John,

(Host Hat on) I was curious as to why you started this thread in the Discuss Paganism board, which is for debates. If you want me to move it to the general Paganism board, please let me know. (Host Hat off)

Making something the most Pagan, that is rather problematic although again, it suppose it depends on how one defines Paganism. I hope you will pardon a brief historical digression here just to illustrate how defining ‘pagan’ can differ. While the concept of a sacred tree (of life) has examples in ancient cultures, the tree around Midwinter or Winter Solstice comes through that mish-mash of unconnected folk customs to eventually morph into a medieval Christian Germanic folk custom. This was unknown in English speaking countries until after 1840, when the Tannenbaum was exported to Britain and popularized at the court by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband. That practice was adapted into the Victorian lifestyle (mostly middle-class well to do trying to emulate life at court) where the tree gathered up many of its ‘traditional’ aspects.  By the beginning of the Paganism Movement in the 20^th century, the use of the tree itself and many of these aspects had become part of a secular celebration and were ‘re-christened’ as ‘really’ being Pagan. So the Solstice Tree is modern and its decoration really depends on how one self-defines what is Pagan today. Or conversely how one defines pagan in earlier times. 

Depending on whatever Pagan mythology underpins the significance of this solstice for you, this may indicate what you emphasize or consider significant. Some Pagans that I know emphasize nature and prefer all naturally or hand-decorated trees though many of those ‘traditional’ types of ornaments from cut-paper snowflake chains to strings of cranberries and pompadour fruit owe far more to Victorian revivalism than anything more ancient. It is however the living, modern symbolic significance that makes something Pagan today so that might be your guide to what you use.

What you believe is significant, symbolic or meaningful for the Solstice might also indicate the colors that you emphasize. For example, I have two small trees, artificial as I have issues with the end-to-end implications of commercialized tree-farming at this time of year. One tree is solar, all the decorations are either gold, yellow, clear or white with a lot of star motifs mixed in with family traditional ornaments. A Goddess ornament is at the top. I also have a set of clear glass snowflakes that I particularly like. They even have gold tinsel these days, which I re-use each year, salvaging every strand carefully. If you have pets or small children though, tinsel can be toxic if swallowed. My second tree is lunar decorated in silver to which I add red, in the form of small apple ornaments my late mother was very fond of, cranberry strings and feathered bird ornaments. A nest of cardinals sits on top. The trees are too small for lights and I DO NOT put candles in my trees. Even on real trees, candles are simply dangerous. Germanic folks who had such Midwinter trees including Germanic settlers in NA from which I am descended as well as Victorians put up their trees on Christmas Eve with live candles but those folks had to live each day with the dangers of candles. Their trees were also taken down the next day or at the very most the day after, unlike the modern custom of keeping such trees up for longer periods of time. So if one wants candles in ‘pagan’ colors, put them on a safe surface far enough away from the tree with all the usual precautions for open flames.

C.H.

C.H.,

Thank you for the detailed reply. I don't mind brief historical overviews!

I'm wondering about the use of fruit on trees. We have some rather old ornaments, painted glass clusters of grapes... inherited from a elderly relative. I found this interesting and wondered whether it reflects a tradition of once putting real grapes on trees. I'm not sure it would have been in a northern climate. Does anyone know about this? Who decorated trees with grapes and what did they symbolize for them?

I'm also wondering about the use of red on you Lunar tree. I'm very fond of red lights... that's what we put on our Solstice Tree, a lot of red lights. We bought LEDs last year to save a bit of energy; they're much more red and intense than the painted bulbs.  I find myself staring at the tree at the end of the day when all the rest of the lights in the house are turned off. What does the color red represent this time of year? As far as my tree is concerned, I imagine I"m drawn to the red because it carries some sense of the comfort of sitting next to a fire long long ago.

Regarding live vs. artificial... some "Christmas" tree farms are trying to adopt more wholesome methods, encouraging use of the younger trees by wildlife, spraying less for bugs, planting native forbs around the trees, et cetera... or so I've heard. I don't have any specific examples. Anyone interested in a live (well, dead) tree might want to look into this to encourage more of it.

Peace.

John

John,

I haven’t heard about putting grapes on trees as decoration although as you pointed out yourself, in a northern climate, that would be rather problematic. Grapes and wine have always been associated over the millennium. Wine had medicinal purposes as well as ritual and pleasure. Domesticated grapes for wine and food turn up in the archaeological evidence in various places back to eight thousand years ago. Wild grapes also grow across a broad part of the world though they are too sour for wine-making. Winemaking turns up on scenes from Egyptian tombs while wines were left in the tombs as provision for one’s afterlife. That was mostly red wine (from red grapes) whose resemblance to blood led to various correspondences. The Greeks spread grape-growing and wine-making as they and later Rome colonised. Small wonder that the Greeks had a god dedicated to wine, Dionysus or Bacchus. There was also Staphylus, the son of Dionysus and Ariadne who specifically symbolised the grape. Wine was an essential part of the diet of Romans and most of the areas today that we associated with wine-making in Europe can be traced back to its introduction by the Romans. When the Roman Empire fell, the Church preserved grape growing as wine was essential for the Mass. Otherwise it was mostly a drink for those who could afford it. In alchemy, grapes were one of the symbols of the Philosopher’s Stone. All of these historical snippets can be subsumed under being pagan. Consider also what grapes can symbolise. They are seeds that represent new life and through the act of either being planted, eaten or turned into wine, nourish and sustain other life through giving up its individuality. The grape turning into wine was often used as an example of the soul being reborn. As the grape it has a limited time to live and would die, as the wine, distilled and perfected, it lives on. Also consider glass….sand (earth) fused by heat (fire) into shapes that resemble both water and air (transparent with color). So I have no problem with glass grapes on a Solstice Tree….

Red is life…blood, fire…heat. For example, the apple really is a seed, the promise of life to come. Red means an apple that is ripe, fulfilled and ready to be eaten or be planted. Depending on one’s modern Pagan mythos, the Winter Solstice marks the time when the God or Goddess is reborn from the Mother. Hence red and in particular dark red is found in correspondences around this Sabbat. Dark red can be specifically symbolic of the feminine, the womb, the mystery of life itself. Alchemists referred to such as the Red Stone. Depending on the correspondence system, dark red may symbolise the soul itself, the heart, that which is holy and secret, knowledge and the esoteric lore forbidden to those uninitiated or prepared. As well, wine can be referred to as dark when it is deeply red as in the wine-dark sea. Bright red on the other hand tends to have masculine associations, impulsiveness, health, victory, luck (Oriental color for good fortune) and generosity. Amongst some of the ancient Celts, red was the color of the warrior. No matter which culture you research, there will be correspondences for red.

C.H.

Years ago some Pagans we knew mentioned that they decorated a tree outdoors with wild birdseed cakes, bits of beef suet and fruit so that the birds could have a feast. Otherwise, they didn't put up an indoor tree.

I don't remember that they made the point, but I figured this was a means of venerating the natural scheme of things.

Sadly I have a small appartment and didn't have room for a big tree. Instead I put up a small plastic one and just put on a string of lights. I bought my little brother who is going away to school next yr a small black tree. He wants to decorate it with Nightmare before Xmas decorations. I say go whatever you feel is right. What I want to do is decorate a tree in old toys from Mcdonalds. I think a mini toy tree is a perfect expression of what the holiday means to me. Feeling young and doing the tradtions taught to me whenI was young.