Christmas Tree Has Deep Roots
Today the Christmas Tree is a
central feature of the Christmas
celebrations but its origins are
ancient and pre-date Christianity.
Pagans used trees as part of
their religious ceremonies The
Druids decorated Oak trees with
fruit and candles in honour of
their Gods of the Harvest. Dur—
ing the Roman festival of
Saturnalia, trees were decorated
with gifis and candles. The Vi-
kings regarded evergreen conif-
erous trees as symbols that the
darkness of Winter would end
and that Spring would return.
So how did the Tree become
part of Christmas?
One legend tells of St.
Boniface who encountered some
German pagans about to sacri-
fice a child at the base of an Oak
tree. He cut down the Oak to pre-
vent the sacrifice and a Fir tree
grew in its place. St Boniface told
the pagans that this was the Tree
We wish all our Friends & Customers a
Merry Christmas
Protection Storage
Johnny Patty Gean
620—622-4600
Protection
‘
Thursday
Dec. 24, 2015
of Life and represented Christ.
Another legend ascribes the
Christmas tree to Martin Luther,
the founder of Protestantism.
The legend tells how Luther saw
the stars shining through the
branches of a forest as he walked
at night giving him an impres—
sion of twinkling lights. The
beauty of this so impressed him
that he cut down a small ever-
green and brought it into his
home to recreate the scene us-
ing lighted candles on the tree’s
branches.
Germany seems to have
started the use of a decorated
tree as part of Christmas. When
trees were scarce a wooden pyra-
mid was sometimes used and this
would be decorated with
branches and candles.
The use of the Christmas tree
spread to America with German
emigrants.
Nowadays the Christmas
tre:, (real or synthetic), is seen
wrrldwide in homes, churches,
wcrkplaces and cities.
‘Xmas’ Originated
With the Church
The abbreviation of Xmas for
Christmas is not irreligious.
The first letter of the word
Christ in Greek is chi, which is
identical to our X. Xmas was
originally an ecclesiastical abbre-
viation that was used in tables
and charts.
In the early days of printing,
when font sizes were limited and
type was set by hand, abbrevia—
tions and ditto marks were used
liberally.
Xmas came into general use
from the church, not as a “lazy
and sacreligious” term designed
to take Christ’s name out of
Ch‘istmas,” as many believe.
Chris tma
and a
to all our
Friends and
Customers
Happy New Year
CMS Electric Cooperative
Touchstone Energy” Partner m
A
1-800-794-2353
Alva \[ision Clinic
Dr. Troy Smith &
Dr. Callie Mosburg
Both Doctors are now
approved providers of
Vision Care Direct.
Also Sooner Care, Medicare,
PVCS, BlueCross/BlueShield,
Superior & SVP
Call 580-327-2393 or 1 800-350-2393
for an appointment.
Hours: Mon. & Thurs. 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Tues. & Wed. 7:30 a.m. 5:30 pm.
Closed Noon-1 p.m. Daily
504 College Ave. Alva, Okla.
With deepest appreciation
for your business and with
sincere best wishes for a
Merry Christmas Happy New Year
We would like to wish all our
friends and customers Happy
Holidays, and to especial/y
thank you all for your
friendship and business
during this past year.
ll start MACK;
Tony Lisa Gales, Pharmacists
582-21 34
Beeley Propane
Goldwater 582-2602 113 E. Main
Coldwater
