OCR Text |
Show Christmas Legends Explain Origins Of Decorations There are many legends concerning concern-ing the origin of Christmas trees and why we decorate and cheerish them through the Yule season, i And for many of us it would not ; seem like Christmas without a green and graceful fir standing in its place of honor in the living room, decorated with bright lights and stars. Why the evergreen? The most beautiful legend of all goes like this: As Christ lay in the manger after his birth, the wise men came to worship bringing their many gifts. Then came the shepherds and the people of the village to kneel and pray in the presence of this wonderful wonder-ful child. After them came the trees to pay homage to the Christ child. First the native palms from the hills around Bethlehem, and then the stately maples and oaks and birches and hemlocks. Then, last of all, timid because of his smallness, came a tiny fir from the frozen north. It was so small and modest that none paid any attention to it until suddenly a star dropped from the sky and twinkled on a bough of the tree. Another and another fell until the little tree was the most beautiful of all aglow as if from a celestial light. Holly has become an accepted decoration dec-oration for Christmas. Reference to it has been made in numerous stories and carols, such as: "Deck the hall with boughs of holly Tis the season to be jolly!" The custom dates back to the time of the ancient Romans who used holly in connection with the celebration celebra-tion of their Saturnalia which occurs oc-curs about the same time as Christmas. Christ-mas. The holly tree was most beautiful at a time of year when other trees were barren and for that reason was ideal for decorations. And because be-cause it was most beautiful at Christmas time, many persons thought the tree must be sacred, |