Two years ago a judge in Toronto , Ontario , Canada caused a stir by ordering the removal of a Christmas tree from the lobby of a courthouse. She reasoned that as a Christian religious symbol, the tree would alienate non-Christians who happened to pass by the lobby. A controversy immediately ensued. Predictably, conservative Christians spoke darkly of a “war against Christmas” and against Christianity in general. The Canadian Muslim Congress called the judge’s decision “stupid” (agreement on my part here). Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said that the key to making people of all faiths feel welcome in the province was not to suppress one religious holiday but to celebrate all of them. Finally, Dr. Robert Buckman, president of the Humanist Association of Canada, entered the fray by stating that the Christmas tree was not a religious symbol but a “secular symbol of a festival period.”
Of all the above-mentioned statements, I tend to concur with Dr. Buckman’s the most. The Christmas tree to my mind is not a symbol of Christianity or any other faith for that matter. As I researched the matter further, it struck me as ironic that while Russian-born journalist Cathy Young, a self-described Jewish agnostic, has written of always having a Christmas tree during the holidays, I as a practising Christian have never put one up in my own house. Nowhere in the Biblical accounts of Jesus’ birth is there any mention of an evergreen. More importantly, today publicly displayed Christmas trees are a common sight in a number of non-Christian nations, such as Japan and the United Arab Emirates (shortly after the courthouse controversy broke out, the National Post featured a picture of a Christmas tree at a shopping mall in Dubai ). The whole silly affair led me to a serious study of this innocent-looking plant that nonetheless possesses the potential for sowing discord.
The origins of the Christmas tree are shrouded in mystery, and many accounts on the subject are unsubstantiated at best and contradictory at worst. One legend has it that the custom began with Martin Luther. According to this story, Luther was walking through the bush on a winter night and saw stars in the sky above the pines. He then brought a pine home and decorated it to show his children what he had witnessed. Since it was Christmastime, he lit candles on it to mark Christ’s birth. However, even in pre-Christian times people in Northern Europe, including Germany , celebrated the winter solstice by placing candles on trees and mistletoe on their doors to ward off evil spirits. After their conversion to Christianity, Northern Europeans incorporated these pagan traditions into their Christmas festivities. My Norwegian ancestors, for example, would gather around the Christmas tree, light candles on it, and sing carols (thankfully no record of any accidents!).
Following the Reformation, some Protestants, in particular the Puritans, opposed the Christmas tree on the grounds it was “heathen,” which in a sense it was. Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell banned the tree, along with other Christmas paraphernalia, for this reason when he ruled England in the 1640s. (The fact that the Christmas tree was already around in Britain at that time goes against the view that it was only introduced to that country when Queen Victoria married the German Prince Albert in the 1800s.)
When they migrated to the United States , the Puritans brought their mistrust of the Christmas tree with them. Another source of their opposition was the notion that the tree was “Popish,” a derogatory term for Roman Catholic. The Puritans, after all, wanted to “purify” the Protestant church of any Catholic influence, and they felt the Anglicans, who continued to observe Christmas, did not go far enough in this direction. By the late 19th century, though, Christmas celebrations, together with the tree, came into vogue in the US and hence became part of the commercialism we see today surrounding the holiday in that country.
Ironically, the other diehard opponents of the Christmas tree besides the Puritan religious zealots were the equally fanatical militant atheists of Communist Russia.* In their quest to eradicate religion from society, they attempted to ban the Christmas tree in the Soviet Union . The tree was such an ingrained tradition, however, that the Communists ended up making the best out of a bad situation and allowing it to be put up under the name of “New Year’s tree.”
The other great irony is that despite the depiction of the Christmas tree as “Popish,” until recently it was never a traditional part of predominantly Catholic Southern Europe. My father, for instance, who grew up in Italy , said as a child that no one he knew ever put up such a tree. The main Christmas feature in Italian homes at the time was the nativity scene, the “presepio,” with Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the animals. However, the Christmas tree gradually found its way into Italy with the Americanization of that country in the 1950s. I’m sure the film “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which was in fact directed by an Italian American, Frank Capra, didn’t hurt! Now even the Vatican has a huge Christmas tree in front of St. Peter’s Basilica.
So the next time you see a Christmas tree – remember that in spite of all it has gone through it has still managed to be here with us here today! Merry Christmas.
* Note: not all atheists are militant, and not all religious individuals are zealots. Fanaticism can unfortunately be found within every belief system.
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First of all, most scholars do not believe Jesus was actually born on December 25. According to Luke, the night Jesus was born “there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock” (Luke 2:8). December in Palestine and other Mediterranean regions falls in the rainy season, so shepherds do not let their animals outside at night during this time. Therefore Christ’s birth probably did not occur in December.
Following the Reformation, the various Protestant denominations took different approaches to Christmas. The Lutheran and Anglican churches continued to celebrate it. On the other hand, the Calvinistic faiths – Presbyterians, Puritans and so on – condemned the holiday as “Popish” (a derogatory term for Roman Catholic). Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell, for example, banned Christmas celebrations upon coming to power in England in the 1640s, though they were resumed when the British monarchy, whose members were Anglican, was restored. Interestingly, while most of us regard Christmas in the United States as an orgy of commercialism, due to the country’s Puritan roots the holiday was not officially recognized there until the late 1800s. Likewise, Christmas was not observed by Presbyterians in Scotland until after the Second World War.
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