Probably the saddest part about Christmas in the Philippines is that, despite being a HUMONGOUS deal, real/organic trees are exceedingly rare. I don't think I've ever even personally seen one. I've always found the whole "getting a tree" thing in cartoons and sitcoms funny, because tradition here is just taking the plastic tree out of its box.
It's somewhat similar here, just get it at home Depot or a Christmas tree lot. When we were younger there was a spot and I'ma sure there are probably a few left, where you could go cut it down yourself
It is the same where my husband comes from Where I live ppl have tree farms and we go every year and cut a tree fresh from the farm. When I was a child my dad would take us into the woods to choose a wild tree. There is something very special about a live tree. And the children adore going out to select a tree from the farm. Its like a little forest full of nearly perfect trees
My german mother insisted to get a real christmas tree while we were living in Rome, and hoped to nurtured it through the hot and dry roman sommer. She never managed...
I used to work at a Pennsylvania Dutch history museum. They had the first use of Christmas trees in the new world. The trees were hung upside down from the rafters. Cookies were hung on the trees to keep them away from mice. I think this is an old German tradition that had nothing to do with religion, people and animals were stuck indoors together because of weather, trees smell good and smell flows downward.
My family has always dressed the Yule tree with fruit, nuts, cookies, and lard balls encrusted with seeds. Candles are lit on Solstice night on the branches. The tree is taken outside the next day, and left for the birds and animals to eat from. My Grandmother said that was why the Victorian ornaments were made in the shapes of fruit. Thanks for your hard work and finding great images. You have a new subscriber, and I wish you a Good Yule.🖤🇨🇦
What a beautiful tradition. I wonder if it had to do with fruit on "paradise trees" that were popular in Germany in medieval times? Or more likely lots of cultural input from many places to make the current tradition.
@@m_d1905 I think it was a kind of sympathetic magic…showing the other trees what is wanted of them at the darkest point of the year, and luring the Sun back. It also is a sacrifice of food at the leanest time of the year.🖤🇨🇦
In the alpine reagion in central Europe, e.g. in Styria (part of Austria) it was also quite common in rural peasant homes to hang the christmastree over the table of the main room, or hang it the corner corner of a room which was decorated with a crucifix and other devotional objects. Sometimes these trees would hang upside down, sometimes they would hang right side up. This was probably done because of praticality reasons, to save space in small rooms where people needed the space to also live an work in it. But they still didn't want to go without the holy tree. Some tradional restaurants in this region still decorate their dining room with a hanging chrismastree give it more an older drational flair. And even the citiy center of Graz (the captial of Styria) is decorated at Christmas time with up side down hanging trees, to celebrate this lokal tradition. I think this tradition of small hanging trees in small rural homes could be the missing link between general decoration of homes with green and evergreen branches and fully established chrismas trees like we know them today. I would suggest that Europen people decorated their homes for thousends of years with greenery at this holy time of the year. In Germany this tradion survived the Christianisation. And whoever could eford it would use a hole tree instead of single branches, and other might go a middle way and gang small trees in there homes, and more rich people (like order of the knights mentioned in this video) would have a hall, big enough to put a full big tree in it.
I was raised in a Lutheran family in the USA with German heritage that Martin Luther first introduced it to his family. Nice to learn about other origin stories.
Hello Kevin. I just discovered your channel - watching your documentary on Hermes. I'll have to watch it again. There is so much to understand about Greek mythology.
The hungarians call Christmas "Karácsony". This comes from very old times, long before Christ. At the shortest/darkest day, the hungarians took out falcons and flew them up to the sky to bring down light to Earth. This type of falcons called "kerecsen" in hungarian language. These falcons was taken out on a special multi-branched tree. That's why it is called Karácsony and this is where the Christmass Tree "Karácsony fa" came from in Hungary. Later on the tree was decorated by germans really.
It makes sense, because I'm many languages name for Christmas has nothing to do with Christ. For example late Slavic and Hungarian, Bulgarian or Romanian word for holidays in that time is Kračun or some derivation of that word. (Karácsony, Craciun...) It was holiday of the shortest day and longest night. It was holiday when people celebrated new year - new beginning of the cycle. From that point days are becoming longer. The sun is shining more and shortly nature will wake up. There was also tradition of decorating outside trees with bands and ribbons.
I think a common thing when pagans debunk the idea of Christmas traditions being pagan is that they consider paganism to only be the ancient form in which it existed. I am and fully understand Indo-European paganism, its hierarchy, its lines, but one thing ignored by many so-called pagans is the literal foundation of the Indo-European worldview which is animism. Animism survived, we can see blatant examples of it as far as into the 19th and early 20th centuries. I have a collection of examples of obvious animistic practices in Scotland as far as the 1930s for example. Bringing trees into your home may not have been a practice of ancient Germanic pagans, but it also wasn't a Christian practice. There is nothing at all Christian about bringing a tree into your house for winter to decorate with sweets and ornaments, other than the fact it is done at/for Christmas. This applies to many Christmas traditions which just blatantly are neither Christian nor completely modern inventions, they evidently descend from animistic traditions that formed sometimes after the official conversion dates. Santa Claus may not be descended from Odin, I agree. British Father Christmas also doesn't descend from Odin, he is however a blatantly more animistic ideal of a Christmas figure. One who brings a jolly heart to the feasts of Christmas, one who IS Christmas, an almost Christmas deity. I think as Indo-European and folkist pagans we would really benefit a lot by being more open to animism and recognising that not every tradition has to go back to the years before 1066 to be valid. All traditions had an origin, and I think it would do us the world of good to adopt these more recent animistic practices of our ancestors whilst giving them new life by forming new myths that tie them into our respective cosmologies and worlds.
The following is my reply to a CZcams video titled "The Truth About Christmas - The Start of the Tribulation." The video was posted on CZcams on Sunday December 11, 2022. Here's my reply: The Canaanites were celebrating the winter solstice ritual in honor of Baal 5000 years ago. In each household they had a tree (phallus symbol), a wreath (vagina symbol), and they exchanged gifts. Many centuries later the ancient Romans were celebrating the ritual in honor of Saturn and doing it the same way (tree, wreaths, gifts). Their name for the ritual was 'Saturnalia.' In around 300 A.D. the Catholic Church priestclass renamed the ritual 'Christmas.' They did it as an evangelistic ploy to attract people away from Saturn worship. The majority of the Roman people were Saturn worshipers. The temple of Saturn was the biggest building in ancient Rome. The temple priests were very wealthy and the Catholic priestclass wanted to get in on the cash cow. The spirit behind Christmas is Saturn (Old Testament Baal). The Apostle John called him 'The Spirit of Antichrist" (counterfeit Christ who seeks to mimic the Holy Spirit). He is the principality of idolatry, plus he is the spirit of top-down-control (seeks to manifest through men-at-the-top, e.g. leaders of nations, governments, religions, corporations, military, academia, medicine, media, finance, etc.). The ancient Babylonians and Assyrians called him Bel. The ancient Greeks called him Cronos. The ancient Hindus called him Indra. Same spirit going by different names in different cultures and in different time periods. It was very important to him to implement the winter solstice ritual as he understood that when a person celebrates (honors) the ritual it gives him automatic rights of access to their human spirit (conscience, intuition, and the ability to commune with the Holy Spirit) and to have ongoing influence on their spiritual life (the kingdom of darkness is all about control). Jesus was born on September 11, 3 B.C. by the Julian Calendar. Bethlehem is 2500 ft. above sea level so that in December there would've been no grass for the sheep to eat (see Luke 2:8-20 in the King James Version). Jesus had nothing to do with Christmas (never did and never will). You can verify this information online, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to find information that goes against the system narrative (propaganda/brainwash).
