Christmas with Luther – The Christmas Tree starts off our Christmas Bible study series on the symbols of the season.
Did Luther invent the Christmas tree?
The short answer is probably not. The Christmas tree has many different angles of meaning. But Luther most likely didn’t invent the Christmas tree. That credit – some say – should go back to St. Winfred.
“This little tree, a young child of the forest, shall be your holy tree tonight. It is the wood of peace, for your houses are built of the fir. It is the sign of the endless life, for its leaves are evergreen. See how it points upward to heaven! Let this be called the tree of the Christ-child. Take it up and carry it to the chieftain’s hall. You shall go no more into the shadows of the forest to keep your feasts with secrets of shame. You shall keep them at home with laughter and songs and rites of love, gathered around the fir tree to rejoice in the birth night of Christ. Gather about the tree, not in the wildwood but in your own homes. There it will shelter no deeds of blood, but loving gifts and acts of kindness and brotherhood.”
What we CAN attribute to Luther is what you put on the tree. So the story goes…
Luther was walking through a pine forest near his home in Wittenberg when he suddenly looked up and saw thousands of stars glinting jewel-like among the branches of the trees. This wondrous sight inspired him to set up a candle-lit fir tree in his house that Christmas to remind his children of the starry heavens from whence their Saviour came.
Forbidden Fruit
There was plenty of meaning behind what you put ON the tree. It might surprise you that the roots of those traditions go back to the first garden. Yes, the fest of Adam and Eve traditionally fell on December 24th – Christmas Eve. So many of the ornaments on a Christmas tree had to do with the forbidden fruit. Could you walk past a piece of candy hanging on the tree everyday? Could you wait until Christmas?
Want to hear more? Watch this week’s study from our Christmas series, Christmas with Luther – The Christmas Tree.
Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.