Show I 1 A broto y where it Is christmas the whole year round a section of rainier na onal park in the state of washington in which snow and evergreen trees T by ELMO SCOTT WATSON would not be for many of us if we could not have a christmas tree in our homes which we decorate with all sorts of gay oma ments around which we pile the presents on christ bias ee and to which the children come scampering early the next morning about the christmas tree has gathered a gibat wealth of poetry and legend the norse tree the fir tree of st wlnfred the yule log of tho the mistletoe all speak of our forest heritage for man has ever been a tree loving being and the yule tree once a pagan symbol but now an essential part of the cliris alan holiday brings to us the mem doriea of the far away childhood of the race when men lived close to the trees and the groves were gods first temples although we always associate one of the evergreens ever greens pine spruce or clr with the idea of the christmas tree it Is a curious thing to note thit the first christmas tree was an oak the incident from which the idea of alie christmas tree can be dl erectly traced took place early in the christian era according to the leg end it occurred about A D when boniface a missionary from england with a small group of follow era reached central europe at yuletide one evening he came to a clea ang in a forest beneath a oak tree he found that the angan in habitants of that region had erected an altar to thor the god of thunder and of war A large assemblage of thor wor had gathered tor the annual sacrifice was about to be offered year the most beautiful horse of the community was to be the worshipers were to drink his blood and eit his flesh in the belief that his strength would enter into their veins and make them mighty against their enemies this year there was also to be a human sacrifice for crops had not turned out well and the god thor had to be propitiated boniface asked what be wanted said be had a message to deliver from the chris ilan church lie was told there was no time now to listen the priest of thor went to a group of small children playing near by laid his band on the shoulder of a boy of about twelve years of age aart asked him it he wanted to go to valhalla that night the little boy eald les I 1 am not afraid I 1 will just take my bow and arrow and go the mallet of the priest was raised and about to descend on the head of the boy when boniface intercepted the blow with his staff which was surmounted by the cross of christ the priests mallet was shattered on the stone of the altar the voice of boniface steady and S as S sa a a athe christmas tree 5 B 2 5 I 1 am familiar with the wind wild hands f I 1 A that to my bending branches all night y M long SS I 1 brought melodies of distant dreaming I 1 and land from my rooted silence drew a sons Y 5 but now through branch and tinseled S 1 twig there sings y fj the happy laughter at a child delight I 1 and I 1 hay learned a tone of dearer I 1 thing U s tk than ever wind could teach me in the K night J il ii am accustomed to the stars frail rays wf that perched like birds upon my toss rw ing crest JT sa and glided all ray darkly brooding ways 1 and made of me their silver Y ne s I 1 but now small tender hands have made fair V 1 I with crystal alobe and ropes of old I 1 i and green and set a star within my dusky hair 1 A layer star than ever I 1 have seen 3 I 1 I 1 am familar with the chain of snow 1 sa with which the winter bound my i fk slender frace I 1 il and with the flowers of the frost aglow 3 0 and delicately woven as fine lace i I 1 but now the holly warms me ake a flame i and rib boned gifts have budded from T my bark J as and baw I 1 know it was for this I 1 came fl A up from the soil and from the forest T 1 l dark sa faith baldwin in st nicholas ie SS K ys a TS a S 6 clear ande itself heard ue stepped to the altar and made so impassioned on appeal for mercy for the boy and for the christ whom boniface aart his followers bened that the elior worshipers deserted their god and the pagan rites and made the god of boniface their god alie great oak tree beneath which the altar was erected became the symbol of jhc thc new religion and hence in a way the first christmas tree the custom of decorating the christmas tree has its roots in an ancient norse custom connected with the observance of the yuletide Yule tlde according to agnes writing in the indianapolis star eich village selected a tree as the object of its veneration at this sea son the tree was usually a great evergreen in whose branches were contained the dwelling places of gods and men giants and dwarfs our earth or rold gard a saher ball they placed near the center of the tree aagard the home of the gods a blue ball near the top the earth Is con necked with aagard by the rainbow over which the gods descend to visit the mortals on earth in the branches feeds a she goat whose milk Is the food of the gods A little squirrel in the branches carrying gos sip of all that Is good or bad on earth to the gods the early ten tonic people added to their tree tin animals that were sacred to the gods such as the wolves and the raven of odin and the cat and the boar of freyer the oxen lambs and fish that were used as sacrifices knowing that after the winter solstice the dayi would begin to lengthen the people decorated small evergreen trees wit tallow dips in honor of their world ash this idea was well worked oa 1000 years before christ or years ago about three hundred years after christ the romans were in the habit of celebrating the winter solstice with a twelve day festival usually riotous which they called the feast of saturn or the saturnalia and to the increasing light which was to be expected friends exchanged brancheau bran chea of trees bearing lighted tapers say ing here Is the new light of the year one of the twelve days waa given over to children this feature wai retained by the catholic charch as it grew in popularity its leaders substituted for the saturnalia the mass of christ as the day selected as nis birthday fell at that time of the year friends then said 1 I give you christ the light of the world in place of the old here Is the new of the year in greeting one another dv 1700 the custom had developed still further in the forests of ger many the annual slaughter of beasts came in the late fall and early win ter and was celebrated by feasts that often lasted for days to celebrate the feast at which certain parts of the animals were given to the poor the peasants decorated their huts with small trees and any branches that were lowering out of season fruit trees or hawthorn the rumor was current that certain trees would bear fruit on christs birthday in order to obtain that result the simple peas ants began to fasten fruit and lowers among the branches or in small trees giving us precedent for flowers and fruit on our christmas trees the priests and the protestant clergy tried hard to discourage this practice but it gained popularity the chosen fruit was he apple because the day before christmas was sacred to adam and eve at a later date the tree was called christ s tree although that was much disapproved of by the church fathers when it became evident that the tree was an accepted feature of life churchmen made an effort to provide the correct symbols for it candle i uhe animals used in sacrifice the mistletoe once the flower of light but now vulgarized into the light of love the symbols of the church sacra the loaf and flagon which typify the communion the bleeding heart of christ the red rose aacen slon lilies fishes bells anchors churches and crosses made from ap pie wood the fabled material of the true cross |