So many present-day facets of modern Christmas traditions seem to have little or nothing to do with celebrating Jesus' birthday.

 One of those facets is our present-day Christmas Tree whose history goes back to the first spread of Christianity across Europe.

 As new Christians understood and practiced their faith, they tried to keep their connections to their existing local customs and rituals while adapting them to the worship of Jesus Christ. Many pre-Christian (or "pagan") spiritual traditions became part of Christian sacramental practice, especially at Christmas time.

 The date of Dec. 25, The Feast of Our Lord's Birth (Christmas),
was set by the early church to coincide with the dates of Rome's Winter Solstice celebrations. (The Bible doesn't say what time of year Jesus was born although some presume by educated conjecture that He was born in the summer. Yet, other educated conjecture that Our Lord was born during the early winter.)

 Among the most conspicuous and enduring of these pre-Christian borrowings are the "Christmas" tree and other greenery icons, such as holly, mistletoe, and wreaths.

"People would bring evergreen leaves on the night of December 21st, the shortest day of the year. They did this as they wanted the sun god to get well, and they thought the green leaves of evergreens would bring back the sun god's 'health.' People would decorate their houses with evergreen leaves and branches
to keep away ghosts, witches, sickness, and evil spirits," said writer, David De Groot.

 

 "The wreath has a similar history," according to De Groot, with "pre-Christian Germanic peoples, who, during the cold December darkness of Eastern Europe, gathered wreaths of evergreen and lighted fires as signs of hope in a coming spring and renewed light. German Catholics kept these popular traditions alive, and by the 16th century, Catholics and Protestants throughout Germany used these symbols to celebrate their Advent hope in Christ, the Everlasting Light."

As the women's website Oxygen noted, "Trees have always been considered a symbol of life. The pagans, ancient Egyptians, Romans and Druid priests brought branches and greens into their homes and decorated trees as part of traditional celebrations."

"The first Christmas tree," Oxygen reported, "is said to have originated in 8th century Germany when a British missionary, St. Boniface, cut down a giant oak that crushed every tree in its path except a small fir sapling. Considering this a miracle, St. Boniface called it 'the tree of the Christ child.'"

you are within the sacramentals transponder