THE treeinChristmas, next to the picture of the dadSanta and the structure of the nativity scene, is one of the most popular symbols of theChristmas, the day Catholic Christians celebrate the birth of JesusChrist. In general, both the date of Christ's birth and other symbolism adopted by the Church they fit the liturgical calendar and the replacements of rites and cults of pagan gods by ritualistic Christian. The story of the Christmas tree, it seems, follows this process under the work of a medieval monk known as They areBoniface.
Read too: Christmas story
Initially, it is necessary to understand the enormous importance that the tree symbol had in several civilizations. In the former Mesopotamia, for example, this symbology was very present. Chaldeans and even Babylonians and Assyrians developed representations of the tree as something closely related to life, flowering and fruiting. Among the Hebrews, this same symbolism was also very strong and, to a large extent, was inherited from the Mesopotamian peoples. The structure of
cabal, for example, follows the symbolism of the tree of life, which appears in the center of Paradise, in the book of Genesis, on the occasion of fallofMan, described in chapter 3:“Then Yahweh God said: 'If man is already like one of us, versed in good and evil, let him not now reach out and pluck also from the tree of life, and eat and live forever!" And Yahweh God O he expelled from the garden of Eden to cultivate the soil from which it was taken; and he banished man and placed, before the garden of Eden, the cherubim and the flame of the blazing sword to guard the path of the tree of life. He will produce for you thorns and thistles, and you shall eat the grass of the fields.” (Source: BibleinJerusalem)
Saint Boniface, who lived between the 7th and 8th centuries d. C., was responsible for the Christianization of the Germans, or Germanic peoples, who settled in the north of the Europe, among the rivers Danube and Rhine. Like the Hebrews and the peoples of Mesopotamia, the Germans also had a strong connection with the symbol of the tree, perhaps even more central than the latter. the god Odin, central figure in Norse mythology, was revered by the Germans through the worship of a great oak tree. This tree, in turn, referred toYggdrasil, that is, the tree that was the axis of the world, for the Germans. In addition, there was also the cult of pine trees, which were worshiped by Celtic and Teutonic tribes because of their resistance to the rigors of winter.
In much of the world, it is tradition for the family to gather to decorate the Christmas tree
For St. Boniface, such symbolism aimed at pagan worship should be defeated. The cult of trees, especially pine trees, started to be directed to the liturgical atmosphere of winter and, mainly, to the central event related to this time of year for Christians: the birth of baby Jesus. Gradually, the pine tree came to be decorated not to worship ancient pagan gods, but to celebrate the birth of a God made Man. From northern Europe, the Christmas tree ornament habit spread and became common throughout the world.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
