Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 307, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 December 1912 — CHRISTMAS TREE IN MYTH,TRADITION AND TODAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CHRISTMAS TREE IN MYTH,TRADITION AND TODAY

i jnpfc TRIAD are the myths and I I legends that cluster around I I the Christmas tree. Its origin |TjB * I takes us far back into prerefi.® ™ historic times when our skinihv' clad savage ancestors were ’ tree worshippers and believed that a god or K° ddeßS dwelt in the evergreen. Long prior to the Christian era, the fir tree was used in Rome in C 7 sr!ls. the December holiday festivities of the Saturnalia and its branches were decked with little yellow Jeweled images --» of pagan divinities, especially

of Bacchus. .» In the Yuletlde celebrations of the Druids of ancient Britain, the evergreen had a distinctive place with ivy, holly and mistletoe. The Druids believed that the evergreens sheltered the good spirits of the’air who fled to them at the approach of cold weather. There is a Scandinavian myth that tells of the tree tha| sprang from the blood-soaked ground where two lovers met a violent death, and of mysterious lights that hovered about the tree at Christmaß time. At the period of the winter solstice, the ancient Egyptians decorated their houses with palm leaves which symbolized immortality and the starry sky. At this, period of the year the ancient Persians decorated the plane tree with ornaments and Jewels. An old German tradition gives Saint Wilfred the credit of transforming the tree worship of the savage Teutons to a Christian ceremony. It was about the year 725 that he led a party of priests into central Germany for the conversion of the of god Thor. Prince Gregor, the grandson of a king, was with him, having been intrusted to his care by the abbess of the cloister Phalzel. On Christmas eve. they were fighting their way through the snow of the forest when they came upon the heathen tribe of Gelsmar. They were assembled under the thunder oak, symbolic of the power of Thor, and were prepared to ofTer up sacrifice. The white-haired priest of the heathens had chosen the young son of the chief as the fairest possession of and he was to be offered, for the god was try hungry and needed the utmost atonement. ' \ As the venerable priest raised his fetone hatchet on high and brought it down to kill the boy, who was ready, prepared for the stroke, Winfred appeared and warded off the blow with his staff. The people were gratified at his saving of their favorite and allowed him speech and he gave them the Christian creed. Then he and the Prince Gregor took their axes %nd cut down the Thunder Oak. Ah it was ready tp fall the lightning came and split it in many parts and it fell asunder. The waiting tribe then beheld in its place a slender fir tree, green and sparkling and odorous. Winfred bade the tribesmen bear this tree to the hall of Grundhar, the chieftain, to there assemble about it and make merry. About ~ this first Christmas tree the wild men of the woods first heard the tale of the shepherd boy and the fields of Judah and it gripped their sturdy hearts. The tribes became Christian and ever after used the fir tree,as a token of the day of Christ’* birth. 9 The Christmas tree in its present style of

usage cannot be traced back farther than the sixteenth century. It then existed only In the Rhine valley, to which narrow limits it was restricted for more than 200 years. At the opening of the nineteenth century It spread to the rest of Germany, and fifty years later had reached Bohemia, Hungary, Paris and England. German immigrants had already brought the custom to our own country and here it has become so popular that the supply of trees In the city markets is never equal to the demand. Linking the present with the dim past of unnumbered centuries, there will this Christmas be displayed in American homes 5,000,000 evergreen trees. There are about 20,000,000 families in the United States, and one in.four of these will make the Christmas tree a part of the celebration that is at hand. This does not mean that only these will participate in the festivities of the season, for there is still the stocking method of dispensing gifts. But In this great number of homes it has become the custom to use the trees in accordance with the old-fashioned custom of sturdy, rural Germany. New York, the metropolis of the nation, uses far more Christmas trees than any other city In the world. Yet the city is so admirably located from the standpoint of available forests that the supply*ls always abundant and prices low. A quarter of a million Christmas trees are each year brought to New York, and all of them are sold during the week before Christmas. Over on Riverside Drive, where are the homes of the wealthy, expensive trees are sold. These are elaborately prepared, often being specially grown for the purpose and bring prices as high as |SO. Yet the East Side gets Its due proportion, and so abundant is the supply that good shrubs may be had for 25 cents and 50 cents. The little trees grow quickly and the farmers are often glad to have them cleared off their land. As a result the people who count the pennies closely find the Christmas greens within tljeir reach. Father Knickerbocker lives right in the midst of the most productive Christmas tree section. The state of New York yields them abundantly. Straight down from the Adlrondacks they come in trainload lots. Northern Pennsylvania also produces them without Btint, and so are all the nearby cities guaranteed an abundance. All through New England there is a general use of the Christmas tree. For a month past there have been hundreds of men preparing the Christmas tree harvest for the youngsters who dwell in the towns and cities. In the smaller communities, provided the region produces the right sort of trees, the farmer himself cuts them down and brings them to market He sells these trees to market men, to grocers, to florists and decorators. The!y are bought from him by the wagonload and cost little. Then they are properly prepared and set upon the sidewalk. But preparation for the larger markets are different. In the hills around the greater cities making ready for Christmas Is begun two months before the arrival of the day to be celebrated. In Maine, for instance, the men go out in gangs of f9ur. They know their business, for they have gathered this self-same hanfekl for a generation. They have bought the trees ay they stand in the field, paying the farmer five cents each for them. The bntt of the tree is sawed off smoothly and painted over in order that the sap may be re-

