The origin of the 'Christmas Tree'...

[ForgeCorvus]

To Heath (and any others)
Sorry if any of my comments caused offense.

I've learnt some new things from this thread, I've also been reminded of one of the most important things about the net, typing does not infer tone, other people must go by content.

Seasons Greetings to all of you and yours.

 

[JonnyP]

No idea on the christmas tree itself, but I do know how the angel came to be on the top of them................

Santa was very cross. It was Christmas Eve and NOTHING was going right.
Mrs. Claus had burned all the cookies. The elves were complaining about not getting paid for the overtime they had while making the toys. The reindeer had been drinking all afternoon and were dead drunk. To make matters worse, they had taken the sleigh out for a spin earlier in the day and had crashed it into a tree.
Santa was furious. "I can't believe it! I've got to deliver millions of presents all over the world in just a few hours -- all of my reindeer are drunk, the elves are on strike and I don't even have a Christmas tree! I sent that stupid Little Angel out HOURS ago to find a tree and he isn't even back yet! What am I going to do?"
Just then, the Little Angel opened the front door and stepped in from the snowy night, dragging a Christmas tree. He says, "Yo, fat man! Where do you want me to stick the tree this year?"

And thus, the tradition of angels atop the Christmas trees came to pass....

 

[Grizzly Kelt]

Happy Yuletide All,
I was always under the belief that the bringing in of evergreen to your abode was to celebrate the fact that all though it's the dead of winter, evergreen sybolises the fact that life still goes on, and that life will come back in the spring. A sort of a "dont give up, life still goes on" sort of thing.
From the solstice onwards, the nights start to become lighter etc, so it's seen as the rebirth of the sun.
As for the christians hijacking the festival, (no offence meant here) when christianity had reached northern europe, they tended to be rather forceful with their mission to convert the Heathens, and although alot of them paid lip service for a quieter life, the christians couldn't quite stop them from celebrating their ancient festivals. So the christians in the end basically said that they could carry on, as long as they changed the names/meanings etc.
And no one has mentioned missletoe, (so I will,) missletoe is a sign of fertillity, the evergeen leaves represent life, and the white berries represent sperm! Kissing beneith it
was said to increase you chances of producing offspring in the coming year.

 

[Robby]

Me, I call my self a hedge-witch, a hodge podge of beliefs that don't fit any one system. Can I just add that the cracks about christianity adopting and adapting "Pagan" rituals isn't something that they've got the patent on. If you study most of the religions of the world you'll find direct correlations between the various dieties, demigods saints, and arch-angels prayed to. Simple anthropomorphic representations of beliefs and wishes used to explain the world around us, and give us some hope and comfort in times of stress and worry. (Eg "there are no athiests on a battlefield) Whatever you call it they all basically tell you to play nice and it's bad to fight. Admitedly some didn't mind the fighting bit aslong you gave them special names like infidel or heathen. (we best not mention the vikings here, but they did have their moments).
What I'm trying to say is whatever you call your God is cool with me, He's the same as mine and mine is the same as your's, you just haven't realised it yet.

Brothers and Sisters under the Sun, Sol, Gulin Bursti, choose which option you prefer.

merry christmas to the Christians and a happy yule to the heathens/pagans and "May your god go with you" as Dave Allen used to say.

 

[Greg]

You lot are all raving mad! Do you not know that aliens came to earth to subjagate the human race as slaves. Ancient man thought that the aliens were gods and worshipped them as so!
Do you not watch Stargate!!!!!!!! C'mon..............................

By the way how many of you know that the Lord's Prayer was actually found carved on the wall of a temple built by the Pharoah Arkhanaten way before christians came on the scene!
And Constantine only took on the christina symbol because he saw a meteorite entering the atmosphere on the eve of his life changing battle ( He believed the bright light in the sky - the meteor - was a sign from God!)

Religion - always good for an argument!

 

[Rebel]

Like Heath I also could see that people were having a bit of a go at Christianity in this thread. Okay Wayland had a bit of a mickey take of pagans too but the overall spirit of things was to have an unkind dig at Christians.

There's a difference between established religious institutes and people who have individual faith. Established religions tend to acquire money power and influence and attract people who are in it for reasons other than faith. This applies to all the established religions that I have encountered of whatever faith.

It's easy for us in the West to see were the churches got in wrong in history but have other countries with other religions fared any better through the ages? Would our country really be better of if we were all Pagans or would they have just become the new corrupt overlords? Or if we got rid of religion altogether would we be better off or would we end up like some of the countries that tried to abolish religion?

Like George Bernard Shaw once said, "There's nothing wrong with Christianity it's just that so few people have ever tried it." (Or something like that.)