December 18, 2003
-
(in case you were wondering)
Martin Luther And The First Christmas Tree
The origin of the Christmas tree, and if it is a Christian symbol or not, is a hot topic right now.
The facts are that Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation, put up the first Christmas trees.
It was a bitter cold Christmas Eve long ago, and Martin Luther was closing up the church after the Christmas Eve service.
He walked home through a wood, and he noticed all the twinkling stars through the branches of the evergreen trees. The stars seemed to be twinkling on the tree branches.
Martin Luther went home, got an ax and cut down two trees. One he put up that very night in his home with candles on the tips of its branches.
The other he put up the next morning, Christmas morning, in his church. When his congregation came to Christmas Day services they saw the Christmas tree with candles burning at its tip. That tradition caught on quickly in the Lutheran community in Germany, and it spread all over Europe, Great Britian, and to the United States.
Comments (6)
Only if you’re Protestant. If you’re Catholic you attribute the first Christmas tree to St. Boniface, who converted the Germans around the year 1000 and was said to decorate fir trees as an alternative to the sacred oaks worshipped by the German pagans.
And of course decorating with evergreens to symbolize eternal life goes right back to the Roman celebrations of Saturnalia. Or so I’m told.
Amazing how such disparate traditions coincide sometimes.
Aha, good to have alternative theories.
Interesting thoughts. I’ve heard so many that it is always intriguing to hear another. Infinite Blessings and in case you haven’t yet seen it, I would love to have you join my new yahoo group.
That was interesting. I’d never heard that. Thanks.
Interesting. I want to see that movie that came out about Luther with joseph Fiennes. I think I am choosing to switch to a presbyterian church… wasn’t GGP a presbyterian minister?
My theory is that being a man he didn’t have the patience to make a flower arrangement for the church, & improvised. To turtle dove, I am presbyterian & mjh grew up in that belief, if you want any opinions.