O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
How steadfast are your branches!
Your boughs are green in summer’s clime
And through the snows of wintertime.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
How steadfast are your branches!
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
What happiness befalls me when oft
at joyous Christmas-time
Your form inspires my song and rhyme.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
What happiness befalls me
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your boughs can teach a lesson
That constant faith and hope sublime
Lend strength and comfort through all time.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your boughs can teach a lesson.
Long before Christianity, evergreens had a special meaning in the winter. Ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. It was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness. In the Northern hemisphere, the Winter Solstice falls on December 21 or 22. Ancient peoples believed the sun was a god; that winter came because the sun god had become sick and weak. The solstice meant that the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen branches decorated homes as the people looked forward to summer. Egyptians worshipped the god Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown. At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palm rushes which symbolized for them the triumph of life over death. Early Romans marked the solstice with the feast of Saturnalia (Saturn, the god of agriculture.) The solstice meant that soon farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. Homes and temples were decorated with evergreen boughs. The Celtic Druids decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life. The Vikings believed that evergreens were the plant of the sun god, Balder. Germany started the Christmas tree tradition in the 16th century. Some Christian families built pyramids of wood, decorating with evergreens and candles. It is believed that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. Walking toward his home one winter evening, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens. So he put a tree in the house and fastened on lighted candles. In North America in the new colonies, decorating a tree or using evergreens in such a way was considered too pagan, and in some places was a hanging offence. Yet now the tree is one of our most beloved symbols of Christmas, the green teaching us of faith, love, the everlasting love of God, new life, new birth; the lights we put up are the new light coming into the world.