THIS!!!! And after I continued to feel convicted when I celebrated, Father had me look into it. 😮 Yikes! The idolatry is something else. He asked us not to learn the ways of the nations and worship Him in those ways. He also asked us not to cut a tree down, stand it up in our homes then decorate it in silver and gold. Boy, if that ain't a christmas tree then idk what is. Just because people took pagan rituals and threw a Jesus sticker on it, doesn't make it a Christian thing to do. My home has been celebrating His set apart Holy feasts for a few years now and it's been a beautiful journey with Him. ❤
While it’s possible that the Christmas tree has a very ancient pagan origin, I think you overlook the theory of it coming from medieval Christian mystery plays, one of the most popular around Christmas showing the story of Adam and Eve. There are old depictions of a tree bearing both red apples (for the fruit of knowledge of good and evil) and communion wafer (for the fruit of life). Also note that in Germany, sweet unconsacrated wafers (otherwise similar to communion wafers) are a traditional treat for children. So in my opinion it’s a very likely origin for the actual Christmas tree. Of course it only became so popular because people and especially Germans have an ancient pagan reverence for trees, but as you say there is absolutely no trace or mention of the Christmas tree itself in Ancient times.
For pagan celebrations, sure. But for the Christian holiday, it comes from the Paradise plays to commemorate the feast day of Adam and Eve in the Middle Ages on Dec 24th. The red balls represent the fruit and the popularity to bring them into homes came from German Catholics. It later spread around the world.
If the tradition potentially came from Egypt, there could be correlations with the pagan middle eastern tradition of hanging prayers and wishes on sacred “good luck” trees. There are mentions in Hadith of Muhammad ﷺ forbidding his followers from tying symbolic decorations on a tree for superstitious reasons
There I was, happened to be watching the clock teach the 18:33. On the dot, upload notification. Nice one! Always interested in your efforts. I have also had a cold. Just getting better, sláinte.
Thank you for the video. I learned more than I knew about historical and cultural traditions of the origin of the Christmas tree. I agree the practice has more ancient origins that were combined and adapted to the holiday as the celebration changed over the centuries. Enjoy the holidays to you and yours. Look forward to your next posting.
I also find it interesting that the Bible identifies the Christmas tree as a heathen tradition that should be avoided: Jeremiah 10:1-5 10 Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: 2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3 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. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
its an ancient turkic tradition,protoislamic,shamanistic beliefs,wishes were made and pieces of cloth were bound on trees,still praticed in parts of tibet,nepal,mongolia as well,i think...
There's a verse in the Bible that refers to the Xmas tree it's in Jeremiah and its linked to the birth of tammuz which is Dec 25th. Tammuz Nimrod Ishtar. This man made tradition has been around since around 2500 bc at least
when my grandmother was young, in the 1920s on the Bayou, she told me that they had stockings on the windowsill and the best gift she got was an apple.
This is very well made, so informative. I am sure I'll enjoy many more of your videos. Just an fyi: some of the pictures you used for the blackhead dress-ups were actually the three wise men, who travelled to Jesus' place of birth, the blackfaced one usually is Caspar.
Thank You So Much. We must dispel folk legends and myths, both Christian and "Pagan", of the origin of the Christmas Tree, especially if they are not supported by archaeological or historical records. When tracing the origins of folk traditions and pagan practices, what matters is what we can prove, not what is popular belief.
I want to bring to your attention that it was a Scandinavian and German costume , land before the time you mention, to set fire on whole pine forest on the end of the old year to call back the sun! Maybe this is relict of this custom; pine tree’s, fire
Luther invented the Christmas tree. He saw an optical illusion caused by stars and was inspired to try to decorate a tree with lights. Until relatively recently, only Protestants in Germany had Christmas trees, Catholics had Nativity sets. Queen Victoria brought Christmas trees to the UK (her family was German), then later they came to the US. But at one time, English and Americans didn't have them.
How nice and joyful... Alas, the custom of the x-mas tree has amore simple and common explanation. In the old days un the north, before christianity, houses didn't have stone floor the floor in the houses was bare earth. In mid winter-fest people used to clean the house and on the floor the spread brunches of Pine it was clean and had a good smell, the top of the tree they cut and placed in the middle of the only Main Room and danced around it. When Christianity arrived in the North, it simply adopted this custom...!!!
Love the serious research put into this video. Only issue I have is the slightly biased connotation that the evergreen Christmas tree is associated with some sort of oppressive spread of Christianity. Otherwise, I enjoyed the piece very much.
I think the tree is Iggrasil the world tree, some translate Iggrasil as needle ash,, symbol of everlasting life. Probably a Yew tree, still found in many church yards in England. Most of the days of the week are named after Norse deities showing great Norse influence. Mistletoe is probably Druidical, and of course, the Holly king, king of winter. Like churches built on pagan places, these things have been appropriated
“Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 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 move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not.” (Jeremiah 10:2-5) The Christmas tree is at least 600 bc since that is when the book of jerimiah was written. And it's very much part of heathen worship as noted. 😉 I have seen where people argue this verse is pagans using trees to create idols of their gods. But its painfully obvious that a Christmas tree has been described
Second video of yours i watched. I subed after the first. Love your work in those two, going ahead for the rest. Thanks for your work and hello from switzerland
There is mention of bringing trees home for decoration and how that's vanity in the Bible. We don't know how old the tradition is. It could be very old. It may have evolved in what we have now but probably dates if not thousands of years at least few hundreds of years.
The verses you mentioned predates Christianity by many hundreds of years. It's specific to making idols of wood/trees and adorning them with gold and silver. Not specific to a Christmas tree.
@m_d1905 And I have a tree with silver and gold balls right now. To be honest I just use Christmas as an excuse to decorate my trees 🤫 From the view of the writers it may look like some pagan practice but who knows. People probably just like decoration. Is Barbie doll an idol? Someone today may write "people worship Barbie. They talk to it as if it's real person. They dress it and admire it's beauty." 🤣🤣🤣 Thousand years from now all people are going to know is what's written. People worshiped Barbie dolls. 🤣🤣🤣
The Christmas tree is a representation of the first sun (Saturn) and its plasma connection to earth (Cardona, Talbott and Cochrane). The image at the beginning of the video with the star on top of the triangular lights are directly related to that astronomical event. Also, the pine cone has significance that is unknown to us. Pine cones are important symbols in a variety of mythical traditions.
I have heard and read that many of the traditions around Christmas involve the amanita muscaria mushroom which is sacred in many cultures and grows underneath evergreen trees, like brightly colored presents under the tree. The mushrooms are bright red and white, like Santa's clothes, and apparently reindeer love to eat them. The mushrooms are also psychedelic, which may have led to the idea of flying reindeer. After harvesting, the amanita muscaria ("fly agaric") are hung inside by the fire to dry, "hung by the chimney with care." Thanks for your content, always very enjoyable. Peace 🙏.
Actually, druids are only associated with the Celts. It is not known whether the pagan priests of the Germanic people even had a specific designation. Otherwise a very informative and interesting video indeed.
The video claims they have not found any sources for the source of the tree. The historian behind this video should check out a book called The Golden Bough. The Golden Bough is a true academic look at the customs and traditions surrounding the winter solstice festivals. It has and cites works from antiquities. Knowing that many true scholars have looked into this topic, I question the academic credentials of the video maker.
Well also a lot of people don't know that the Baltics was made up of Germanic tribes that migrated to that region. So it's kind of strange or funny that the Teutonic order made up by German Knights was fighting kind of their own people in a way.
@@totallydead5908 I know that's what I said the Germanic tribes migrated to the Baltics. Also to Scandinavia that's how Vikings came to be & same how they traveled to Britain & became Anglo-Saxons
@@totallydead5908 I know and I completely agree with you but they all came from and migrated from Germanic tribes that's all I'm saying. It's very nice to have people with some form of intelligence thank you for the conversation. I celebrate Geimhreadh but I hope you and your family have a good holiday 🥃 Sláinte
Here is a much earlier account of the worshiping of a tree....." Jer 10:2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. Jer 10:3 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. Jer 10:4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. Jer 10:5 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. Jer 10:6 Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. Jer 10:7 Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee. Jer 10:8 But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities." Shalom.
_“Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 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 move 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”_ (Jeremiah 10:2-5).
@Neutraliser Janine Here's the Conundrum or Crux of the problem: A) The Very First Commandment says: "Thou shalt have No other God's before me" Yet, Thousands of years afterwards, here comes " Jesus " on the scene. And somehow, through twisted logic " One becomes Three" B) " God is the same now and evermore" Yet, somehow, again, through twisted logic there is a New " Dispansation" Era, and thus, the " New" Testament . C) The Roman Catholic Church ( who was largely responsible for spreading Christianity originally) Did the Most Horrific things to Force people to believe in this " New Religion " ( the Crusades, the inquisition etc.) As you know, Judaism already existed. Now, When you get done making excuses for the above you can move beyond All Worldly " Organized Religions" and into the Kingdom of God, which is within.
