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The Origin of the Christmas tree    Time: 1:30    Accent: e Dictionary    Sound BrE    Explanations

The Origin of the Christmas tree

 
 
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Description

An explanation of the origin and meaning of one of Christmas most popular symbols: the Christmas tree.

Transcript

I’m Father Greg Friedman from Franciscan Communications, with an advent Catholic treasure, just in time to help you get ready for Christmas. Do you know the religious symbolism behind our custom of the Christmas tree?
 
In medieval times, religious dramas called "mystery plays" sometimes featured evergreen trees decorated with apples. These were a reference to the Tree of Life from the Genesis story of the Garden of Eden.

The apple stood for the forbidden fruit eaten by Adam and Eve.
In later centuries in Germany, it became the custom at Christmas to decorate a fir tree with both apples and wafers, much like the hosts used at Mass.

These two edible decorations contrasted how one forbidden fruit brought death, and another fruit of the Earth, the consecrated bread, which is the Eucharist, brings life. As time passed, oranges were added along with apples and then brightly coloured balls. The wafers became cookies shaped like angels, animals, stars, and so on.

Lighted candles recalled Christ’s coming as the light of the world shining in the darkness. German immigrants brought this custom to America. The evergreen still fills our Christmas celebrations in our homes with its symbolism of life.
 
It reminds us of the hope-filled birth of the infant Jesus, the Messiah, commemorated at Christmastime in our advent Catholic treasure, the Christmas tree.

I’m Father Greg Friedman from the Franciscans.
There’s more about Catholic customs and beliefs at AmericanCatholic.org. 


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Explanations

ADVENT= The coming or arrival, especially of something extremely important (e.g. "this is the advent of a new era"). The liturgical period preceding Christmas, beginning in Western churches on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, a period to prepare Christians for the arrival of Christmas celebration.

MEDIEVAL TIMES= The Middle Ages, the time in Western history between the fall of the Roman Empire and Renaissance (centuries 8th to 14th, more or less).

DRAMAS= Theatrical performances.

FEATURED= If a play, TV show, movie or another kind of show features a person or something, that person, thing or event is there.

EVERGREEN= An evergreen plant keeps its leaves all through the year (as opposed to other plants which lose their leaves in autumn and winter).

THE TREE OF LIFE= You need a bit of Christian theology to understand all this:
The first book of the Bible is called GENESIS, and it tells about the creation of the world and of people. According to this story, God created a man called ADAM and a woman called EVE (the first people), and they lived in the Garden of Eden, a paradise where they were happy and they had no need to work. They could do anything they wanted, except one thing: they couldn’t eat the fruit of the TREE OF LIFE, which was an apple tree planted in the middle of Paradise. Finally, the Devil made them eat the apple (the forbidden fruit) and so they sinned and they were expelled from Paradise. Some Christians think this really happened, but most Christians consider it a metaphor to explain spiritual facts (God created everything to be in harmony, but sin breaks that harmony and all suffering comes from sin). Anyway, Jesus saved people and opened the doors of heaven to them (an afterlife Paradise and the promise of a better society on earth: the Kingdom of God). Most Christians (Catholic and Orthodox churches) believe that Jesus is really present in the host (a consecrated bread they eat in mass). So that host (bread) is the opposite of the apple from the Tree of Life, because the apple sent people out of Paradise and the host is opening the doors of Paradise again.

FIR TREE= An evergreen tree similar to a pine (see picture here).

WAFERS= A small thin crisp cake, biscuit, or candy (see picture here).

HOST= Consecrated bread used in Christian mass (see picture here).

EDIBLE= Something edible can be eaten.

INFANT= A child in the earliest period of life, especially before he or she can walk.

MESSIAH= A Hebrew word pronounced /məsaɪə/. One who is anticipated as, regarded as, or professes to be a saviour or liberator. In the Bible, God promised to send a messiah to save people from their sufferings. Christians believe Jesus is that messiah and called him the Christ (which is a Greek word which means "messiah").

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