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ENLARGE
So much of the season is centered around the Christmas tree. It’s where we gather to exchange gifts and to admire its beauty and heritage from ornaments passed down from generation to generation.
Of all the symbols and traditions of the season, the Christmas tree seems to connect the most with mountain folks. I suppose, in part, that has to do with how closely we live to the loyal evergreens. They make up our backyards, line our streets, and bring a scent to the air that simply cannot be matched by any canned deodorizer.
This time of year we decorate the blue spruces on our lawns as well as bring the endearing firs from our forests into our living rooms, donned with lights, ribbons and hand-painted ornaments.
So much of the season is centered around the twinkling tree, songs are written about it (O Christmas Tree), it’s where we gather to exchange gifts and to admire its beauty and heritage from ornaments passed down from generation to generation.
It is from Germany that we get many of our present day Yuletide customs: the songs, images of Santa, hand-blown glass ornaments and the Christmas tree is no exception. In fact, the story begins over 1,200 years ago in Germany. It seems that while Saint Boniface was trying to convert Germans to Christianity he came across a group of pagans worshipping a mighty oak tree. Well that false idol wouldn’t do, so this patron saint of Germany took out an axe and cut the oak down, only to have a young fir tree spring up from the roots of the oak. For some reason, Boniface took the fir – as opposed to the oak – as a sign of the Christian faith and from that incident a Yuletide tradition was born.
Fast forward some eleven hundred years to the British reign of the very popular Queen Victoria. Seems the queen often visited relatives in Germany where she eventually met and married Prince Albert. So it was Albert who brought this German Tannenbaum tradition and all its beautifully hand-blown glass ornaments to our Motherland. And since everyone liked Queen Victoria, it didn’t take long for her Christmas customs to migrate to America.
But the custom spread slowly. In fact, ironically it wasn’t until the depression that the tradition really caught on. As it turned out, nurseries had a hard time selling their evergreens for landscaping and ended up cutting them down for Christmas trees. The public eventually preferred cultivated trees because they have a more symmetrical shape than wild ones.
However, for us mountain folks, it was the wild evergreens that allowed for the pioneers’ early survival. Lodgepole pines have been used for fenceposts, corral rails, utility poles, paneling, railroad ties, and pulpwood. And then there are the basic shelter and heat purposes that still hold true in the Cloud City some 130 years later.
This year, early indicators suggest that a struggling economy is not having a negative impact on Christmas tree sales. In fact sales are actually up compared to last year. After all, most people see a Christmas tree as a necessity during the holiday season, and they're willing to pay whatever it takes for the right one. Remember, if time is short this season, support a good local cause and simply pick one up from the Leadville Lions Club tree lot housed in the parking lot of Centennial Real Estate at 1020 Poplar Street ranging in size and price from $15 - 45.
And don’t feel guilty about cutting down a tree for just a few weeks of enjoyment, in most cases each tree that is harvested is replaced with one or more new trees. After all Christmastime symbolism runs deep for these majestic beauties. Of course there's the pure green color (at least in most of Lake County!) of the stately fir tree which remains green all year round, depicting the everlasting hope of mankind. There's no doubt that these evergreens are a hueful inspiration during the long, colorless winters.
So this week, as the holiday hustle and bustle of an otherwise slow paced alpine existence revs up and starts to make you see red, take a moment and see green, the evergreen. Go, stand close to the Christmas tree, take in its beautiful decorative symbols. Or better yet, get outside and be among the trees, breathe in deep the piney scent. 'Tis the season.
Kathy Bedell writes a weekly column for The Leadville Chronicle. She may be reached at grpkin@hotmail.com.
This time of year we decorate the blue spruces on our lawns as well as bring the endearing firs from our forests into our living rooms, donned with lights, ribbons and hand-painted ornaments.
So much of the season is centered around the twinkling tree, songs are written about it (O Christmas Tree), it’s where we gather to exchange gifts and to admire its beauty and heritage from ornaments passed down from generation to generation.
It is from Germany that we get many of our present day Yuletide customs: the songs, images of Santa, hand-blown glass ornaments and the Christmas tree is no exception. In fact, the story begins over 1,200 years ago in Germany. It seems that while Saint Boniface was trying to convert Germans to Christianity he came across a group of pagans worshipping a mighty oak tree. Well that false idol wouldn’t do, so this patron saint of Germany took out an axe and cut the oak down, only to have a young fir tree spring up from the roots of the oak. For some reason, Boniface took the fir – as opposed to the oak – as a sign of the Christian faith and from that incident a Yuletide tradition was born.
Fast forward some eleven hundred years to the British reign of the very popular Queen Victoria. Seems the queen often visited relatives in Germany where she eventually met and married Prince Albert. So it was Albert who brought this German Tannenbaum tradition and all its beautifully hand-blown glass ornaments to our Motherland. And since everyone liked Queen Victoria, it didn’t take long for her Christmas customs to migrate to America.
But the custom spread slowly. In fact, ironically it wasn’t until the depression that the tradition really caught on. As it turned out, nurseries had a hard time selling their evergreens for landscaping and ended up cutting them down for Christmas trees. The public eventually preferred cultivated trees because they have a more symmetrical shape than wild ones.
However, for us mountain folks, it was the wild evergreens that allowed for the pioneers’ early survival. Lodgepole pines have been used for fenceposts, corral rails, utility poles, paneling, railroad ties, and pulpwood. And then there are the basic shelter and heat purposes that still hold true in the Cloud City some 130 years later.
This year, early indicators suggest that a struggling economy is not having a negative impact on Christmas tree sales. In fact sales are actually up compared to last year. After all, most people see a Christmas tree as a necessity during the holiday season, and they're willing to pay whatever it takes for the right one. Remember, if time is short this season, support a good local cause and simply pick one up from the Leadville Lions Club tree lot housed in the parking lot of Centennial Real Estate at 1020 Poplar Street ranging in size and price from $15 - 45.
And don’t feel guilty about cutting down a tree for just a few weeks of enjoyment, in most cases each tree that is harvested is replaced with one or more new trees. After all Christmastime symbolism runs deep for these majestic beauties. Of course there's the pure green color (at least in most of Lake County!) of the stately fir tree which remains green all year round, depicting the everlasting hope of mankind. There's no doubt that these evergreens are a hueful inspiration during the long, colorless winters.
So this week, as the holiday hustle and bustle of an otherwise slow paced alpine existence revs up and starts to make you see red, take a moment and see green, the evergreen. Go, stand close to the Christmas tree, take in its beautiful decorative symbols. Or better yet, get outside and be among the trees, breathe in deep the piney scent. 'Tis the season.
Kathy Bedell writes a weekly column for The Leadville Chronicle. She may be reached at grpkin@hotmail.com.
