It’s time to talk about the seven-foot, green, piney thing in the room: the Christmas Tree.
In many a childhood memory, the Christmas tree is as substantial a tradition as anything else. The string lights casting warm shadows on cold December nights, the smell of pine moving in like a Christmas guest, hanging ornaments while sharing memories with one another… for some families this is almost essential to the Christmas experience. The tree takes up a central place in the home and is a reminder of the Christmas day to come, both in terms of its general presence and also (depending on traditions) as presents slowly accumulate under its boughs.
Every year, the conversation about Christmas celebrations and paganism comes up, similarities are highlighted, and the brow-beating begins. The Christmas tree is almost always at the center of these discussions. To some people, it feels pretty pagan to bring a pine tree into the home and give it a central position, especially when you consider the Nordic/Druid traditions of pine boughs indoors to celebrate the solstice. Others bring out passages like Jeremiah 10:3-4 to suggest that God stands against the tradition of decorating Christmas trees.
But it’s not quite that cut and dry. First of all, the very next verse suggests that these trees served as idols for ancient Israel’s neighbors—so as long as we aren’t worshiping our trees, we’re good. On top of this, well before the birth of Christ, the Jewish people would celebrate the “Festival of Ingathering” by taking leafy branches and celebrating with them—which isn’t all that dissimilar to a wreath. Timothy Larsen, who wrote the Oxford Handbook of Christmas, argues that in Christian tradition the Christmas tree finds its origin in medieval sacred plays performed around Christmas time. These plays celebrated the story of redemption with—you guessed it—a decorated evergreen tree, which served as a visual representation of the Tree of Life.
Even if “Tree of Life” isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when we think of the Christmas tree, there’s a beauty to the symbolism. After all, Jesus came to bring us life and to provide a way for us to live with Him for eternity. In the Bible’s beautiful symmetry, the first chapters of Genesis and the final chapters of Revelation fit together. Humans lost access to the Tree of Life at the center of the Garden, but through the redemptive work of Jesus’ arrival, death, and resurrection, we return to Eden. Except it’s better than the Eden we lost, more complete, with Jesus at the center, the source of light and life for all his people. Maybe, just maybe, the Christmas tree can remind us of the hope we have for that coming day.
P.S. If you want to hear more about Christmas and paganism, we made a whole video about it.
Conversation Starter: Is there anything about Christmas that feels unique to how our country celebrates?