St. Boniface and the Christmas Tree
Millions of people
have begun flocking to stores to buy their Christmas trees. It's a nice tradition of the holiday season,
but many have stripped it of its religious significance and many more have no
idea where the tradition came from.
I've known people
who refuse to have a Christmas tree because they claim it is a pagan
tradition. While it is true that
paganism does play some part in the history of the Christmas tree, it is a
thoroughly Christian custom.
We can trace the
Christmas tree to St. Boniface in the eighth century. Boniface was an English Benedictine
missionary sent to evangelize the pagan tribes of Germany.
The pagans of
southern Germany used trees in their worship and in a famous, historically
documented story Boniface used this to bring about their conversion. At the time of Christmas in the year AD 723,
Boniface saw that a young man was to be sacrificed under Odin's oak. Boniface responded by taking an axe to the
sacred tree. Not only was Boniface not struck dead, legend has it that at his
first blow, a miraculous wind blew the tree over. The people recognized the power of the true
God and mass conversions began.
Boniface took the
customs of the local people surrounding tress and “baptized” them. It was customary for people to bring trees
into their homes around the time of the winter solstice, so Boniface decided
this custom could be transformed into one that honored the true God.
At Christmas, the
people brought in evergreen trees, symbolizing peace and life, and pointing
toward Heaven, and decorated them to honor the birth of the Lord.
The rest, as they
say, is history. The tradition spread to
England and eventually to the United States and the Christian West. So this year as we trim our trees, may they
point our eyes Heavenward, and may we use these beautiful gifts of nature to be
offerings to the true God, the Baby born among nature's beasts in a stable so
many years ago.