Could they have started as a mere practical idea? I mean, it's very counter intuitive and futile to keep a tree indoors, unless you have a good reason to do sp. Cutting a resinous tree to keep at your house over the winter, where it will have a chance to beging to dry and provide you with emergency fuel should the cold last longer than expected, seems like a good idea. I mean, going for pine and fir as choice fuel when you run out of dry firewood seems a no-brainer, so the next logical step is to keep those trees and pinecones close instead of having to go out in the snow to find them. Which is consistent with other traditions of magical figures gifting charcoal and coal to households during that time of the year. I'd like to imagine people were likely to adorn them as a way of making offerings and mark the passage of time, probably burning them at the beginning of spring to celebrate the end of the cold season, or turning them into maypoles. And then, as humans are prone to do, they likely started to put candles and lights on them at the beginning of the season as to ward off the winter cold.
You are missing a piece of the history. Research the Feast of Adam and Eve and Paradise Tree in German Mystery/Morality Plays dating back possibly as far as the 12th Century.
That's interesting. I have a grandson named Thor. Thank you for sharing and Merry Christmas. 🎄🎄🎄 I still teach my children and grandchildren the real meaning of Christmas. We're celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. I'm gonna share your video.👍😊
More like Catholicism. The puritans were so annoyed with Catholicism and Catholic traditions that they banned every pagan symbol from the supposedly “Christian” church
@@tiredoftheworld4834 The puritans were a miserable lot, who held themselves above others as "chosen" no different than any other cult that sprung from the root of a religion that worshipped a patriarchal war god (Yahweh). As they themselves were mercilessly persecuted by the church of England, so did they enforce their cruel injustice on others in the new world.
Would be wonderful if the actual geographic location of the House of the Black Heads was mentioned in the this video... tiny neighbor country south from Estonia...
The earliest mention of decorating trees is the Bible, Jeremiah Verses 3 and 4. 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 gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not totter. And it is pagans that do this.
Christmas Tree was invented to destroy thors ritual oak tree by St. BONIFACE. the Christmas Tree represents Jesus as the Tree of the Life. The ornaments represent the fruits of the tree of life.
Jeremiah 10:2-4. Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 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 move not.
Both Christians and non christians would do well to note that the christmas tree is not christian. Jeremiah, quoted above, was writing in about 630BC proving that this custom goes back way beyond christianity and, as the video says, is pagan. Christians are deceived but there is no need for the rest of you to be.
@@alanvanbelt6840 Thanks for your reply. I believe , no matter what one’s personal beliefs, we should be able to enjoy, learn about, and respect other people’s culture. I enjoyed learning about the origins of the Christmas tree. I was not offended by the video.
@@beverlybelcher3423 Neither am I offended by the video. Interesting and well put together, I enjoyed it too. Totally agree, freedom of choice, freedom of voice.
@@alanvanbelt6840 I am not a Christian if you are wondering. I still enjoyed learning about the origins of the Christmas tree. Great informative video.
Hi, just wondering, but, didn't you used to have an entire playlist for Celtic Mythology? Maybe I'm misremembering but if I'm not it seems to have disappeared.
How would you contest the charges that the Christmas tree has Lutheran origins, or origins from the so-called "Paradise Trees" that were set up for plays on December 24, to commemorate the story of Adam & Eve, and were decorated with apples to that end? Great video!
Martin Luther addressed the issue of the decorated tree, as many called it a pagan symbol, therefore the tradition of what we now call a Christmas tree, was commonly practiced. PS: It could very well be the case however, that the reason we still have a Christmas tree, is because of his acceptance of it, and why it was heavily promoted by Germanic peoples.
Response to 1:45 : But “let your works shine,” saith He; but now all our shops and gates shine! You will now-a-days find more doors of heathens without lamps and **laurel-wreaths** than of Christians. What does the case seem to be with regard to that species (of ceremony) also? If it is an idol’s honor, without doubt an idol’s honor is idolatry. If it is for a man’s sake, let us again consider that all idolatry is for man’s sake; let us again consider that all idolatry is a worship done to men… “Then,” do you say, “the lamps before my doors, and the **laurels on my posts** are an honor to God?” They are there of course, not because they are an honor to God, but to him who is honored in God’s stead by ceremonial observances of that kind, so far as is manifest, saving the religious performance, which is in secret appertaining to demons. Tertullian, On Idolatry, Ch. XV, c. 190 AD “Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return… So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense,” says Yahweh… Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God, And have scattered your charms to alien deities under every green tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,’ says Yahweh. Jeremiah 3:6-13 (Why "every" green tree? Seems unnecessarily exaggerative. Could this actually mean "evergreen?") Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says Yahweh: “Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, For the Gentiles are dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples are futile; For one **cuts a tree from the forest** , The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They **decorate it with silver and gold** ; They **fasten it with nails and hammers** **So that it will not topple.** They are upright, like a palm tree, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, For they cannot do evil, Nor can they do any good.” …But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish; A wooden idol is a worthless doctrine. Silver is beaten into plates; It is brought from Tarshish, And gold from Uphaz, The work of the craftsman And of the hands of the metalsmith; Blue and purple are their clothing; They are all the work of skillful men.
…Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge; Every metalsmith is put to shame by an image; For his molded image is falsehood, And there is no breath in them. They are futile, a work of errors; In the time of their punishment they shall perish. The Portion of Jacob is not like them, For He is the Maker of all things, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; Yahweh of hosts is His name. Jeremiah 10:1-16 c. 700 BC (It is argued this might be in reference to actually shaping the tree into the shape of a man-god, but the description does at first strike one with a more modern interpretation raising the question, "What is an idol?" Or further, what is an idola-tree?) Also, I will cite in a comment below Tertullian's chide to Christians for adopting the pagan Grecco-Roman holidays. The Puritans rejected Christmas and so did the famous 19th century preacher, Charles Spurgeon, on account that all evidence points to Germanic, Roman and Canaanite pagan traditions syncretized into the church in order to Christianize pagan holidays. Pope Gregory I even wrote a bishop telling him to let pagans make sacrifices outside a cathedral. Christ never called Christians to dominionism. He calls us to be separate from this world as strangers and pilgrims, citizens of the New Heaven and New Earth to come.
