The Christmas Tree

It seems like every year that passes the decorations for Christmas get put up earlier and earlier. We are still eating leftover Halloween candy when the stores are putting up lights, and wreaths. For some it can be frustrating. They feel as if they are being rushed. “What about thanksgiving?” they cry. I understand. I believe, as long as the focus is on the real reason for the season, you can never celebrate Christmas too much or too early. Hey, when I lived up in Maine, I noticed a lot of people left their Christmas lights on their houses year-round. As I say, as long as the focus is on the real reason for the season. Perhaps a lot of people are not aware of the symbolism of Christmas decorations. Let’s start with the most iconic decoration. The tree. 

The Christmas tree probably originated from popular early medieval religious plays. “Paradise Plays” were performed in churches and town squares of Europe during the Advent season. The plays told the story of the human race from the creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Paradise until the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. On stage during the play was a great tree from which hung apples, symbolizing the Garden of Paradise. Soon people began the custom of putting a “paradise tree” laden with gifts and lighted with candles in their homes during the Christmas season to celebrate paradise regained through the coming of Christ.

The Protestant Reformer Martin Luther also helped popularize the tradition of decorating trees to celebrate Christmas. The story goes, one crisp Christmas Eve, about the year 1500, Martin was walking through snow-covered woods and was struck by the beauty of a group of small evergreens. All the other trees had lost all their leaves and were cold and bare. The pine trees, however, remained beautiful. Their branches, dusted with snow, shimmered in the moonlight. The evergreens reminded Martin of everlasting life. The gift of Christmas that we all received from the Christ Child. Later, when he had children, he set up a little fir tree indoors so he could share this story with them. They then decorated it with paper ornaments, fruit, and candles, representing the light of Christ. “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life” (John 8:12).

We, here in Connecticut, have a unique relationship with the Christmas tree. Apparently, at the Revolutionary War Battle of Bennington in 1777, British forces, consisting largely of Hessian troops – German mercenaries – were defeated and hundreds of the Hessian mercenaries were taken prisoner. Many of the prisoners were shipped to Boston but one of the Hessians, Hendrick Roddemore, ended up in the custody of Samuel Denslow on his 100-acre farm in Windsor Locks, CT. Denslow allowed Roddemore to live in a small cabin on his property in what is now the current home of the Windsor Locks Historical Society. In that small cabin in Windsor Locks in 1777, Hendrick Roddemore, a German POW from the Battle of Bennington put up the first indoor Christmas tree in America.

The Christmas tree represents many things. The original tree of paradise. The life-giving tree of Christ’s cross. The tree John the Apostle saw, “Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations” (Revelation 22:2). The Christmas tree is rich in Christian symbolism and absolutely reminds us of the real reason for the season.

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