Winter Solstice, New Year, and Evergreens

Evergreen Festivities: The Winter Solstice Pathway
For millennia, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in winter. In the Northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year occur about December 22, referred to as the Winter Solstice (sol-: sun; -stitium: stand still; when sun reaches its southernmost point.) Many ancient peoples considered the sun as the Supreme Being. In winter, as daylight became shorter and shorter, the people considered that the sun, or the Supreme Being, had become sick and weak. After the Winter solstice, daylight became longer and longer, meaning that the Supreme Being was getting well. So, the beginning of the recovery of the Supreme Being was considered worthy of celebrating. Evergreens, still around in winter, symbolized all other plants that needed warmth and long exposure to sun in order to turn green, and then provide food. So, the evergreens became a “tool” for the celebration of the Solstice.
The earliest documentation of celebration of the Winter Solstice with evergreens goes back to ancient Egyptians, probably during the New Kingdom period (~1300 BC). Throughout Ancient Egypt, the sun was considered to be a universal creator, symbolized by Ra, a hawk-headed image bearing the solar disk on his head (yes, the body was that of a human male). At the Winter Solstice, Ra was considered to have begun recovering from illness; to celebrate, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palm rushes, which symbolized for them the triumph of life over death.
The early Romans celebrated the Winter Solstice with a feast called the Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the Winter Solstice meant that soon farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs. The Saturnalia was a special time of peace and equality, when wars could not be declared, slaves and masters could eat at the same table, and gifts were exchanged as a symbol of affection and brotherhood.
In Northern Europe, the Druids, who were the priests of the ancient Celts, also decorated their temples with evergreen boughs around the time of the Winter Solstice, as a symbol of everlasting life. The Vikings in Scandinavia thought that evergreens were the special plant of the sun god Balder. Some historians believe that the word “Yule”, another term currently used for Christmas, came from the Gothic word “hiul” or the Saxon word “hweol”, both of which mean “wheel” and thus refer to the cycles of the sun.
Thus, long before the advent of Christianity and Christmas, ancient peoples decorated their homes, barns and shrines with evergreens around the time of the Winter Solstice, a phenomenon of Nature and not religion. The Christians preferred to assign a religious significance to the ancient homage to the major natural phenomenon of the Winter Solstice; they moved the date by several days forward, and transformed it into a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, or Christmas (Cristes maesse or Christ’s Mass). By the way, no reliable information exists on Christ’s actual birthday.
The original version of Christmas celebration was introduced more than a thousand years ago, as the ritual of “Bringing in the Yule Log”. This ritual started in England, then spread throughout Europe, and eventually reached North America. (Remember; “Yule” is a derivative of wheel, which refers to the natural phenomenon of sun cycles!) On Christmas Eve (December 24, two days post-solstice), the large main trunk of a big tree would be dragged from the forest; everyone in the family, young and old, would work together in pulling on the ropes. The log would be brought into the house, and one end placed in the fireplace. Over the ensuing 12 days (of Christmas), the log would be advanced gradually into the fireplace and burned.
Hardly anyone burns a Yule log anymore; but, some memories of it remain. In many French homes, children enjoy the “buche de Noel” (Christmas log), which is a rich chocolate roll covered with a dark brown frosting that looks just like bark. Sometimes, it is decorated with frosted berries and holly needles, or with marzipan mushrooms, as a reminder of the great logs that were once dragged from the forest.
In the fourteenth century, books were rare and only the elite knew how to read. Churches held “miracle plays” to tell the people stories from the Bible. Special plays were held at special times of the year, in accordance with the early Christian Calendar of Saints. In those days, the story to tell on December 24 was the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve, and not the birth of Jesus Christ. The play showed how Eve was tempted by the serpent, how she picked the apple from the forbidden tree, and how the couple was expelled from Paradise. Obviously, there were no apples hanging on trees in December. In Germany, someone solved the problem by cutting down an evergreen tree, probably a spruce or pine, and tying red apples onto it; the tree was called “Paradiesbaum” (Paradise Tree), because it symbolized the eviction of Adam and Eve from Paradise.
