Quote:
Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND
Except that the Palm fronds are handed out as part of a religious service... are pine trees in the bible as a Christmas symbol? Or given out like communion? My very lapsed catholicism is a bit rusty...
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I think that despite modern commercialization, most would agree that Christmas is a Christian concept or at least one that has developed through the practices of the Christian faith however you want to trace the origins....without Christ or Christmas, we likely would not be decorating trees for December 25th
if you put up a Christmas tree in your home and wake up up on the 25th and rip open presents absent the religeous meaning of Christmas....what exactly are you celebrating and why? because Walmart and Kay Jewellers told you to?
further...
Martin Luther admired the custom of Eastern Orthodox Christians, in which they displayed a fruit tree in the early part of December to commemorate the “Feast of Adam and Eve.” He wanted to do something similar in the Protestant Church of Germany. So he brought a fir tree into the chapel and decorated it with candles, placing a nativity beneath it. The candles were designed to represent the star of Bethlehem and the choir of angles that sang “Glory to God in the highest...” Eventually the Eastern Orthodox custom, and the Protestant Lutheran custom, merged together resulting in the decoration of the tree with round ornaments to represent the Orthodox fruit tree, stars and angels to represent the Lutheran concept.