Sorry, but there's nothing at all Christian about decorated fir trees -
nor are they of any great antiquity - at least in the English speaking
world.  The traditional household (and church) Christmas symbol in the
Catholic and Orthodox worlds was the nativity scene, either painted or as
a sculpted thee-dimensional Crib. Incidentally - there's a museum link
here: the first museum dioramas (in Munich) were created for the Deutsches
Museum by nativity crib carvers!

It is generally accepted that the Christmas Tree was introduced to
England by Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, in the 1840s.  Indeed
Protestant Britain didn't celebrate Christmas to any great extent until
the late 19th century.  Remember that in Dickens' "Christmas Carol" (which
in fact did so much to promote Christmas as a family celebration)
Christmas Day was an ordinary working day for everyone, not just Scrooge.
Though Christmas Day eventually became a public holiday in England, Wales
and Ireland, Presbyterian Scotland stuck out until the past couple of
decades, regarding New Year's Day as the "proper" winter festival (and the
official public holiday in legal terms), with Christmas Day remaining a
normal working day until very recently. In many continental European
countries there are December festivals and the giving of gifts, but linked
to other festivals and feats, notably St. Nicholas.

However, there's no doubt that since the 1940s the idea of a secular
Christmas celebration has become internationalised along with the
globalisation of the media (Bing Crosby's "White Christmas", international
television) and brilliant marketing by shop-keepers - summed up so well in
Tom Lehrer's "I'm Dreaming of a GREEN[-back!] Christmas" so that almost
every cultural and religious tradition (and those with none) have been
drawn in. I think I remember a distinguished Jewish historian friend
saying that traditionally Chanukah was a very minor festival until
American Jews  felt they had to respond to the pressure of the
present-day (commercial - and not in any significant way religious!)
manifestation of Christmas.

One final point from the other side of the Big Pond: do US museums have
the same hang-ups over decorating the building for, and otherwise
celebrating in a traditional way, Thanksgiving - also strongly religious
in origin?

Patrick Boylan

===================================

++++ CLIP ++++

>
> >      But would you really say (and I'm not being sarcastic) that the
> >      Christmas tree as we know it today is a Christian symbol?  If so,
> why?
> >
> Really, John, yes it is.
> It may be a relic from a pagan era, but has been appropriated by the
> majority of members of a dominant religion. Call it an X-mass tree, it is
> still not a symbol of X-ianism.