Today
was the day that my family decorated our Christmas tree. It went the same as it
always does. My brother took about six ornaments, put them up, and sat down and
talked, my mom and I diligently put up ornaments, and my dad left the room to
watch the Bears tank yet another game. During this annual process, I started to
wonder how the tradition of putting up Christmas trees came into affect, so I
decided to do a little bit of research on the subject.
According
to an article I found, many different societies had the same general tradition
of putting up some type of greenery during the winter. They believed that the
color green was a symbol of the green plants that would eventually come once
the winter season was over and spring came. The actual Christmas tree
originated in Germany in the 16th century, during which Christians
would bring decorated trees into their homes. These trees were introduced to
America in the 19th century, but were originally frowned upon as
“pagan mockery.” However, the tradition eventually caught on, and Christmas
trees became what they are today.
I
still want to know, though, why is it that Christians decided to decorate
evergreen trees during the Christmas season, instead of just decorating their
houses with other greenery. Why go to so much effort on one tree when you are
just going to take it down two weeks later. My dad always complains about
having a tree, and I many times wonder why we are doing this if we are just
going to take it down very shortly? What is the motivation and rationale behind
Christmas tree decorating?
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