A Story of Old England and Germany
By Michael Durnan
Christmas is the darkest time of year in Northern Europe and North
America. In these frigid lands, the Christmas tree is a potent Christian
symbol, a light shining in the winter darkness. Its evergreen foliage enlivens
our bleak and barren winter landscapes at a time of year when broadleaved trees
stand bare, desolate and skeletal.
But how did conifers, pines and firs become such recognisable
symbols of the Feast of Christ’s Nativity?
A 19th Century German Prince
‘Today I have two children of my own who are full of happy
wonder at the German Christmas Tree and its radiant candles.’
Christmas trees became popular in Britain after the German husband
and Consort of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, introduced them in 1841. And
where the Royal Family led, fashionable society was sure to follow. Soon
Christmas trees became an essential part of the British Christmas.
Interestingly however, Prince Albert was in fact completing a
circle in the real story of the Christmas Tree. For it was an Englishman who
once upon a time gave the German people the gift of the Christmas Tree.
It was an Englishman who
once upon a time gave the German people the gift of the Christmas Tree.
A Dark Ages Monk
It was the 8th century Benedictine monk, St. Boniface of Crediton,
in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, who first took the Gospel to the Germanic
tribes of Northern Europe.
Unlike the Germanic Anglo-Saxons of England, the Germanic tribes
of mainland Northern Europe were still pagans. They worshipped Odin, Thor –
fierce and ancient Norse gods. One of the savage aspects of Germanic Norse
religious culture was human sacrifice to appease their gods — especially Odin,
the king of the gods and Thor, the god of thunder.
In England, Boniface knew that conversion to Christianity had
subdued the wilder, more violent aspects of Anglo-Saxon warrior culture. He
also knew it had appealed to their better nature. Boniface believed the
same would be true of their Germanic cousins, and he was determined to end this
barbaric practice when he embarked upon his mission to the Germanic tribes.
One of the savage aspects
of Germanic Norse religious culture was human sacrifice to appease their gods —
especially Odin, the king of the gods and Thor, the god of thunder.
An Ancient, Bloody Oak
According to legend, Boniface let it be known among the tribes
that when the next sacrifice was planned, he would personally prevent it. He
gathered a group of his monks at an ancient oak tree considered sacred in Norse
mythology. This was the place of blood-letting, where the Germans would perform
their human sacrifices.
The sacrificial victim, a young girl, was bound to the oak tree in
preparation, but before the fatal blow could be struck, Boniface grabbed the
axe out of the executioner’s hands.
The Benedictine monk swung at the girl’s chains, whose links broke
under the blow of the sharp blade. Boniface released the girl, and then turned
his axe on the sacred oak tree.
“As Boniface drove a huge gash into the trunk, the onlookers stood
speechless, too stunned to move whilst the Benedictine continued to hack away.”
As Boniface drove a huge gash into the trunk, the onlookers stood
speechless, too stunned to move whilst the Benedictine continued to hack away.
The oak crashed harmlessly to the ground, amidst a foreboding silence.
However, to the unarmed monks’ utter astonishment, the fierce
Germans fell to their knees in terror. Anticipating the wrath of their gods for
this sacrilege, the tribesmen were certain that Boniface would be struck down
by a lightning bolt from Thor’s hammer, called ‘Mjolnir.’
The Origin of the German Christmas Tree
Undeterred, Boniface broke the silence. In a loud voice, he
ordered the kneeling tribesmen to look closely at the base of the felled oak. There,
springing out of the ground from between the roots of the oak tree, was a
tender young fir tree, about knee high.
Boniface explained that Odin, Thor and their other gods had fallen
with the oak but that Boniface’s God had given them this little tree which
never loses its leaves and is full of life even in the depths of winter. He
pointed out to them that the Fir tree’s leaves pointed upwards to heaven. He
explained that this tree had evergreen leaves to remind them that the Christian
Triune God’s love for them was everlasting.
At the first Christmas
after this , Boniface brought a fir tree indoors into church, a symbol of
Christ’s everlasting love. Because of the Benedictine’s efforts, the Germanic
tribes were converted to Christianity.
At the first Christmas after this event, Boniface brought a fir
ree indoors into church, a symbol of Christ’s everlasting love.
Because of Boniface’s efforts, the Germanic tribes were converted
to Christianity. Boniface, who had become Bishop of Mainz, later founded a
Benedictine monastery at Fulda. He lived out most of his long life in Germany,
establishing Christianity there. He was martyred as an old man attempting to
bring Christ to the Frisian Islands in the Netherlands on the 5th June,
AD 754.
It was Boniface’s wish that his body should be buried in Germany,
a country whose people, he had come to love. So it was that he was buried
at the Abbey of Fulda. He is now known as The Apostle to The Germans.
A Gift Among Nations
Since Prince Albert first established the tradition of Christmas
Trees in Britain, a large tree is erected every year in Trafalgar Square. Since
1945, this is a gift from Norway in thanksgiving for the UK’s
support of Norway during World War II.
Clearly, the British have taken this German idea to their hearts,
but most are unaware that it was an Englishman who gave the idea to the Germans
all those years ago — and that it was a German who returned the gift.
The British have taken
this German idea to their hearts, but most are unaware that it was an
Englishman who gave the idea to the Germans all those years ago — and that it
was a German who returned the gift.
