Oh Christmas tree, oh pagan tree

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

by March Fianza

Decades ago, my playmates in the New Lucban neighborhood would get together to help dig out a young three-feet high Pine Tree growing on my grandmother’s hill that we transplant in a tin box. Every morning, my father waters the tree before he leaves for work. That became our Christmas tree for the rest of the holidays until a few days after New Year when the gifts under the tree were taken.

On any morning after that, my playmates and I would surprisingly find the Pine Tree replanted in the same spot where it was dug out. My playmates and I know that replanting was done by my father. That December routine went on for years but I was never of the reason why we did this. I only know that houses had Christmas trees every December. I remember that more than three of the replanted trees grew tall until these were indiscriminately cut down by squatters in 1987.

Replanting Christmas trees was fun until the tradition stopped when the law prevented people from cutting trees for environmental reasons. US President Theodore Roosevelt also banned the Christmas tree from the White House for environmental reasons. That was also the time in the Philippines, particularly Baguio or Benguet and anywhere where the use of Benguet Pine Trees as Christmas trees became limited.

Friends and I could have continued the practice considering that we did not cut down the tree, instead, we dug it up from the ground to be replanted. One thing more, the trees grew in my grandma’s hill.

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Long before Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people as it was believed that evergreens kept away witches, evil spirits and illness. In England, Christmas trees were sacred, and pilgrims tried hard to stop pagans from mocking Christmas.

In some parts of England, leaders gave sermons against atheist or pagan traditions of decorating trees and expressing praises that violated the sacred event so that a law was passed saying that the observance of December 25 was a penal offense and people were fined for hanging decorations.

But many 19th-century Americans were weirdos because they thought of Christmas trees as symbols of weakness when German settlers in Pennsylvania first displayed a Christmas tree in public view. This was seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.

In Northern Europe, the winter solstice or the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21 or December 22. Many early societies believed that on that winter season, the sun god becomes weak. But celebrations came because it meant that the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen plants reminded them that plants that would grow again when the sun god became strong in the summer.

The same is true with ancient Egyptians who worshipped the sun god Ra. After the winter solstice when Ra becomes warmer, the Egyptians fill their homes with green palm and plants symbolizing the triumph of life over death.

In early Rome and in some other parts of Northern Europe, they celebrated the solstice by honoring Saturn, the god of agriculture, knowing that soon farms and orchards would be green and fruitful, while the aggressive Scandinavians considered evergreen trees as special plants of the sun god.

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Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer was believed to have been the first to add lighted candles to a Christmas tree. Accordingly, he erected a tree in the main room and tied lighted candles to its branches. Later, the helpers of Thomas Edison came up with the idea of electric lights that they installed on the branches of Christmas trees.

It was only in the early 20th century that Americans started decorating their trees with homemade stuffs, while the German-American sect continued to use apples, other fruits and nuts. Thanks to Edison, electricity made it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days and nights.

With this, Christmas trees began to appear in every American home and in town squares, to include the fake tree atop Session Road in Baguio. I believe, it should be dedicated to those who made it for allegedly shortchanging us with how much it really cost.

But at the same time, the inverted ice cream cone taken for a Christmas tree should best be dedicated to the poor and the hundreds of street kids that roam our barangays, reason why we celebrate Christmas. In addition, the money spent on it were involuntarily “donated” by them as the money should have been better spent for decent gifts that they receive only once a year.

To top it all, the Christmas tree is explained in a simple song that goes: “Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree, Thy leaves are so unchanging. For every year this Christmas tree, Brings to us joy and glee. Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree, Such pleasure do you bring me! Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree, You'll ever be unchanging! A symbol of goodwill and love, You'll ever be unchanging.”

Change, have we? Anyway, Merry Christmas to all!