CHAP. XII.-FURTHER ANSWERS TO THE PLEA, HOW AM I TO LIVE? If you wish to be the Lord’s disciple, it is necessary you “take your cross, and follow the Lord:” your cross; that is, your own straits and tortures, or your body only, which is after the manner of a cross. Parents, wives, children, will have to be left behind, for God’s sake. Do you hesitate about arts, and trades, and about professions likewise, for the sake of children and parents? Even there was it demonstrated to us, that both “dear pledges,” and handicrafts, and trades, are to be quite left behind for the Lord’s sake; while James and John, called by the Lord, do leave quite behind both father and ship; while Matthew is roused up from the toll-booth; while even burying a father was too tardy a business for faith. None of them whom the Lord chose to Him said, “I have no means to live.” Faith fears not famine. It knows, likewise, that hunger is no less to be contemned by it for God’s sake, than every kind of death. It has learnt not to respect life; how much more food? [You ask] “How many have fulfilled these conditions?” But what with men is difficult, with God is easy. Let us, however, comfort ourselves about the gentleness and clemency of God in such wise, as not to indulge our “necessities” up to the point of affinities with idolatry, but to avoid even from afar every breath of it, as of a pestilence. [And this] not merely in the cases forementioned, but in the **universal series of human superstition** ; whether appropriated to its gods, or to the defunct, or to kings, as pertaining to the selfsame unclean spirits, sometimes through sacrifices and priesthoods, sometimes through **spectacles** and the like, sometimes through **holy-days** . CHAP. XIII.-OF THE OBSERVANCE OF DAYS CONNECTED WITH IDOLATRY In this place must be handled the subject of **holidays and other extraordinary solemnities** , which we accord sometimes to our wantonness, sometimes to our timidity, in opposition to the common faith and Discipline. The first point, indeed, on which I shall join issue is this: whether a servant of God ought to share with the very nations themselves in matters of his kind, either in dress, or in food, or in any other kind of their gladness. “To rejoice with the rejoicing, and grieve with the grieving,” is said about brethren by the apostle when exhorting to unanimity. But, for these purposes, “There is nought of communion between light and darkness,” between life and death or else we rescind what is written, “The world shall rejoice, but ye shall grieve. If we rejoice with the world, there is reason to fear that with the world we shall grieve too. But when the world rejoices, let us grieve; and when the world afterward grieves, we shall rejoice.” If you are not unknown to be a Christian, you are tempted, and you act as if you were not a Christian against your neighbour’s conscience; if, however, you shall be disguised withal, you are the slave of the temptation. At all events, whether in the latter or the former way, you are guilty of being “ashamed of God.” But “whosoever shall be ashamed of Me in the presence of men, of him will I too be ashamed,” says He, “in the presence of my Father who is in the heavens.” CHAP. XIV.-OF BLASPHEMY. ONE OF ST. PAUL’S SAVINGS But, however, the majority (of Christians) have by this time induced the belief in their mind that it is pardonable if at any time they do what the heathen do, for fear “the Name be blasphemed.” Now the blasphemy which must quite be shunned by us in every way is, I take it, this: If any of us lead a heathen into blasphemy with good cause, either by fraud, or by injury, or by contumely, or any other matter of worthy complaint, in which “the Name” is deservedly impugned, so that the Lord, too, be deservedly angry. Else, if of all blasphemy it has been said, “By your means My Name is blasphemed,” we all perish at once; since the whole circus, with no desert of ours, assails “the Name” with wicked suffrages. Let us cease (to be Christians) and it will not be blasphemed! On the contrary, while we are, let it be blasphemed: in the observance, not the overstepping, of discipline; while we are being approved, not while we are being reprobated. Oh blasphemy, bordering on martyrdom, which now attests me to be a Christian, while for that very account it detests me! The cursing of well-maintained Discipline is a blessing of the Name. “If,” says he, “I wished to please men, I should not be Christ’s servant.” But the same apostle elsewhere bids us take care to please all: “As I,” he says, “please all by all means.” No doubt he used to please them by celebrating the **Saturnalia and New-year’s day!** [Was it so] or was it by moderation and patience? by gravity, by kindness, by integrity? In like manner, when he is saying, “I have become all things to all, that I may gain all,” does he mean “to idolaters an idolater?” “to heathens a heathen?” “to the worldly worldly?” But albeit he does not prohibit us from having our conversation with idolaters and adulterers, and the other criminals, saying, “Otherwise ye would go out from the world,” of course he does not so slacken those reins of conversation that, since it is necessary for us both to live and to mingle with sinners, we may be able to sin with them too. Where there is the intercourse of life, which the apostle concedes, there is sinning, which no one permits. To live with heathens is lawful, to die with them is not. Let us live with all; let us be glad with them, out of community of nature, **not of superstition** . We are peers in soul, not in discipline; fellow-possessors of the world, not of error. But if we have no right of communion in matters of this kind with strangers, how far more wicked to celebrate them among brethren! Who can maintain or defend this? The Holy Spirit upbraids the Jews with their holy-days. “Your Sabbaths, and new moons, and ceremonies,” says He, “My soul hateth.” By us, to whom Sabbaths are strange, and the new moons and festivals formerly beloved by God, **the Saturnalia and New-year’s and Midwinter’s festivals** [Note the word for “Midwinter’s festivals” is Brumae in the Latin] **and Matronalia are frequented** - presents come and go-New-year’s gifts-games join their noise-banquets join their din! Oh better fidelity of the nations to their own sect, which claims no solemnity of the Christians for itself! Not the Lord’s day, not Pentecost, even it they had known them, would they have shared with us; for they would fear lest they should seem to be Christians. We are not apprehensive lest we seem to be heathens! If any indulgence is to be granted to the flesh, you have it. I will not say your own days, but more too; for to the heathens each festive day occurs but once annually: you have a festive day every eighth day. Call out the individual solemnities of the nations, and set them out into a row, they will not be able to make up a Pentecost. Tertullian. On Idolatry, Chapter XIV, c. 190 AD
What is your thoughts on the notion that Marin Luther introduced the Christmas tree. I cannot find any legitimate documentation of this and after your mention of St Boniiface. Do you or anybody have any sources to verify the Martin Luther rumour of this? Thank you.(Martin Luther the reformer)
Nobody should have any SYMBOL of idolatry in their house on any day of the year including the occult high day aka Xmas during the Winter Solstice. Sadly, people unwittingly imitate heathen tree worship which is condemned by God. Fixing the tree in place then adding silver & gold then bowing down to it as you put gifts under the tree and then telling others to bow down to the tree as they collect gifts. The similarities are striking to say the least, yet people continue to ignore the Bible which tells us to ABSTAIN FROM ALL APPEARANCE OF EVIL - any SYMBOL of idolatry no matter what it is must not be in your house on any day of the year. 🚫🌲🚫
Probably the saddest part about Christmas in the Philippines is that, despite being a HUMONGOUS deal, real/organic trees are exceedingly rare. I don't think I've ever even personally seen one. I've always found the whole "getting a tree" thing in cartoons and sitcoms funny, because tradition here is just taking the plastic tree out of its box.
It's somewhat similar here, just get it at home Depot or a Christmas tree lot. When we were younger there was a spot and I'ma sure there are probably a few left, where you could go cut it down yourself
Same in Australia
It is the same where my husband comes from
Where I live ppl have tree farms and we go every year and cut a tree fresh from the farm. When I was a child my dad would take us into the woods to choose a wild tree.
There is something very special about a live tree. And the children adore going out to select a tree from the farm. Its like a little forest full of nearly perfect trees
@@LE64SAM-IAM that Doug fir smell
My german mother insisted to get a real christmas tree while we were living in Rome, and hoped to nurtured it through the hot and dry roman sommer. She never managed...
I used to work at a Pennsylvania Dutch history museum. They had the first use of Christmas trees in the new world. The trees were hung upside down from the rafters. Cookies were hung on the trees to keep them away from mice. I think this is an old German tradition that had nothing to do with religion, people and animals were stuck indoors together because of weather, trees smell good and smell flows downward.
My family has always dressed the Yule tree with fruit, nuts, cookies, and lard balls encrusted with seeds. Candles are lit on Solstice night on the branches. The tree is taken outside the next day, and left for the birds and animals to eat from.
My Grandmother said that was why the Victorian ornaments were made in the shapes of fruit. Thanks for your hard work and finding great images. You have a new subscriber, and I wish you a Good Yule.🖤🇨🇦
Sounds wonderful.
I don't do this but I sure like the thought of it.
What a beautiful tradition. I wonder if it had to do with fruit on "paradise trees" that were popular in Germany in medieval times? Or more likely lots of cultural input from many places to make the current tradition.
@@m_d1905 I think it was a kind of sympathetic magic…showing the other trees what is wanted of them at the darkest point of the year, and luring the Sun back. It also is a sacrifice of food at the leanest time of the year.🖤🇨🇦
In the alpine reagion in central Europe, e.g. in Styria (part of Austria) it was also quite common in rural peasant homes to hang the christmastree over the table of the main room, or hang it the corner corner of a room which was decorated with a crucifix and other devotional objects. Sometimes these trees would hang upside down, sometimes they would hang right side up.
This was probably done because of praticality reasons, to save space in small rooms where people needed the space to also live an work in it. But they still didn't want to go without the holy tree.
Some tradional restaurants in this region still decorate their dining room with a hanging chrismastree give it more an older drational flair.
And even the citiy center of Graz (the captial of Styria) is decorated at Christmas time with up side down hanging trees, to celebrate this lokal tradition.
I think this tradition of small hanging trees in small rural homes could be the missing link between general decoration of homes with green and evergreen branches and fully established chrismas trees like we know them today. I would suggest that Europen people decorated their homes for thousends of years with greenery at this holy time of the year. In Germany this tradion survived the Christianisation. And whoever could eford it would use a hole tree instead of single branches, and other might go a middle way and gang small trees in there homes, and more rich people (like order of the knights mentioned in this video) would have a hall, big enough to put a full big tree in it.
