Reflections in Nature: Custom of using evergreens goes back almost 2,000 years
When our children were young, Mary Alice and I would put up our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve after they went to bed. My job was to set the tree up and put the lights on, while Mary Alice would do the decorating. I also had the chore of putting toys together and testing the batteries.
In the morning we would tell the children that Santa Claus brought the tree and toys.
This tradition didn’t last for very long, and before we knew it, they were helping us with the decorating.
Most American homes will have a Christmas tree of some type. Evergreen boughs and red holly berries are also used to decorate our homes. Perhaps you have an artificial tree in your home because you are against cutting down a tree just to decorate. According to the National Christmas Tree Association, the average life of an artificial tree is six years.
After that, it is tossed into the landfill. However fresh trees can be recycled and reused. Most towns have made it possible for you to have your tree run through a chipper, for mulch. Many people place their trees outside near bird feeders to help protect the birds during winter months.
By buying a real tree you will also be helping a tree farmer.
The custom of using evergreens goes back almost 2,000 years. In pre-Christian days, it was believed that evergreens contained magical powers because they stayed green all year round. They first used evergreens in celebrating the winter solstice. This was celebrated long before the time of Jesus Christ.
They celebrated because the sun passed in its long journey southward, paused and then started northward again. This celebration of the sun meant that the sun was not going to continue its southward journey, and spring would again come in 14 weeks.
Mistletoe was also used in these ceremonies because it was green all year long. The popularity of mistletoe is not as it once was. The Druids thought oak trees, especially those oaks with mistletoe growing on them, gave the sun its energy.
Why oak trees? Well oak trees are more often struck by lightning than other trees because of their high content of water. They also burned oak logs in this ceremony, which is where the tradition of burning a yule-tide-log comes from. This is just another tradition that has lost popularity.
Mistletoe, which is an evergreen plant, is a parasite that grows on the trunks of trees. The Druids cut mistletoe from oak trees with a golden blade sickle. Unlike other parasites, mistletoe produces chlorophyll and is a hemiparasitic. It is anchored to a tree limb by simple tubes through which it taps its host’s water system to get water.
Haustoria is derived from the Latin haurire, which means to drink. Water is all the mistletoe takes from the host tree. It robs no other manufactured food. Its genus, Phoradendron, comes from a Greek word, which means tree thief.
After birds eat the white berries, they either excrete the seeds or smear them on branches after they wipe the sticky berry juice off their beaks. The waxy substance on the berry acts as a glue to hold berries to a tree. Passing through a bird’s system will not destroy this glue; however, it might even be strengthened. The waxy glue dries instantly when touching a branch.
The plant is dioecious and, therefore, berries can be found on some plants and not on others. It’s the female plant that produces the berries.
Kissing under the mistletoe is a custom started back in the early 17th century. Anyone caught standing under a mistletoe must forfeit a kiss. The proper procedure is to remove a berry for every kiss. When the berries are all removed, the kissing stops. This tradition dates back to Norse mythology, which dedicated mistletoe to the Goddess of Love.
The use of evergreen trees goes back to the 14th century. It was about this time the Christian church used plays to educate the people about the scriptures. The major prop used in these plays was an evergreen tree, decorated with apples. December 25 became the universally accepted day to celebrate Christ’s birthday and the evergreen tree became associated with Christmas.
The first Christmas trees were decorated with artificial roses (symbol of the Virgin Mary) and flat wafers (symbols of the last supper). Evergreen trees were often called Christ’s Trees. The first Christmas trees, as we know them today, appeared in the 16th century in Latvia and Estonia. However, the Germans are credited with developing the Christmas tree tradition.
Because Pennsylvania harbored many German immigrants, we can lay claim to the first Christmas tree in America. In 1747, the people of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania decorated Christmas trees for their children on Christmas Day. Today, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania is still known as Christmas City.
Some books will tell you that Hessian soldiers, who fought for the British in the American Revolutionary War, introduced the Christmas tree to the colonists. The soldiers were homesick, so they went out into the wilds of Pennsylvania and cut trees, which they decorated.
The first trees were table-top trees. Later larger trees were used. Since the colonists were lacking much, the first trees were decorated with things from nature: mistletoe, winterberry holly branches, acorns, nuts and milkweed pods, anything to add some color. They also made things from cloth, leather or whatever was on hand. The first White House tree was put up by President Franklin Pierce in 1856.
President Benjamin Harrison was the first president to trim a tree in the White House in 1889.
The use of Christmas trees became so popular that there was a shortage of evergreen trees. In 1905, the first Christmas tree farm opened. This made Christmas trees an agricultural product. Today, growing Christmas trees is a big business with well over $600 million being spent annually on the trees. Michigan is the leading Christmas tree producing state. Pennsylvania is second with Indiana County the biggest producer of Christmas trees within the state.
It takes 6-12 years to grow a Christmas tree. This depends on growing conditions, the size of tree you desire and the species of tree being grown. For instance, pines will grow much faster than spruce trees. Two or three seedlings are usually planted for each Christmas tree harvested. The extra seedlings compensate for loss from insects and disease, wildlife, weeds, fires, and other factors.
Christmas is a time for letting the heart run wild with generosity; a time for forgiving and forgetting; a time for setting aside differences; a time for letting the mind return to your childhood and remembering what Christmas meant to you.
I grew up in a family with five children and money was not a problem because there was none. Although there were very few gifts, I remember the good times we had with family and friends. To me, Christmas is about the birth of Christ.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas.
Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.