Christian History: Symbols of Christmas

For centuries before Christ, residents of Europe dealt with the long, hard winter months by celebrating midwinter festivals. Some familiar Christmas symbols originated in these winter festivals and were adopted by Christians as they sought to redeem and transform customs of existing cultures. Other symbols, such as the Nativity scene and the poinsettia, have been Christian from their origins. Here's the story behind several of our most common Christmas symbols.

Holly and Ivy
In the early years of Christianity, decorative greens were often banned by many churches due to similar practices in pagan religions. They eventually made their way into the churches and became a fully accepted part of Christmas. As far back as the fifteenth century in England, it was the custom for homes and churches to be garnished with green plants.

It was not difficult to make a connection between Christmas and evergreen plants. They represent life in the midst of the brown deadness of winter. Holly, ivy, and mistletoe—plants that bear fruit in the winter—were especially powerful symbols of the new life represented by Christ’s birth.

Holly’s significance comes in part from its thorns and blood-red berries’ association with Christ’s Passion. This association gave holly its Danish name, Kristdorn (Christ-thorn).

Christmas Trees
The Christmas tree is the most prominent of all evergreen Christmas decorations. One of the earliest legends of the Christmas tree’s origin has to do with the missionary work of Boniface. During the eighth century, he challenged Germany’s pagan gods by cutting down the oak of the god Thor at Geismar (in present-day Germany). After chopping it down with no retribution from Thor, Boniface was said to have pointed to a small fir tree as a symbol of God’s life-giving mercy.

The widespread use of the Christmas tree probably began with the medieval “paradise tree.” The Catholic church used plays in the medieval era to teach their mostly illiterate congregations about the Bible. One of the plays took place on December 24, the feast day of Adam and Eve. The play revolved around the paradise tree, which was an evergreen tree decorated with apples. Later, additional decorations were added, such as communion wafers, representing forgiveness, and candles. Eventually, some people started putting up paradise trees in their homes on Christmas Eve. Evidence of this connection remains in Bavaria, where the Christmas tree has been called the Paradisebaum.

The Christmas tree first became widespread in Germany. Multiple legends have become attached to its origins and significance. The most famous of these stories is that Martin Luther brought a tree into his house, decorated it with candles, and told his children the candles represented the light of Christ and the starry sky of Bethlehem on the first Christmas night. However, there is little historical evidence for this interesting legend.

German nobility helped spread the symbol of the Christmas tree to countries like England and France through intermarriage with other royal families. German immigrants brought the tree to the United States. By the nineteenth century, Christmas trees had become widespread in North America, Europe, and Russia.

Early Christmas trees were small and usually fit on a tabletop. During the nineteenth century, families began choosing bigger trees with more space to put piles of presents. Many used to place candles on trees, but only on Christmas Eve, due to the danger posed by live flames near dry tree limbs. Electric lights were introduced in 1882, and Americans soon stopped putting real candles on trees.

Poinsettias
The poinsettia is a shrub native to Mexico. Its green leaves turn red (the flower is actually the yellow inner buds) when deprived of sunlight. It blooms in December, making it an ideal symbol for Christmas. After Christianity arrived in Mexico from Spain, a legend arose about a girl going to church on Christmas Eve. She wanted to bring a gift to the baby Jesus, but being poor, all she could bring was a handful of weeds. Jesus miraculously turned her weeds into beautiful red flowers. As a result of this legend, Mexicans called these red plants the flores de Nochebuena, or “Flowers of the Holy Night.”

The plant received its American name from the American ambassador to Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett, who first brought the plant to the United States in the nineteenth century.

Nativity Scene (Crèche)
St. Francis of Assisi is often credited with the first live Nativity scene. On Christmas Eve in 1224, he arranged a manger with hay and live animals to replicate the Bethlehem scene. Francis led in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper as he talked of the birth of the poor King in Bethlehem. Francis’s reenactment helped the tradition spread across Europe.

Up into the nineteenth century, Nativity scenes and images of the Christ child were nearly universal in Roman Catholic churches and homes—especially in Spain and Italy—but less prominent in Protestant countries. During the twentieth century, Nativity scenes, complete with Mary and Joseph, the baby Jesus, angels, shepherds, wise men, and animals, became common among Protestants in North America, along with Nativity plays in churches and schools.

Stockings
Central to the legend of St. Nicholas is the medieval story that he rescued three daughters of a widower from slavery by dropping bags of gold into their stockings, which they had hung to dry by the fire. Today, children throughout the world leave out stockings or shoes filled with hay for St. Nicholas’s horse, or next to cookies for Santa Claus, in hopes he will fill them with gifts.

In the early 1800s, most Christmas presents were placed in stockings. However, as more and larger gifts became common, the Christmas tree became the most common place to find presents on Christmas morning.

Through all of these Christmas symbols, we are reminded of the gift of God’s Son, born to bring light and life into a dark and dying world.

A version of this article was originally published in the December 2013 Glimpses. All rights reserved.