Probably keeps it greener longer and more fresh since the water isn't being pulled out by gravity
@João Dani lol
Thank you for sharing this!Did you say they hung the crucifix upside down? Noo that can’t be correct?! Haha
THE REASON WHY THESE WERE HUNG OFF THE FLOOR AND UP HIGH WAS ALSO TO KEEP MICE FROM CRAWLING UP THEM AND EATING THE COOKIES OR CANDY HUNG ON THEM.
Serbians bring a small oak inside at Christmas. Small oaks still have their dead leaves held. It’s an interesting remaining tradition
I was raised in a Lutheran family in the USA with German heritage that Martin Luther first introduced it to his family. Nice to learn about other origin stories.
It not christian it e evil read the bible
@@tobiasgriffin Obviously your reading comprehension is off. Even the bible states the tradition is harmless, just not useful.
Hello Kevin. I just discovered your channel - watching your documentary on Hermes. I'll have to watch it again. There is so much to understand about Greek mythology.
The hungarians call Christmas "Karácsony". This comes from very old times, long before Christ. At the shortest/darkest day, the hungarians took out falcons and flew them up to the sky to bring down light to Earth. This type of falcons called "kerecsen" in hungarian language. These falcons was taken out on a special multi-branched tree. That's why it is called Karácsony and this is where the Christmass Tree "Karácsony fa" came from in Hungary. Later on the tree was decorated by germans really.
Christmas before Christ??? How does this even make sense ?
It makes sense, because I'm many languages name for Christmas has nothing to do with Christ. For example late Slavic and Hungarian, Bulgarian or Romanian word for holidays in that time is Kračun or some derivation of that word. (Karácsony, Craciun...) It was holiday of the shortest day and longest night. It was holiday when people celebrated new year - new beginning of the cycle. From that point days are becoming longer. The sun is shining more and shortly nature will wake up. There was also tradition of decorating outside trees with bands and ribbons.
I think a common thing when pagans debunk the idea of Christmas traditions being pagan is that they consider paganism to only be the ancient form in which it existed. I am and fully understand Indo-European paganism, its hierarchy, its lines, but one thing ignored by many so-called pagans is the literal foundation of the Indo-European worldview which is animism. Animism survived, we can see blatant examples of it as far as into the 19th and early 20th centuries. I have a collection of examples of obvious animistic practices in Scotland as far as the 1930s for example.
Bringing trees into your home may not have been a practice of ancient Germanic pagans, but it also wasn't a Christian practice. There is nothing at all Christian about bringing a tree into your house for winter to decorate with sweets and ornaments, other than the fact it is done at/for Christmas. This applies to many Christmas traditions which just blatantly are neither Christian nor completely modern inventions, they evidently descend from animistic traditions that formed sometimes after the official conversion dates.
Santa Claus may not be descended from Odin, I agree. British Father Christmas also doesn't descend from Odin, he is however a blatantly more animistic ideal of a Christmas figure. One who brings a jolly heart to the feasts of Christmas, one who IS Christmas, an almost Christmas deity.
I think as Indo-European and folkist pagans we would really benefit a lot by being more open to animism and recognising that not every tradition has to go back to the years before 1066 to be valid. All traditions had an origin, and I think it would do us the world of good to adopt these more recent animistic practices of our ancestors whilst giving them new life by forming new myths that tie them into our respective cosmologies and worlds.
'Obvious Scottish animist
pratices' - such as?
The following is my reply to a CZcams video titled "The Truth About Christmas - The Start of the Tribulation." The video was posted on CZcams on Sunday December 11, 2022. Here's my reply:
The Canaanites were celebrating the winter solstice ritual in honor of Baal 5000 years ago. In each household they had a tree (phallus symbol), a wreath (vagina symbol), and they exchanged gifts. Many centuries later the ancient Romans were celebrating the ritual in honor of Saturn and doing it the same way (tree, wreaths, gifts). Their name for the ritual was 'Saturnalia.' In around 300 A.D. the Catholic Church priestclass renamed the ritual 'Christmas.' They did it as an evangelistic ploy to attract people away from Saturn worship. The majority of the Roman people were Saturn worshipers. The temple of Saturn was the biggest building in ancient Rome. The temple priests were very wealthy and the Catholic priestclass wanted to get in on the cash cow.
The spirit behind Christmas is Saturn (Old Testament Baal). The Apostle John called him 'The Spirit of Antichrist" (counterfeit Christ who seeks to mimic the Holy Spirit). He is the principality of idolatry, plus he is the spirit of top-down-control (seeks to manifest through men-at-the-top, e.g. leaders of nations, governments, religions, corporations, military, academia, medicine, media, finance, etc.). The ancient Babylonians and Assyrians called him Bel. The ancient Greeks called him Cronos. The ancient Hindus called him Indra. Same spirit going by different names in different cultures and in different time periods.
It was very important to him to implement the winter solstice ritual as he understood that when a person celebrates (honors) the ritual it gives him automatic rights of access to their human spirit (conscience, intuition, and the ability to commune with the Holy Spirit) and to have ongoing influence on their spiritual life (the kingdom of darkness is all about control).
Jesus was born on September 11, 3 B.C. by the Julian Calendar. Bethlehem is 2500 ft. above sea level so that in December there would've been no grass for the sheep to eat (see Luke 2:8-20 in the King James Version). Jesus had nothing to do with Christmas (never did and never will). You can verify this information online, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to find information that goes against the system narrative (propaganda/brainwash).
THIS!!!! And after I continued to feel convicted when I celebrated, Father had me look into it. 😮 Yikes! The idolatry is something else. He asked us not to learn the ways of the nations and worship Him in those ways. He also asked us not to cut a tree down, stand it up in our homes then decorate it in silver and gold. Boy, if that ain't a christmas tree then idk what is. Just because people took pagan rituals and threw a Jesus sticker on it, doesn't make it a Christian thing to do. My home has been celebrating His set apart Holy feasts for a few years now and it's been a beautiful journey with Him. ❤
While it’s possible that the Christmas tree has a very ancient pagan origin, I think you overlook the theory of it coming from medieval Christian mystery plays, one of the most popular around Christmas showing the story of Adam and Eve. There are old depictions of a tree bearing both red apples (for the fruit of knowledge of good and evil) and communion wafer (for the fruit of life). Also note that in Germany, sweet unconsacrated wafers (otherwise similar to communion wafers) are a traditional treat for children. So in my opinion it’s a very likely origin for the actual Christmas tree. Of course it only became so popular because people and especially Germans have an ancient pagan reverence for trees, but as you say there is absolutely no trace or mention of the Christmas tree itself in Ancient times.
For pagan celebrations, sure. But for the Christian holiday, it comes from the Paradise plays to commemorate the feast day of Adam and Eve in the Middle Ages on Dec 24th. The red balls represent the fruit and the popularity to bring them into homes came from German Catholics. It later spread around the world.
My grandfather died on Christmas Eve and I sang o Christmas tree in German for him when I was a child just before he died.
If the tradition potentially came from Egypt, there could be correlations with the pagan middle eastern tradition of hanging prayers and wishes on sacred “good luck” trees. There are mentions in Hadith of Muhammad ﷺ forbidding his followers from tying symbolic decorations on a tree for superstitious reasons
There I was, happened to be watching the clock teach the 18:33.
On the dot, upload notification.
Nice one! Always interested in your efforts.
I have also had a cold. Just getting better, sláinte.
Thank you for the video. I learned more than I knew about historical and cultural traditions of the origin of the Christmas tree. I agree the practice has more ancient origins that were combined and adapted to the holiday as the celebration changed over the centuries. Enjoy the holidays to you and yours. Look forward to your next posting.
💚🏜 love these solid historical informative shows 🎄
I’m so ready to make this my thanksgiving dinner discussion with the family
I also find it interesting that the Bible identifies the Christmas tree as a heathen tradition that should be avoided:
Jeremiah 10:1-5
10 Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3 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.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
its an ancient turkic tradition,protoislamic,shamanistic beliefs,wishes were made and pieces of cloth were bound on trees,still praticed in parts of tibet,nepal,mongolia as well,i think...
Thank you and Merry Christmas, God bless and have a wonderful new year.
Thanks for the video, I can't think of a Christmas without a tree. It's kind of goes together with the season.
Boniface being cut down in return is one wholesome karma story.