The idea of a tree hung with apples amused people in Germany so much, that before long many families were setting up a Paradiesbaum in their own homes. The custom persisted long after the miracle plays disappeared. Because eviction from Paradise was really not an attractive concept, with time, the Christian belief that the birth of Jesus Christ would bring redemption entered into the picture. So, the Paradiesbaum became the “Weihnachtsbaum” (Holy Night Tree), to commemorate the night Jesus was born (what a coincidence that Christ was born on the same day Adam and Eve were evicted from Paradise!).
The Weihnachtsbaum was an evergreen “Tannenbaum” (pine tree), and had red apples on it. Thus came about the “official colors” of Christmas.
Evergreen Festivities: The New Year Pathway
The celebration of the New Year is probably older than the celebration of the Winter Solstice. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 2000 BC. The Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon (actually the first visible crescent) after the Vernal Equinox (when the sun crosses the plane of the earth’s equator, making night and day of equal length all over the earth, or first day of spring). It was the initiation of the next cycle of planting and harvest, again a natural phenomenon.
To synchronize the beginning of a New Year with the sun’s cycles, in 153 BC the Roman Senate decided to move the New Year`s Day from the first day of spring, or March 21, to January 1. But, the need to adjust for the gap between the two dates delayed the changeover. In 46 BC the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar made the new calendar official, by stretching out the Year 47 BC for 445 days. The Julian Calendar is now in use worldwide. Thus, just like the Winter Solstice, the beginning of the New Year became a winter event.
The contemporary tradition of celebrating the arrival of the New Year may have started in Russia three hundred years ago, when Czar Peter I issued a special “ukase” (edict), moving the beginning of the Russian New Year from March or Eastertide to January 1, in accordance with the Julian Calendar. He instituted celebrations on the night tying December 31 to January 1, which included an evergreen “New Year’s Tree” with lights (candles). With time, the New Year’s Eve became a major holiday in the Russian Empire, and the secularism enforced after the Bolshevik Revolution anchored the event even more firmly.
New Year’s Eve became a family holiday, usually celebrated at home with family members and near and dear friends. The popular belief is that however one greets the New Year, that is the way one will live in the New Year. The celebrations emphasize abundance and wealth.
The New Year’s Tree, typically a fir or pine tree is freshly cut and brought inside, filling the house with the scent of pine needles. The tree and the home are decorated with garlands, paper cutouts shaped like snowflakes, and ribbons of paper streamers. Hanging from the tree are toys cut from fine glass: many-colored balls, figurines of animals and fairy-tale personages, beads, “gold” and “silver” streamers. Under the fir tree are placed the toys delivered by “Grandfather Frost” and the “Snow-Maiden”.
On New Year’s Eve, the holiday table is laid. New Year’s Eve supper usually begins at ten or eleven o’clock in the evening, and lasts for two to three hours, to “see off” the Old Year and “see in” the New Year. At midnight, glasses are filled with sparkling wine and raised to wish one another happiness throughout the New Year. Outside, on the street, many-colored fireworks are ignited, and joyful cries are heard. There are mutual congratulations in person and by telephone. General joy reigns! Each person trusts that the New Year will bring happiness and good luck and that all plans will be realized.
Whether or not the concept of celebrating the New Year indeed started in Russia is not an issue. The point is, celebration of the Winter Solstice has evolved into the celebration of the New Year, particularly in those countries where secularism dominates, or the practice of the Christian religion is limited, such as in Islam countries.
The Winter Solstice and beginning of a New Year are both natural phenomena. So is the evergreen plant a natural phenomenon. As it has done so for centuries, the evergreen symbolizes belief in renewed life, and the hope and faith that dwell in all peoples of the world, regardless of race or creed. The evergreen is a symbol of joy and delight to all.
So let us celebrate the Winter Solstice and the New Year, with or without an evergreen tree, in a manner that is all-inclusive. If one feels more secure by adhering to customs already in practice, then what can be more inclusive than celebrating the New Year as a substitute for the Winter Solstice, rather than an inexact date of significance to some but not all?