There’s nothing more evocative of the Christmas Season than the Christmas tree. The beautiful decorations, and colorful lights on a the tree are a celebration of life, dreams, and hope.

The tradition of making a tree an integral part of the winter celebrations, has been around since ancient times. Many pagan festivals used trees when honoring their gods and spirits. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again.

Long before the Christmas tree was adopted as a Christian Christmas symbol, pagans in Northern Europe celebrated the winter solstice known as Yule which was symbolic of the birth of the pagan sun god Mithras. The festivity was observed on the shortest day of the year. As the sun god grew and matured, so the days became longer and warmer.

In Northern Europe, the Vikings considered the evergreen a symbol, and reminder that the darkness and cold of winter would end, and the green of spring would return.

The Druids of ancient England and France decorated oak trees with fruit and candles to honor their gods of harvests.

At the festival Saturnalia, the Romans decorated trees with trinkets and candles.

There has been many legends surrounding Christian use of Christmas trees. In one story, it is said that Saint Boniface, an English monk, came upon a group of pagans who had gathered around an oak tree, and were preparing to sacrifice a child. To stop the sacrifice, and save the child, the Saint flattened the oak tree with one blow of his fist. A small fir sprang up in its place, which Saint Boniface told the pagans was the Tree of Life and represented the life of Christ.

Another story attributes the Christian Christmas tree to Martin Luther, the founder of the Protestant religion. It is said that while on a walk in the woods one Christmas Eve in Northern Germany, Martin Luther was captivated by an evergreen tree shining in the moonlight. He was so struck by the beautiful image of the moonlit tree, that he cut down a tree, and took it home with him. He decorated it with candles, and told his children that the tree should always remind them of the brightness of Christmas, and its message of the birth of Jesus.

By the beginning of the 16th century, all of Germany had adopted the use of the green Christmas tree. At market fairs, bakers sold gingerbreads, and wax ornaments for souvenirs to take home to decorate Christmas Trees. other decorations on the tree included stars, tiny toys, gilded nuts, and candles.

In Germany, and in other Northern cultures, the branches were removed from the tree, and the trunk was decorated on May 1st as a May Pole, celebrating a rebirth of spring. The tree was then cut up, and the largest log was used the next December as the Yule Log.