History of the Christmas Wreath: Germanic Tradition and Victorian Craft-lore

Written by Jordan Dickie - DeLong Farms

     The history of the Christmas wreath is a story reaching far back into the Norse forests of pre-Christian Germany and continuing along the years of Roman Catholic Christian influence until, finally, its more contemporary form was realized in the 19th century Victorian Christmas wreath.  From its cultural conception as a Germanic pagan tradition during the Winter Solstice, evergreens were used as a symbol of life and survival during the shorter, harsher days of deepest winter.  When the shape and material of these Germanic wreaths were incorporated into the Holy Roman Catholic Church around the 8th century, they were adopted into the celebration of the Church’s own “Christ’s Mass”.  As time progressed and Christmas found itself reformed during the Victorian era, German Christmas traditions were brought to England where they were embraced as symbols of the Holiday season.  From ancient history to today, the origin of the Christmas wreath is a fascinating genealogy. 

     The Celtic Origin of the Christmas Wreath:

     During the pre-Christian era of Northern Europe, Celtic peoples lived in forests that they believed were inhabited by nature spirits and gods both magnificent and malicious.  The sway of nature was felt all around these ancient pagan peoples as they witnessed the passing of the seasons, the shortening and the lengthening of the days, and believed these natural events to be the result of spiritual and divine dominion.   They would sacrifice and worship symbols of nature that represented what they believed to be the spirits and gods that could have great influence over their survival in the wilderness.  It would be natural for these people, who had to work during the summer and fall to store as much food as they could, to see the shortening of the days and the coming of winter as an enchanted season that was well worth their evocation and sacrifice.

     When the days were at their shortest, and winter was at its pinnacle, ancient Germanic peoples would celebrate the Winter Solstice.  A ceremony as much tradition as it was supplementation, the Winter Solstice was the pagan celebration of the Norse god Jul (pronounced “Yule”) and the return to longer days and the coming of spring.  Contemporary renditions still exist in today’s Yuletide festival and the burning of the Yule log.  The Winter Solstice was an important fertility celebration as it was an appeal to the gods to continue with the coming of spring.  The pagan Yule log itself was a massive log that was so large that it would burn for twelve days of feasting and sacrifice, and each spark that rose from the flames was said to be a pig or calf to be born in spring.  These celebrations were, for these ancient peoples, as much a celebration of the coming spring as a prayer that they would live to see it.

     Importantly, these Celtic people recognized what they saw as a natural power against the darker magics of winter and death in the plants that stayed green throughout the year.  Mistletoe, holly, and evergreens were mystical flora that somehow managed to defy the natural seasons and survive in what the Germanic peoples would have seen as a frozen landscape that claimed all life.  To evoke the spirits that inhabited these plants and hopefully share in their protection, Germanic peoples would bring these plants into their homes and fashion them into shrines and crafts that would serve as blessings and wards against the malevolent ghosts and spirits that haunted the forests at night.  One of the most important plants was the evergreen; these trees serving as a symbol of life enduring the fading of the sun and the frozen winds of winter.  Understandably, these evergreens were adopted into Winter Solstice celebrations and evocations of longer days.

     Traditionally, evergreens were hung in bushels over the windows as a means of warding evil spirits and ghosts away from people’s homes.  During the Winter Solstice, evergreens would have been hung as a symbolic ward against the very darkness of winter.  Whole trees, called Yule trees, would have been brought indoors in the hopes of the spirits of the trees sharing their homes and protecting the inhabitants as well as soliciting a speedy winter.  The fragrance of the evergreens would have served as a natural incense, and the needles and cones were burned to insure the blessings of the spirits of the evergreens. 

     An important addition to the home during the Winter Solstice would have been an evergreen wreath.  Not yet our contemporary Christmas wreath, hung on windows and doors, the Celtic evergreen wreath was more similar to the Christian Advent wreath today.  These pagan wreaths served as tiny shrines to the God Jul, and his blessings for the coming spring.  The Celtic wreath was a common symbol of the natural cycles of the seasons and nature, crafted from many different floras and used in many different celebrations throughout the year.  During the Winter Solstice, however, the material was selectively chosen from evergreens; their natural symbolism of life surviving in the darkest of winter months making them the first choice as spiritual protector.  Tied to a frame of bows, the evergreens were decorated with many different seeds and dried fruits and berries to help fortify the spell and symbolize the fertility of the coming harvest.  Finally, and most importantly, the evergreen wreath would have been adorned with candles to rekindle the warmer sunlight of longer days and the usurping of the darkness of winter with the warming light of spring.

     The German Advent Wreath:

     After the 8th century A.D., Catholic missionaries from the Holy Roman Catholic Church began to have an influence on the Celtic peoples of what is today Northern Germany and the Netherlands.  With the coming of Christianity, though many pagan tribes adopted the Catholic faith, they still retained many of their Celtic traditions.  In many ways, the Holy Roman Catholic Church accommodated the local beliefs of the peoples they converted in the North, shifting the themes of these pagan ceremonies and traditions towards a more Christian focus instead.  The Yule tree became a symbol of the holy trinity and the resurrection of Christ in the darkness of his death; a tradition of the Catholic’s “Christ’s Mass” instead of the Winter Solstice.  The Celtic evergreen wreaths of the Winter Solstice too reformed into a Christian equivalent: the contemporary Advent wreath.

     The Christian Advent wreath is very similar to its Celtic predecessor: it was still bows of evergreens tied with string to a bent ring of wood; there would, even today, be decorations of dried fruit and berries; and a series of candles would be lit during the evening to symbolize the coming of some divine intervention.  The only difference today is the Christian ceremony of Advent and the lighting of the Advent candles before Christmas, focusing on the worship of the Christian savior instead of the Norse god Jul.  After the 8th century, the Christian Advent wreath became a religious centre of the home in Germany instead of the pagan wreath of the Winter Solstice.   

  Please Follow this link to the second half of this article - The Victorian Christmas Wreath