Page 25 - Dec 2022

Th e Ger ma n Ta n n en b a u m b ec a me
a Pr o per Br it is h Ch r is t ma s Tr ee
Germany gets the credit for beginning the Christmas tradition of setting up a
tree in homes back in the 16th century. The idea of incorporating greenery into
the dark and dreary winter solstice season began long before with the pagans
of what would become Deutschland. Along came devout Christians who picked
up the idea, added some imagery of their own, seeing the evergreen tree as a
symbol of Christ's immortality, and gave gifts to honor the gift of Jesus to the
world. However, if you're stuck on the oft repeated idea of Queen Victoria and
her consort Prince Albert to get the tree ball rolling in England, go to the back of
the line.
If you guessed it was " Good Queen Charlotte" , the wife of George III, who also
brought the Revolutionary War to the Colonies, go to the head of the Holiday
Trivia competition. She set up the first known Christmas tree in England at
Queen's Lodge, Windsor Castle, in 1800.
After George's death, when young Victoria came to the throne left to her by her
grandfather, she proposed to and married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, who
became her consort. Albert was a true renaissance man and the marriage was
blissfully happy. In 1840 he set up trees at Windsor Castle and took personal
responsibility for the decorations, putting wax tapers on the tree for light and
hanging sweets like barley sugar and sugar plums (prunes) on the boughs, with
other small gifts, for the children.

Albert and Victoria were popular with their subjects and the trees soon became
popular, too.

Today, most of our mental images about what constitues a proper Christmas
and a perfect tree come directly from the Victorian era, where appropriated
German customs became British customs, eventually pushing out many of the
older traditions of earlier English Christmases.

Th e Vik in g s a n d t h e Sa x o n s Br o u g h t
t h e Yu l e Lo g t o wh at wo u l d b ec o me En g l a n d
Historians are divided on whether it was the Germans ( known as the Saxons when they invaded
the home isle) or the Vikings, since they invaded, too, who brought the tradition of the yule log to
what became the British Isles. The word Yul or Jul is a Norse word. All agree, however, that the
Yule log began its life as a pagan endeavor, beginning as an early winter solstice ritual.

According to scholars, the original celebrations of what the pagans called Yule were connected to
the Wild Hunt and the god Odin for the Vikings and to M?draniht ( Mother's Night) for the
pagan Anglo- Saxons. The ceremonial log was burned to welcome back the sun on the shortetst
day of the year and stayed burning during the arrival of the return of longer days. Cut from an
oak tree and carved with runes to ask for protection of the gods. the log burned for the duration
of the feasting. It was a dark omen if you let the log go out before the end of the celebration, a
sign of back luck to come. In the Viking tradition a piece of the old log was saved to start the log
for the following year's fire. Today the ashes of the log are considered to be good luck for growing
plants.

As the years passed, adopted as part of what we know now as Olde Christmas, families would
haul their chosen Yule Log into the house and put the big end into the fireplace where it would
feed the fire for the 12 Days of Christmas.
iStock image by Tony Baggett
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