Christmas is a time of celebration, beauty and fun. We decorate the houses to contribute to the gaiety and festive spirit of the Christmas holidays. We use lights, colors, ornaments, wreaths, garlands, stars and the Christmas tree to add more and more loveliness to the homes. The grand and magical-looking Christmas tree is undoubtedly the highlight of these decorations. Today, people keep adding to the list with fancy lights and musical décors but the ones that are innovative and made by one`s own hands and the most favorite ones too for they also bring the families and friends together as we trade ideas signifying caring and sharing.
Mistletoe for Christmas decorating has a special meaning for the holidays today. The hanging of the mistletoe in the doorways creates many plots and diversions to receive a kiss under it. The mistletoe kissing tradition comes from the Norse myths. Frigga, one of the gods, gave her son Balder a charm of mistletoe to protect him from the elements.
Holly, with its dark green spiky leaves and red berries, was also believed to have magical powers and the ability to drive demons away. Germans considered holly to be a good luck charm against the hostile forces of nature. A Shropshire custom was to leave the holly and ivy up until Candlemas, while the mistletoes were preserved until the next holiday season and hung so that good fortune would follow till the next holiday season. In the early days food was also central to the holiday decorations. As the Christmas season grew near huge batches of cookies, candies, and sugared fruits were prepared for food and as Christmas decor. As mentioned above not all the early decor in the home came from the kitchen, the woods and fields provided an abundance of straw, pods, flowers, and foliage for Christmas tree decorations also. Select the following link to view our .
Around December every year it happens - out come the boxes of tinsel, the tree baubles and the Creche. Off children go with dad, if they are lucky enough to live in the country - to find the best berried holly, and other evergreens to decorate their homes in festive style.
Many millennia ago, ancient man believed that by decorating the bushes in the winter time, they could make them attractive for the spirits, which they believed had fled for shelter from the harsh weather.
Originally, people kept up their decorations for much longer than we do now, the Christmas season ending on Candlemas, the 2nd February, which was more in keeping with the earliest signs of Spring. So we can see how the ancient pre-Christian custom of bringing in branches for the spirits and putting them out again in Spring, fits into the later medieval pattern. In the middle ages, people still believed that there were indeed tree spirits which inhabited the evergreens, and that these little spirits would cause havoc in the home if not released!
People did decorate still, but as a celebration to honour the Birthday of the Son of God, and if they retained some superstitions from their earlier beliefs, it did not matter so much as long as they understood about the teachings of Christ.
For many centuries the natural evergreen boughs were the only decorations people had for Christmas. Branches of holly or `Holm` as it was usually called, were popular because of their red berries. Mistletoe also was used because it too had berries which provided contrast to the greenery.
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