Twelve Days of Christmas: Day Three - Christmas Trees

The ancient Germanic festival of Yule is probably the source of even more modern Christmas traditions than the Roman Saturnalia. The name Yule is descended from the old English word geol, which may have meant "feast" or "wheel", and it may have been an ancient name of the god Jul. Again, it was a celebration of the winter solstice and the beginning of the end of the yearly darkness.

In Germanic traditions, many things in nature represent fertility and life. Evergreen trees were especially symbolic in that they were still green and full of life during winter. For this reason, and/or the fact that they may have worshiped the druids that supposedly lived in the trees, they cut one down every year, brought it into their homes, and decorated it.

These Yule trees eventually became part of the Christmas tradition when Germans became Christianized. Again, many church leaders looked down upon this act, and some still do to this day. But nevertheless, tradition stuck and Christmas trees were a seasonal celebration in Germany.

It is said that the tradition spread to Britain after King George III's German wife, Queen Charlotte, brought the Christmas tree into the royal family. Their daughter, the soon to be Queen Victoria, took part in these celebrations. After She married her German husband, Prince Albert, the tradition became even stronger, and in the mid 1800s, people all over England began to decorate Christmas trees.

This tradition gradually spread to America, mostly through German immigrants. Eventually, it became commonplace to decorate a fir tree in your home for Christmas. Would it really be Christmas without a Christmas tree?