Why the Fir is Used for Christmas Trees.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 18004, 26 April 1930, Page 16 (Supplement)

Why the Fir is Used for Christmas Trees.

A NGAR, a French bishop of the ninth century was famed for his labours in introducing Christianity amongst the Vikings of the North. There is a legend that when these hardy sons of the sea hacl accepted the Christ proclaimed to them by the adventurous preacher the Lord sent three messengers—Faith, Hope, and Love—to help light the first Christmas tree. These sought a tree that should be high as hope, wide as love, and that bore the sign of the Gross on every bough; and the balsam fipn was chosen as the best meeting the requirements.

A great fir tree was set up in each household at Christmastide. At its base were placed representations of Adam and Eve: In the branches coiled the Serpent, and on the top-most bough gleamed a candle, symbolising that light of the World through whom alone was victory over the Serpent possible. Later in history the tree was more profusely decorated with guady knick-knacks, all of which were at first symbolical.

Origin of the Christmas-Tree.

There are many legends of the origin of the Christmas-tree. One myth speaks of a “ service tree ’’ sprung from the blood-drenched soil where two lovers had been killed by violence in their innocence. At certain nights in the Christmas season mysterious lights were seen flaming in its branches that no wind could extinguish. Another bestows the honours upon Martin Luther. One Christmas Eve, travelling alone over the snow-covered country, the sky, with its thousands of glittering stars, made such a deep impression upon the reformer that after arriving at home he tried to explain it to his wife and children. Suddenly an idea suggested itself to him. He went into the garden, cut off a little fir tree, dragged it into the nursery, put

some candles on its branches, and lighted them.

A Legend of Santa Claus.

Santa Claus is a corruption of St Nicholas, a Bishop of Myra, in Lycia, who flourished in the fourth, century, and died on December 6, 343 A.D. He was widely famed for his piety and charity. His first appearance at Christmas is said to have been made in Asia Minor at the house of a nobleman of Patra, who had come upon evil days, and, having no money, was debating sending his three daughters to beg along the highway that they might get food for themselves and for him.

Nicholas started out one night with a purse of gold in his hand, and, coming privily to the' knight’s house, he looked through the window. There sat the knight, weeping bitterly at the side of his daughters’ beds; and they were asleep, all unconscious of their miserable fate. Nicholas dropped his purse in through the window. Again he came another night (hearing that the knight had dowried Iris eldest child), and put in a second purse. And he did it a third time; but this time the father was on the look out .for his benefactor, and called upon him to stop and receive his great thanks. The Mistletoe Bough. The story or the death of Balder the Norse-good of Light and Beauty by a sprig of mistletoe is too familiar to need repetition. It is perhaps not so well known that according to another legend, the mistletoe was originally a forest tree, and as such, provided the wood from which the Cross of Calvary was made, and that its existence to-day as a parasite was inflicted on it for its part in the Crucifixion. The Druids regarded it as a celestial plant, particularly if found on an oak-tree (their sacred tree), and special rites were performed when it

was ready to be -cut. Dressed in white robes, one of their number would climb the tree, and cut the branches of mistletoe with a golden sickle. It was caught below on a white cloth and two white bulls were sacrificed to it.

The Story of Glnevra.

Intimately.associated with mistletoe is the charming but sad story of the wedding day of Ginevra, the beautiful daughter of the gallant Lord Lovel, made familiar to us through that wellknown ballad, ‘ The Mistletoe Bough.” The guests were assembled, the bride was joyous, radiant, even mischievous. She would hide herself, .pretend she did not want nor mean to. be kissed under the great mistletoe bough that hung in her father’s ancestral halls. So she ran away from ( the merry throng, and, spying a great oak chest that nobody ever used, slipped into it, and shut the lid. Alas I it fastened with a spring that opened only from the outside. In vain she shrieked, in vain battered her little heels against those heavy planks. When at length, many years after, they did open the oak chest, all that remained of her was a skeleton.

The Christmas Rose.

Few of our winter blossoms are lovelier than the Christmas Rose (Helleborous niger) or “ Black Hellebore,” with its great glossy deep green leayes and large snowy flowers, which are occasionally tinged with pink or green. It is a hardy plant, and will bear severe cold, but it likes a shady situation, and bates to be disturbed. Like most plants that flower in inclement weather, the Christmas rose was formery credited with a miraculous origin, and there are several legends which refer to this. The Alsatian peasants say that on the night when Christ was born this spotless, thornless rose blossomed amid the snow, while German legends tell bow, year

by year, it blooms where the ChristChild’s feet have trod, as He goes through the wintry world on Christmas Eve, bearing gifts for the children 1