There are many reasons why people started to decorate their houses in the wintertime. Long ago, people believed that by decorating the greenery in the winter time, they would make them beautiful for the spirits, which they believed had fled to cover from the cold weather. Much later, people began to take green branches into their homes during the wintertime to give warmth and shelter to these spirits, they would release them again in the early spring.
In the sixth century missionaries from Rome were sent throughout Europe to convert the people. Allowances were made to make the step from pagan to Christian easier to take. Pagan rituals were incorporated into Christianity and the decorations stayed, but as a celebration to honor the Birthday of the Son of God. The pagan superstitions remained while new meanings and symbols developed.
Bring in the greenery!
Holly is a symbol of eternal life. Druids thought this plant stayed green year round because it was especially favored by the sun.
Mistletoe was held sacred by ancient peoples. It was forbidden to fight in the presence of mistletoe. Therefore it became a symbol for peace and joy.
Hang a Christmas wreath on the front door.
In ancient Rome, people used decorative wreaths as a sign of victory. The idea to hang them on the front door lies in the belief that round shaped Christmas wreaths bring contentment and good luck in the approaching year.
Leave a candle burning in the window.
A Christmas candle left burning in the window all night is believed to bring the household’s good luck in the coming year. If the candles goes out, it is bad luck. Primarily it was, and still is, a symbol of welcome to Mary and Joseph as they travelled looking for shelter.
Hang the stockings at the chimney.
Stockings are hung by the chimney at Christmas, in memory of the generosity of St. Nicholas. The legend is that out of sympathy he tossed three coins down the chimney of the home of three poor sisters. Each coin fell neatly into stockings left drying by the hearth.
Spider webs in the tree.
Hang some cobwebs in your Christmas tree for good luck. According to a Ukrainian legend a poor woman had nothing to put on her children’s tree. When she woke on Christmas morning she found the branches covered with spider webs turned to silver by the rising sun.
Removing the decorations.
As the druids would remove the branches in early spring and up until the 19th century, people would keep the decorations until Candlemas at 2 February. Since the reign of Victoria it is custom that Christmas decorations come down before the end of the 12th day, on January 6. Superstitions say that it is bad luck to leave it for another day or take it down before that date.
Tags: christmas, Decoration
October 28th, 2008 at 5:33 am
What a fun post! I never knew about some of these legends - I love history AND Christmas so reading this was a treat.
October 30th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I blew up a picture of the huge tree in D.C. and had Russell Rhodes Christmas ornaments print it on canvas for me. I used glitter on the canvas surface to make the ornaments pop and sparkle. The tree canvas scans my entire dining room wall so I have ample decorations for that room. It’s so nice to avoid the holiday decoration clutter and jut have one huge decoration to take out each year.
August 15th, 2009 at 1:04 am
Great ideas for Christmas, but there perhaps should be a small warning about leaving the candle burning in the window. Can be a little bit of a fire hazard and nothing will ruin Christmas more than having your house burn down, well I guess there are some others but this would be pretty near the top of the list of things Not To Do At Christmas. Otherwise love the suggestions.