There's a verse in the Bible that refers to the Xmas tree it's in Jeremiah and its linked to the birth of tammuz which is Dec 25th. Tammuz Nimrod Ishtar. This man made tradition has been around since around 2500 bc at least
Wrong interpretation of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 10 is about CARVED IDOLS.
Very well presented! Thank you! ❤
I love a good ol' Yule log burning in the fireplace every X-Mass as we all kneel down giving thanks...
Love this! I am going to rewatch so I can share with my husband.
when my grandmother was young, in the 1920s on the Bayou, she told me that they had stockings on the windowsill and the best gift she got was an apple.
This is very well made, so informative. I am sure I'll enjoy many more of your videos.
Just an fyi: some of the pictures you used for the blackhead dress-ups were actually the three wise men, who travelled to Jesus' place of birth, the blackfaced one usually is Caspar.
9:01 that Door 🚪 it’s also red and green woven! How amazing craftsmanship!!!
Thank You So Much. We must dispel folk legends and myths, both Christian and "Pagan", of the origin of the Christmas Tree, especially if they are not supported by archaeological or historical records. When tracing the origins of folk traditions and pagan practices, what matters is what we can prove, not what is popular belief.
I want to bring to your attention that it was a Scandinavian and German costume , land before the time you mention, to set fire on whole pine forest on the end of the old year to call back the sun! Maybe this is relict of this custom; pine tree’s, fire
Could you make more videos in the future that include Slavic myths, traditions, etc?
Luther invented the Christmas tree. He saw an optical illusion caused by stars and was inspired to try to decorate a tree with lights. Until relatively recently, only Protestants in Germany had Christmas trees, Catholics had Nativity sets.
Queen Victoria brought Christmas trees to the UK (her family was German), then later they came to the US. But at one time, English and Americans didn't have them.
Nope. It's a pagan tradition for yule, which is a pagan holiday.
@@gwiz6278
Nope, earliest verifiable reference to a Christmas tree is from 1520's Germany. Nothing to do with Yule.
How nice and joyful... Alas, the custom of the x-mas tree has amore simple and common explanation. In the old days un the north, before christianity, houses didn't have stone floor
the floor in the houses was bare earth. In mid winter-fest people used to clean the house and on the floor the spread brunches of Pine it was clean and had a good smell, the top
of the tree they cut and placed in the middle of the only Main Room and danced around
it. When Christianity arrived in the North, it simply adopted this custom...!!!
it's really weird to me that people make floral arranging is "pagan". No, it's human. Humans like to decorate their homes with plants.
Floral arrangements in E Asia, or Hawaaian leis are pre-- or non--
Christian.
The entire world is founded on paganism. Christianity in Europe is mostly pagan, especially the orthodox church
"Foreign Merchants" with a crest like that, I'd say you meant slave traders.
Love the serious research put into this video. Only issue I have is the slightly biased connotation that the evergreen Christmas tree is associated with some sort of oppressive spread of Christianity. Otherwise, I enjoyed the piece very much.
Your videos are amazing. Love it.
The "pagan origin" of the Christmas Tree doesnt pass the smell test.
I think the tree is Iggrasil the world tree, some translate Iggrasil as needle ash,, symbol of everlasting life. Probably a Yew tree, still found in many church yards in England. Most of the days of the week are named after Norse deities showing great Norse influence.
Mistletoe is probably Druidical, and of course, the Holly king, king of winter.
Like churches built on pagan places, these things have been appropriated
Wonderful video! 🎄🎄🎄Merry Christmas!
“Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 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 move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not.” (Jeremiah 10:2-5)
The Christmas tree is at least 600 bc since that is when the book of jerimiah was written. And it's very much part of heathen worship as noted. 😉
I have seen where people argue this verse is pagans using trees to create idols of their gods. But its painfully obvious that a Christmas tree has been described
I'm not that far into the video but I'm super excited for this! Also I'm sorry you have a cold I will pray to the Sun that you get better!
Second video of yours i watched. I subed after the first. Love your work in those two, going ahead for the rest. Thanks for your work and hello from switzerland
Apart from the informative video, I would like to thank you for using images of my beautiful town of Guimarães ❤
My understanding is it's very clear the pine tree and it's usage around the solstice originated with the Germanic people
There is mention of bringing trees home for decoration and how that's vanity in the Bible. We don't know how old the tradition is. It could be very old. It may have evolved in what we have now but probably dates if not thousands of years at least few hundreds of years.
The verses you mentioned predates Christianity by many hundreds of years. It's specific to making idols of wood/trees and adorning them with gold and silver. Not specific to a Christmas tree.
@m_d1905 And I have a tree with silver and gold balls right now. To be honest I just use Christmas as an excuse to decorate my trees 🤫 From the view of the writers it may look like some pagan practice but who knows. People probably just like decoration. Is Barbie doll an idol? Someone today may write "people worship Barbie. They talk to it as if it's real person. They dress it and admire it's beauty." 🤣🤣🤣 Thousand years from now all people are going to know is what's written. People worshiped Barbie dolls. 🤣🤣🤣
The Christmas tree is a representation of the first sun (Saturn) and its plasma connection to earth (Cardona, Talbott and Cochrane). The image at the beginning of the video with the star on top of the triangular lights are directly related to that astronomical event. Also, the pine cone has significance that is unknown to us. Pine cones are important symbols in a variety of mythical traditions.
Pine cone shape is a symbolic reference also for pineal gland.
I enjoyed this very much. Thank you.
Interesting and wonderful video.
This is very interesting
"in short, it's Christian fan fiction"
Haha, based.
I have heard and read that many of the traditions around Christmas involve the amanita muscaria mushroom which is sacred in many cultures and grows underneath evergreen trees, like brightly colored presents under the tree. The mushrooms are bright red and white, like Santa's clothes, and apparently reindeer love to eat them. The mushrooms are also psychedelic, which may have led to the idea of flying reindeer. After harvesting, the amanita muscaria ("fly agaric") are hung inside by the fire to dry, "hung by the chimney with care."
Thanks for your content, always very enjoyable. Peace 🙏.
See, for example, the book Psychedelic
Santa.
Get well soon.
Actually, druids are only associated with the Celts. It is not known whether the pagan priests of the Germanic people even had a specific designation. Otherwise a very informative and interesting video indeed.
He mentioned that, it was the lady who wrote the account of the saint who was a bit confused on the point.
The video claims they have not found any sources for the source of the tree. The historian behind this video should check out a book called The Golden Bough. The Golden Bough is a true academic look at the customs and traditions surrounding the winter solstice festivals. It has and cites works from antiquities. Knowing that many true scholars have looked into this topic, I question the academic credentials of the video maker.
Nobody takes 'The Golden Bough' seriously any more.
@@YorkyOne true scholars do!
Krampus, next?
That would be great. I havnt found much information on it
The story of Saint Boniface likening the evergreen to God is interesting in light of Hosea 14:8, where the Lord states "I am like a green fir tree."
Im guessing blackheads is a conection to saturnian devotees.
Well also a lot of people don't know that the Baltics was made up of Germanic tribes that migrated to that region. So it's kind of strange or funny that the Teutonic order made up by German Knights was fighting kind of their own people in a way.
You mean butchering
Latvians and Estonians are German?
@@totallydead5908 I know that's what I said the Germanic tribes migrated to the Baltics. Also to Scandinavia that's how Vikings came to be & same how they traveled to Britain & became Anglo-Saxons
@@-RONNIE no the Germans lived in the Baltics since the Livonian order
@@totallydead5908 I know and I completely agree with you but they all came from and migrated from Germanic tribes that's all I'm saying. It's very nice to have people with some form of intelligence thank you for the conversation. I celebrate Geimhreadh but I hope you and your family have a good holiday 🥃 Sláinte
Here is a much earlier account of the worshiping of a tree....." Jer 10:2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
Jer 10:3 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.
Jer 10:4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Jer 10:5 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.
Jer 10:6 Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
Jer 10:7 Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.
Jer 10:8 But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities." Shalom.
_“Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 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 move 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”_ (Jeremiah 10:2-5).
j*w books are cringe
Nor did Jesus say: " Worship Me & my birth, life , death and resurrection "
Or did he?
