The Christmas Tree

The Christmas tree is an old custom, said to have spread through the Christian countries from Germany and the Scandinavian lands in particular.

It most probably takes the place of the log that used to be burned and kept blazing all night long; this log was called the "Noël" log.

The Christmas tree is a small green tree of pine or fir, on which are hung sweets and dolls for the children, the women, the servants, and the visitors.

Papa Noël is pictured with a long white beard and a hooded coat covered with snow, coming in by the chimney, where the children's little shoes are set out; in them he places the gifts he brings them — that is, if these children are among the obedient and well-behaved; while Father Fouettard (the bearer of whips) accompanies him and plays a role parallel to his, namely requiting the disobedient, unruly children for their misdeeds.

Most people believe that the origin of this holiday tree was taken from the Protestant denomination and that this custom is peculiar to it, just as Catholicism has made its own the crèche, the symbol of the feast. But it is a mistaken belief. For this holiday tree has been mentioned in German tales since the Middle Ages — that is, before the appearance of Protestantism — and the proof of it is that Luther, in one of his letters to his son, described to him the feelings that stirred within him, when he was a child, on standing for the first time before a Christmas tree.

In a work composed by Father Kamil in 1862 we read: "This tree was a symbol of the tree of Paradise, which Christ restored to us bearing not, as it once did, the apples of death, in the days of Adam and Eve, but the apples of life, gleaming with light and everlasting green." This is a conjecture which, for all its subtlety, points to a theological belief that cannot rightly be taken as the explanation of this popular custom.

The holiday tree symbolizes, quite simply, the most delicate and beautiful of the qualities of the Christian religion — namely, the placing of religion within reach of the people, heads of families and children alike; for the gifts presented to them are not a reward for fitness or merit, but a token of the mutual affection of that day, since they believe it is the Child Jesus who brings them these gifts, and for this reason it is called among the children the gift of Christ. And since joy opens the heart to the entry of compassion and to sharing one's feeling with others, Christmas has become the feast of kindliness: the rich man visits the poor man and brings him gifts to gladden his heart and the hearts of his children.

The English took this custom from the Germans when Queen Victoria married the German Prince Albert, who was the first to set up a holiday tree at the royal court; then the English people took the custom from him, and it spread among the people with a speed that made them suppose it an ancient custom.

As for France, the holiday tree was not known there until Alsatian and German families moved in, and its spread was at first in the churches and schools. But the people did not imitate it and set it up in their homes until after the migration of Alsatian and Lorrainer communities, when Germany occupied Alsace and Lorraine.

This tree is not a matter of dogma. The basic idea of its meaning is that grace, peace, and joy belong to the little ones and the poor — a sign of what people owe one another by way of sharing in each other's joys and feelings.

From France and elsewhere, Christmas trees are sent out ready-decorated to all the families of missionaries and religious missions in Greenland and the colonies of tropical Africa, to bring back to their minds and hearts the image of the far-off homeland.

As for Lebanon and Syria, this custom has been known since the coming of the foreign missionaries of their various denominations. But those who imitate them in it are, for the most part, certain well-to-do Christians.