To all my pagan bretheren on this board-

[MacBean]

http://www.christmasarchives.com/trees.html

and for Bugbear, if you can read it in a book, it must be true, whereas the web is unreliable!

[Bugbear]

You know, I wasn't allowed to believe in the Santa Clause when I was a little kid... we also used a fake Christmas tree with cheesy plastic ornaments and decorations...
But a good deal of my ancestors were Germans and Pennsylvania Dutch!

I've been fooled by bunk books too many times, MacBean... It's difficult to weed through them all, and I'm not talking about old folklore and history books either...

[macwilkin]

http://www.christmasarchives.com/trees.html

and for Bugbear, if you can read it in a book, it must be true, whereas the web is unreliable!

No librarian or instructor worth their salt would tell someone that because it's in a book, it must be true -- I tell my students the old Cold War axiom, "trust, but verify" about ANY source, regardless of printed word or electronic.

T.

[Bugbear]

Ya... I've been digging into the reviews and criticisms of the suggested Will Durant book.

[BoldHighlander]

-- but I would tend to agree that the German immigrants who came in in the 1840s did more for introducing German customs than the Hessians did.

Again, I would agree....just saying Hessians troops were recorded having Christmas trees early in the Rev War....even if the practice didn't take in the colonies until much later

Actually, a fair number stayed in America after the War...

Indeed. Many Hessian prisoners were induced to stay behind by the locals. I've read diaries where Hessians marveled at how "prosperous" the average Colonial farmer etc were, and couldn't understand why they were rebelling.

Anyhow, enough on the Hessians....as a former "Jäger" (reenactor) who has studied their involvement in the war extensively, you could get me going forever

[Mike_Oettle]

Nighthawk, my brother is a staunch atheist (not a pagan), but he celebrates Yule with all the trimmings.
I have reservations about many of the customs, including the German tree, but my wife has a plastic tree that gets re-assembled every year.
Terry, as you say, Prince Albert made the Weihnachtsbaum popular in England. But he was not the first royal to have a Christmas tree in London. I believe both Queen Adelaide (consort to William IV) and Princess Victoria (Duchess of Kent and mother of Queen Victoria) kept the Christmas tree tradition.
And as Mike (Down Under Kilt) points out, down at our end of the world we are about to observe the Summer Solstice, which puts all these ancient practices out of kilter.
But may I wish you all (whatever your beliefs) a good Yule and a prosperous (and kilted) New Year.
Regards,
Mike

[ozarkjacobite]

A blessed Yule to all!

[Bugbear]

Nighthawk, my brother is a staunch atheist (not a pagan), but he celebrates Yule with all the trimmings.
I have reservations about many of the customs, including the German tree, but my wife has a plastic tree that gets re-assembled every year.
Terry, as you say, Prince Albert made the Weihnachtsbaum popular in England. But he was not the first royal to have a Christmas tree in London. I believe both Queen Adelaide (consort to William IV) and Princess Victoria (Duchess of Kent and mother of Queen Victoria) kept the Christmas tree tradition.
And as Mike (Down Under Kilt) points out, down at our end of the world we are about to observe the Summer Solstice, which puts all these ancient practices out of kilter.
But may I wish you all (whatever your beliefs) a good Yule and a prosperous (and kilted) New Year.
Regards,
Mike

You know, Mike, that reminds me of the discussion a while back where some people were having a difficult time of conceiving of palm trees being associated with Christmas.
There were no palm trees where I grew up, but we had at least three miniature nativity scenes that came out for Christmas, one of them always taking up the coffee table. There were palm trees in one of them, and I always assumed the thatching on the roof of the stable was supposed to be palm fronds. They all had camels along with the donkeys and sheeps, too.

It's funny that the lights, plastic holly decorations and tensile were usually around all of that, and we ended up putting little "Star Wars" figurines all through that stuff to play "Star Wars."

[Lallans]

Someone where I work, being Norwegian, put up a "GOD YULE" banner and there was some little consternation until it was understood that God was not being invoked, just the word 'good'. Anyway it was an interesting solstice with even the moon going out in the middle of the night, during the eclipse- whatever can it all mean???

[Mike_Oettle]

Yes, palm trees are pretty much out of place in the sentimentalised Christmas that involves coniferous trees and snow.
But they certainly are part of the environment where Jesus was born, and in Egypt, the land where his parents went into exile to escape Herod’s baby massacre.
And while palms are not native to the region where I live (they prefer the climate a bit more tropical), there are plenty of palms planted in my home city.

The Norwegian greeting is God Jul. Writing it as God Yule is certainly open to misinterpretation!
Regards,
Mike