On the meaning of the Christmas tree:

My wife and I have been putting up a Christmas tree of the twenty years we
have been married.  She is a devout Christian.  I am not.  Neither of of,
however, celebrate Christmas as a Christian holiday.  Her denomination
doesn't recognize December 25 as the real birth day of Christ.  I don't
recognized Christ as a devine.

We celebrate the holiday as part of the Winter Soltice, putting up the tree
as a symbol of renewal.

A devout Christian once challenged me on this practice and, after I
explained our philosophy, she said that we could not then, give gifts.
 When I asked why, she said that gift-giving was a Christian practice,
beginning with the wise men!
Needless to say, I did not carry on that conversation.

The point is that the tree or any other gesture during the mid-winter (or
mid-summer, as one noted) holiday perioed, can be symbols of any kind of
renewal, or re-birth to which one wishes to attribute them.

May I suggest to the Christians out there that the symbolism of Christ has
very much to do with re-birth?

------
Robert Handy
Brazoria County Historical Museum
100 East Cedar
Angleton, Texas  77515
(409) 864-1208
museum_bob
[log in to unmask]
http://www.bchm.org

----------
From:   Ross Weeks Jr.[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Monday, August 24, 1998 9:14 AM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: CHRISTMAS SYMBOLS (was "The Holidays")

And this means that museums must ignore our culture?
-----Original Message-----
From: Allison Weiss <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.museum-l
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sunday, August 23, 1998 5:30 PM
Subject: Re: CHRISTMAS SYMBOLS (was "The Holidays")



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