, when Ra began to recover from the disease, the Egyptians filled their houses with green bushes, which to them symbolized the victory of life over death.
The early Romans celebrated the winter solstice with a feast called Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the winter solstice meant that soon, farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To commemorate the occasion, they decorated houses and temples with evergreen branches.
In northern Europe, the mystical druids, priests of the ancient Celts, also decorated their temples with evergreen branches as symbols of immortality. The ferocious Vikings in Scandinavia believed that evergreens were special plants of the sun god Balder.