tained. The limbs are bound down tight so as to save room in shipping. • Then they are bound together in bunches of five, this being convenient for both shipment and sale. They go to market In open cars that they may be kept cool and possibly damp. Otherwise their tips might wilt and their attractiveness thus be lessened. They are sold direct from the cars to retailers and these make a point of keeping them always in the open air. Throughout the southern states the supply of Christmas trees comes from the southern pine that overruns the region. Ordinarily the markets are supplied by the wagons of the farmers, but in the bigger cities they come in carload and trainload lots. The fir is abundant In Colorado, but it grows in high, Inaccessible places, and therefore the Douglas spruce and the lodgepole pine largely take its place. This is largely true of all the Rocky Mountain Btates. In California and the other Pacific Coast states the Incense cedar and the young coast redwoods are quite generally used as Christmas trees. The swamps of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota furnish the markets of Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Detroit. When the time is ready for the indoor use of the tree it is dug up and pared down to a graceful piece of earth as a, base. "Then a piece of canvas or any other Sort of stout cloth is bound about the base to prevent crumbling of the earth The whole of this is then fitted into a box or tub and is ready to serve its purpose in the house. It is more solid and effective Indoors than the ordinary tree and never wilts or droops. It is in reality a living tree. When the festivities are over the tree is taken to the point where It is to be planted. A hole is dug to fit its base. This may be successfully accomplished even where the ground is frozen. The tree is lifted from its tub, the cloth is taken from around Its base and it Is fitted again into the earth from w&ich it came. i The protected roots again take hold and the tree goes on growing without even a knowledge of Its holiday experience. It is in no way injured. Nurserymen specially prepare trees for just this purpose. Individuals may do the same thing with no more explanation than that given above. Trees from the native woods around any village may have their roots pruned in advance or they may be dug up with no preparation whatever. There is a better chance of their flourishing when they have been prepared for the transplanting. But ,any evergreen dug up with a bit of earth about its roots should grow. There is also a manner of permanently marking trees without injuring them or interfering with their growth. A tAg fastened to a piece of wire will remain attached to a tree for a century. This tag mny be of metal and on it may be stamped the date and whatever legend is desired. The home of a growing family may thus be left with a permanent monument of all the Christmases that have passed over the heads of the children that dwelt within it. When these return to the ancestral hearth in their old age they can recall the planting of the trees and the events that hover about the occasion in question. Incidentally, the landscape will have been beautified, and aside from the sentimental phase of it, much valuable timber produced. The Christmas tree industry of the United States has assumed great proportions and Uncle Sam is making plans to place the Industry upon a permanently profitable basis through reforesting large areas. Incidentally the new industry has furnished an opportunity for huhdreds of boys and girts to earn their Christmas money in a new way. by harvesting the cones of evergreen trees. Of the nation’s forest land, 60,000,000 acres are today covered with mature timber, while 40,000,000 acres are well seeded with young growth. This leaves 100,000,000 acres that are either non-productive or only partly productive. It is for this 100,000,000 acres that seed are to be gathered, and it is upon this vast expanse that they are to be planted until the whole*" is developed Into Its greatest possible yielding capacity, making it one of the finest forests that ths world has ever known.