OH TANNENBAUM, OH TANNENBAUM

“O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum
Thy leaves are so unchanging
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum
Thy leaves are so unchanging
Not only green when summer's here
But also when 'tis cold and drear
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum
Thy leaves are so unchanging”

(For a list of ‘converted’ Xmas carols, check this site out)

It’s no small wonder that I like trees. I’m not a tree-hugger: it’s hell on wheels to get sap stains out of your clothes, and strange looks from your dry-cleaner should be avoided.

I grew up around this tradition: there are comforting associations. A feeling of family (albeit, in my circle, it’s not usually a peaceful one), community, and hey! Shiny objects! Tinsel! Blinking lights! Presents!

I don’t have a problem with Xmas trees. I rather enjoy them. I’d not go out of my way to chop one down – I’m lazy: if ever I own a tree, it’ll be one of those fake trees (everyone in my family has one. It’s more economical, anyways. You can re-use the bloody thing for just about forever).

Besides which, it’s not even a Christian symbol.

From here:

“The Christmas tree is often explained as a Christianization of the ancient pagan idea that the evergreen tree represents a celebration of the renewal of life. In Roman mosaics from what is today Tunisia, showing the mythic triumphant return from India of the Greek god of wine and male fertility, Dionysus (dubbed by some modern scholars as a life-death-rebirth deity), the god carries a tapering coniferous tree. Medieval legends, nevertheless, tended to concentrate more on the miraculous "flowering" of trees at Christmas time. A branch of flowering Glastonbury thorn is still sent annually for the Queen's Christmas table in the United Kingdom.

“Patron trees (for example, the Irminsul, Thor's Oak and the figurative Yggdrasil) held special significance for the ancient Germanic tribes, appearing throughout historic accounts as sacred symbols and objects. Among early Germanic tribes the Yule tradition was celebrated by sacrificing male animals and slaves by suspending them on the branches of trees. According to Adam of Bremen, in Scandinavia the pagan kings sacrificed nine males of each species at the sacred groves every ninth year. According to one legend, Saint Boniface attempted to introduce the idea of trinity to the pagan tribes using the cone-shaped evergreen trees because of their triangular appearance.”

This is by no means conclusive, though:

”The modern custom, however, although likely related, cannot be proven to be directly descended from pagan tradition. It can be traced to 16th century Germany; Ingeborg Weber-Keller (Marburg professor of European ethnology) identified as the earliest reference a Bremen guild chronicle of 1570 which reports how a small fir was decorated with apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers, and erected in the guild-house, for the benefit of the guild members' children, who collected the dainties on Christmas day.”

And of course, the obligatory anti-scriptural basis for the tradition:

“For the customs of the people [are] vain: for [one] cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers that it moves not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.”

To be fair, though:

”In other English translations of the Bible the verses more explicitly refer to the practice of making idols to be worshipped:

“For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with a hammer and nails so it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good. (emphasis added)

“A full study of the passage shows that the people would cut down a tree and work it with a chisel to engrave an image in it. They would also carry it from place to place as an object to be feared and worshipped. The only consistencies with Christmas tree customs seem to be that both are made of wood and both are decorated.”

I’m relatively sure that it is a YACC (Yet Another Co-opted Custom, in case you Unix geeks get all lathered up, hehehehe).

Nutshelling it: the tradition in the USA dates back to 1837. It’s a minor affectation, hardly worth the lather some folks get worked up over.

Here is my re-working of Oh, Tannenbaum, submitted for your approval:

“Oh Yggdrasil, oh Yggdrasil,

Odin was crucified upon thee

Oh Yggdrasil, oh Yggdrasil,

Thy roots pierce the worlds three

The nornir keep thee green

The four stags feed upon thee

Oh Yggdrasil, oh Yggdrasil,

It really sucks to be thee.”

In the meantime, have a wicked Winterval on me.

Figuratively speaking, of course.