@Neutraliser Janine
Here's the Conundrum or Crux of the problem:
A) The Very First Commandment says: "Thou shalt have No other God's before me"
Yet, Thousands of years afterwards, here comes " Jesus " on the scene.
And somehow, through twisted logic " One becomes Three"
B) " God is the same now and evermore"
Yet, somehow, again, through twisted logic there is a New " Dispansation" Era, and thus, the
" New" Testament .
C) The Roman Catholic Church ( who was largely responsible for spreading Christianity originally)
Did the Most Horrific things to Force people to believe in this " New Religion " ( the Crusades, the inquisition etc.)
As you know, Judaism already existed.
Now, When you get done making excuses for the above you can move beyond All Worldly " Organized Religions" and into the Kingdom of God, which is within.
@@neutraliserjanine
Holy Guacamole!
Guess You Told Me!
@Neutraliser Janine
How about this approach:
" I choose NOT to Define God"
The Fact that there IS a God is Clearly Evident in his Creation.
Bye 👋
Could they have started as a mere practical idea? I mean, it's very counter intuitive and futile to keep a tree indoors, unless you have a good reason to do sp. Cutting a resinous tree to keep at your house over the winter, where it will have a chance to beging to dry and provide you with emergency fuel should the cold last longer than expected, seems like a good idea. I mean, going for pine and fir as choice fuel when you run out of dry firewood seems a no-brainer, so the next logical step is to keep those trees and pinecones close instead of having to go out in the snow to find them. Which is consistent with other traditions of magical figures gifting charcoal and coal to households during that time of the year.
I'd like to imagine people were likely to adorn them as a way of making offerings and mark the passage of time, probably burning them at the beginning of spring to celebrate the end of the cold season, or turning them into maypoles. And then, as humans are prone to do, they likely started to put candles and lights on them at the beginning of the season as to ward off the winter cold.
You are missing a piece of the history. Research the Feast of Adam and Eve and Paradise Tree in German Mystery/Morality Plays dating back possibly as far as the 12th Century.
Thank you for the great job
That's interesting. I have a grandson named Thor. Thank you for sharing and Merry Christmas. 🎄🎄🎄 I still teach my children and grandchildren the real meaning of Christmas. We're celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. I'm gonna share your video.👍😊
It’s very sad how the church forced people away from the ancient pagan religion but to this very day use pagan symbols during Christmas.
More like Catholicism. The puritans were so annoyed with Catholicism and Catholic traditions that they banned every pagan symbol from the supposedly “Christian” church
@@tiredoftheworld4834 The puritans were a miserable lot, who held themselves above others as "chosen" no different than any other cult that sprung from the root of a religion that worshipped a patriarchal war god (Yahweh). As they themselves were mercilessly persecuted by the church of England, so did they enforce their cruel injustice on others in the new world.
Would be wonderful if the actual geographic location of the House of the Black Heads was mentioned in the this video... tiny neighbor country south from Estonia...
Last to convert/defect to Christianity in Europe were 3 Baltic crusade targets/ victims. last of those were Lithuanians
in 1300s.
The earliest mention of decorating trees is the Bible, Jeremiah Verses 3 and 4. 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 gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not totter.
And it is pagans that do this.
Christmas Tree was invented to destroy thors ritual oak tree by St. BONIFACE. the Christmas Tree represents Jesus as the Tree of the Life. The ornaments represent the fruits of the tree of life.
Love it!!!
Apparently, tree decoration was part of widespread Euro,Mid E., N Africa, broad
culture, or at least trade, area.
The Christmas tree origin in Babylon and worshipped as a deity.
Wonder how many people really worship their Christmas tree though. Some people just put it up for fun & beauty? 🤷🏼♀️
Jeremiah 10:2-4. Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 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 move not.
Your discourse only applies to folks if they are Christian. One must not assume that everyone enjoying this beautiful video is a Christian.
Both Christians and non christians would do well to note that the christmas tree is not christian. Jeremiah, quoted above, was writing in about 630BC proving that this custom goes back way beyond christianity and, as the video says, is pagan. Christians are deceived but there is no need for the rest of you to be.
@@alanvanbelt6840 Thanks for your reply. I believe , no matter what one’s personal beliefs, we should be able to enjoy, learn about, and respect other people’s culture. I enjoyed learning about the origins of the Christmas tree. I was not offended by the video.
@@beverlybelcher3423 Neither am I offended by the video. Interesting and well put together, I enjoyed it too. Totally agree, freedom of choice, freedom of voice.
@@alanvanbelt6840 I am not a Christian if you are wondering. I still enjoyed learning about the origins of the Christmas tree. Great informative video.
From the Sacred Goddess Groves surrounding temples lit with fae
Written down when, excavated scrolls found where, held in what museum or archive?
9:46 yes pine 🌲 is fresh and good for health and was burned and used in essential oils. In winter especially-old folk ways aka pagan.
All evergreens have medicinal uses but they didn't have essential oils back then lol. You can thank science for those.
THE first reference to a "Christmas" tree comes from the Middle East, predates Christ by a millennium & can be found in the Bible in Jeremiah 10:3-4
Now do the Festivus Pole
Circa 1990s - Seinfeld.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hi, just wondering, but, didn't you used to have an entire playlist for Celtic Mythology? Maybe I'm misremembering but if I'm not it seems to have disappeared.
How would you contest the charges that the Christmas tree has Lutheran origins, or origins from the so-called "Paradise Trees" that were set up for plays on December 24, to commemorate the story of Adam & Eve, and were decorated with apples to that end? Great video!
Martin Luther addressed the issue of the decorated tree, as many called it a pagan symbol, therefore the tradition of what we now call a Christmas tree, was commonly practiced.
PS: It could very well be the case however, that the reason we still have a Christmas tree, is because of his acceptance of it, and why it was heavily promoted by Germanic peoples.
This sure clears things up 😂
Oh. Just when I commented that I wanted a video about the tree traditions, CZcams finds one for me. The algorithm is reading my comments again…
I think all this goes back to ancient Babylon as do many things
💚
sprig of acacia goes back to ancient Egypt. The circle of life-wreath.
So what does it have to do with Jesus being born not on dec 25th. If it's holy Roman that's not good.
Yalda?
Response to 1:45 : But “let your works shine,” saith He; but now all our shops and gates shine! You will now-a-days find more doors of heathens without lamps and **laurel-wreaths** than of Christians. What does the case seem to be with regard to that species (of ceremony) also? If it is an idol’s honor, without doubt an idol’s honor is idolatry. If it is for a man’s sake, let us again consider that all idolatry is for man’s sake; let us again consider that all idolatry is a worship done to men… “Then,” do you say, “the lamps before my doors, and the **laurels on my posts** are an honor to God?” They are there of course, not because they are an honor to God, but to him who is honored in God’s stead by ceremonial observances of that kind, so far as is manifest, saving the religious performance, which is in secret appertaining to demons.
Tertullian, On Idolatry, Ch. XV, c. 190 AD
“Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return… So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense,” says Yahweh…
Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God,
And have scattered your charms to alien deities under every green tree,
And you have not obeyed My voice,’ says Yahweh.
Jeremiah 3:6-13
(Why "every" green tree? Seems unnecessarily exaggerative. Could this actually mean "evergreen?")
Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, O house of Israel.
Thus says Yahweh:
“Do not learn the way of the Gentiles;
Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven,
For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.
For the customs of the peoples are futile;
For one **cuts a tree from the forest** ,
The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
They **decorate it with silver and gold** ;
They **fasten it with nails and hammers**
**So that it will not topple.**
They are upright, like a palm tree,
And they cannot speak;
They must be carried,
Because they cannot go by themselves.
Do not be afraid of them,
For they cannot do evil,
Nor can they do any good.”
…But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish;
A wooden idol is a worthless doctrine.
Silver is beaten into plates;
It is brought from Tarshish,
And gold from Uphaz,
The work of the craftsman
And of the hands of the metalsmith;
Blue and purple are their clothing;
They are all the work of skillful men.
…Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge;
Every metalsmith is put to shame by an image;
For his molded image is falsehood,
And there is no breath in them.
They are futile, a work of errors;
In the time of their punishment they shall perish.
The Portion of Jacob is not like them,
For He is the Maker of all things,
And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;
Yahweh of hosts is His name.
