by Bradley Murphey

Created on: November 24, 2007   Last Updated: November 25, 2007

Let's face it. The tree we call the Christmas tree has been a religious symbol, long before Christianity came to Europe, at least as far back as the first century CE. It may be older than that, but we know it is at least this old.

One of the most prevalent cultures during these ancient times was what we now call Germanic/Teutonic. Tribes which fit into this overall term spanned as far south as Northern Italy and as far east as Latvia and Lithuania and as far west as France. For the most part, these tribes spoke dialects of a common language and held certain common beliefs, with local variations.

One of those beliefs was that; if you bless the gods even in hard times- they would, in turn, bless you with peace, prosperity, and even a myriad of sons to protect the family farm. Now, the hardest season for humans to live in is winter. We don't have enough fur to keep us warm and we don't hibernate. We can't grow many vegetables during the winter and fruit-bearing trees are dormant. Food is scarce. Families were lucky to come out of winter alive.

This luck, they attributed to their protection by the gods. "If the gods want to keep us alive, we should thank them for it." But sometimes the gods have a way forgetting that our ancestors were still there waiting for spring. So, around mid-winter, it was customary to remind the gods by way of blessing them that they were still alive.

Remember I mentioned that the trees were dormant? Most trees shed their leaves and sleep all winter. But some trees remain green all winter, like the Pine, Spruce and Cedar. According to the ancient logic, these trees must have been associated with prosperity and longevity. For a tree to stay green in the hardest of times was recognized as a miracle, which could only come from the gods. If the gods are smiling upon such trees, they could be used as a focal point to leave blessings and remind them of a family's continued existence. So,families would troop out into the forests in the middle of winter, choose an evergreen tree and hang gifts of food on it.

Eventually, some ancestor got the bright idea that, because it was too cold to be outside for any length of time, the tree might just as well come in. After all, the gods like warmth as much as we mere mortals do. And the tradition was evolved. Gifts to the gods became gifts to each other and the sacred tree was burned to give warmth to the house. To keep alive the sacredness of the tree itself, part of it was kept until the succeeding year to start the new Jul (Yule) Fire.

By now, the Germanic/Teutonic tribes had split, reformed, renamed and migrated a number of times but the cultural and religious traditions remained,at least in any number of variations. But a new religion was being introduced in Europe, this being Christianity.

Try as they might, the believers in this new religion could not shake the ancient cultures of many of its old ways. The Church did the smart thing and said, "If we can't beat them, join them. There must be some way of redeeming' this ancient practice and use it to spread the word of our religion." And the Jul Tree traditions became part of the celebration of the birth of their god. But long before the Christmas tree was Christian, it was pagan, and very religious.

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