Jeremiah 10:1-16 c. 700 BC
(It is argued this might be in reference to actually shaping the tree into the shape of a man-god, but the description does at first strike one with a more modern interpretation raising the question, "What is an idol?" Or further, what is an idola-tree?)
Also, I will cite in a comment below Tertullian's chide to Christians for adopting the pagan Grecco-Roman holidays. The Puritans rejected Christmas and so did the famous 19th century preacher, Charles Spurgeon, on account that all evidence points to Germanic, Roman and Canaanite pagan traditions syncretized into the church in order to Christianize pagan holidays. Pope Gregory I even wrote a bishop telling him to let pagans make sacrifices outside a cathedral. Christ never called Christians to dominionism. He calls us to be separate from this world as strangers and pilgrims, citizens of the New Heaven and New Earth to come.
CHAP. XII.-FURTHER ANSWERS TO THE PLEA, HOW AM I TO LIVE?
If you wish to be the Lord’s disciple, it is necessary you “take your cross, and follow the Lord:” your cross; that is, your own straits and tortures, or your body only, which is after the manner of a cross. Parents, wives, children, will have to be left behind, for God’s sake. Do you hesitate about arts, and trades, and about professions likewise, for the sake of children and parents? Even there was it demonstrated to us, that both “dear pledges,” and handicrafts, and trades, are to be quite left behind for the Lord’s sake; while James and John, called by the Lord, do leave quite behind both father and ship; while Matthew is roused up from the toll-booth; while even burying a father was too tardy a business for faith. None of them whom the Lord chose to Him said, “I have no means to live.” Faith fears not famine. It knows, likewise, that hunger is no less to be contemned by it for God’s sake, than every kind of death. It has learnt not to respect life; how much more food? [You ask] “How many have fulfilled these conditions?” But what with men is difficult, with God is easy. Let us, however, comfort ourselves about the gentleness and clemency of God in such wise, as not to indulge our “necessities” up to the point of affinities with idolatry, but to avoid even from afar every breath of it, as of a pestilence. [And this] not merely in the cases forementioned, but in the **universal series of human superstition** ; whether appropriated to its gods, or to the defunct, or to kings, as pertaining to the selfsame unclean spirits, sometimes through sacrifices and priesthoods, sometimes through **spectacles** and the like, sometimes through **holy-days** .
CHAP. XIII.-OF THE OBSERVANCE OF DAYS CONNECTED WITH IDOLATRY
In this place must be handled the subject of **holidays and other extraordinary solemnities** , which we accord sometimes to our wantonness, sometimes to our timidity, in opposition to the common faith and Discipline. The first point, indeed, on which I shall join issue is this: whether a servant of God ought to share with the very nations themselves in matters of his kind, either in dress, or in food, or in any other kind of their gladness. “To rejoice with the rejoicing, and grieve with the grieving,” is said about brethren by the apostle when exhorting to unanimity. But, for these purposes, “There is nought of communion between light and darkness,” between life and death or else we rescind what is written, “The world shall rejoice, but ye shall grieve. If we rejoice with the world, there is reason to fear that with the world we shall grieve too. But when the world rejoices, let us grieve; and when the world afterward grieves, we shall rejoice.”
If you are not unknown to be a Christian, you are tempted, and you act as if you were not a Christian against your neighbour’s conscience; if, however, you shall be disguised withal, you are the slave of the temptation. At all events, whether in the latter or the former way, you are guilty of being “ashamed of God.” But “whosoever shall be ashamed of Me in the presence of men, of him will I too be ashamed,” says He, “in the presence of my Father who is in the heavens.”
CHAP. XIV.-OF BLASPHEMY. ONE OF ST. PAUL’S SAVINGS
But, however, the majority (of Christians) have by this time induced the belief in their mind that it is pardonable if at any time they do what the heathen do, for fear “the Name be blasphemed.” Now the blasphemy which must quite be shunned by us in every way is, I take it, this: If any of us lead a heathen into blasphemy with good cause, either by fraud, or by injury, or by contumely, or any other matter of worthy complaint, in which “the Name” is deservedly impugned, so that the Lord, too, be deservedly angry. Else, if of all blasphemy it has been said, “By your means My Name is blasphemed,” we all perish at once; since the whole circus, with no desert of ours, assails “the Name” with wicked suffrages. Let us cease (to be Christians) and it will not be blasphemed! On the contrary, while we are, let it be blasphemed: in the observance, not the overstepping, of discipline; while we are being approved, not while we are being reprobated. Oh blasphemy, bordering on martyrdom, which now attests me to be a Christian, while for that very account it detests me! The cursing of well-maintained Discipline is a blessing of the Name. “If,” says he, “I wished to please men, I should not be Christ’s servant.” But the same apostle elsewhere bids us take care to please all: “As I,” he says, “please all by all means.” No doubt he used to please them by celebrating the **Saturnalia and New-year’s day!** [Was it so] or was it by moderation and patience? by gravity, by kindness, by integrity? In like manner, when he is saying, “I have become all things to all, that I may gain all,” does he mean “to idolaters an idolater?” “to heathens a heathen?” “to the worldly worldly?” But albeit he does not prohibit us from having our conversation with idolaters and adulterers, and the other criminals, saying, “Otherwise ye would go out from the world,” of course he does not so slacken those reins of conversation that, since it is necessary for us both to live and to mingle with sinners, we may be able to sin with them too. Where there is the intercourse of life, which the apostle concedes, there is sinning, which no one permits. To live with heathens is lawful, to die with them is not. Let us live with all; let us be glad with them, out of community of nature, **not of superstition** . We are peers in soul, not in discipline; fellow-possessors of the world, not of error. But if we have no right of communion in matters of this kind with strangers, how far more wicked to celebrate them among brethren! Who can maintain or defend this? The Holy Spirit upbraids the Jews with their holy-days. “Your Sabbaths, and new moons, and ceremonies,” says He, “My soul hateth.” By us, to whom Sabbaths are strange, and the new moons and festivals formerly beloved by God, **the Saturnalia and New-year’s and Midwinter’s festivals** [Note the word for “Midwinter’s festivals” is Brumae in the Latin] **and Matronalia are frequented** - presents come and go-New-year’s gifts-games join their noise-banquets join their din! Oh better fidelity of the nations to their own sect, which claims no solemnity of the Christians for itself! Not the Lord’s day, not Pentecost, even it they had known them, would they have shared with us; for they would fear lest they should seem to be Christians. We are not apprehensive lest we seem to be heathens! If any indulgence is to be granted to the flesh, you have it. I will not say your own days, but more too; for to the heathens each festive day occurs but once annually: you have a festive day every eighth day. Call out the individual solemnities of the nations, and set them out into a row, they will not be able to make up a Pentecost.
Tertullian. On Idolatry, Chapter XIV, c. 190 AD
Jeremiah 10:1-5
dead tree - symbol of life
I thought pagan was pronounced like "paygan". I've never heard it said like this guy before.
How is the narrator mispronouning " pagan?"
What is your thoughts on the notion that Marin Luther introduced the Christmas tree.
I cannot find any legitimate documentation of this and after your mention of St Boniiface.
Do you or anybody have any sources to verify the Martin Luther rumour of this?
Thank you.(Martin Luther the reformer)
Researchers say that Martin Luther
introduced in door tree + candles,
not tree in itself, which was much more
ancient.
Christmas goes against God in every way! You can’t serve 2 gods!!!
There's a Nativ-a-Talk edition for you.
Paagan?
So Germans did occupy the whole world 🎉🎉🎉 merry Christmas 🎄
Jeremiah chapter 10
Nobody should have any SYMBOL of idolatry in their house on any day of the year including the occult high day aka Xmas during the Winter Solstice. Sadly, people unwittingly imitate heathen tree worship which is condemned by God. Fixing the tree in place then adding silver & gold then bowing down to it as you put gifts under the tree and then telling others to bow down to the tree as they collect gifts. The similarities are striking to say the least, yet people continue to ignore the Bible which tells us to ABSTAIN FROM ALL APPEARANCE OF EVIL - any SYMBOL of idolatry no matter what it is must not be in your house on any day of the year. 🚫🌲🚫
Sounds a bit extreme.
Why? What's the logic behind this?
So is Christmas Pagan?
no
How come you cant pronounce pagan?