Origins

We've noticed that decorations for Christmas up here are a little different that in our homeland origins (in the Mid-Atlantic and the South).

Where S and I grew up, folks decorate their houses with lots of lights. So much so, that both S and my mom's side of the family have a tradition of driving through neighborhoods close to Christmas time and seeing all the pretty lights. You might have or have had this tradition too. Sometimes Santa brings the presents while the family is out doing this sightseeing, and it's a big deal.

Well, S and I have been on a mission to have that tradition ourselves (sadly, minus Santa). The only thing is, lights are quite different here. Instead of pristine homesteads with all the windows and trees festooned with color-coordinated light sets, we, on our ventures, have seen either a) the crazy house in multiple locations - you know the one, they are committed to having every type of decoration on their property possible, including, around where we live, a human-sized snow globe and a human-sized Ferris wheel with elves riding on it; Or we see 2) wreaths - just wreaths, and lots of them.

Here it is never enough to have one wreath on the door. Oh, no. Wreaths must be placed on every flat surface of the home if possible.

(This home has a wreath on every window and on every door. This means that if you look hard enough, you should be able to count 21 wreaths in this picture alone.)

All this wreath mania had me wondering what it is about the Christmas wreath that made it so special. Honestly, I had no idea why wreaths were used to celebrate Christmas, until I read this gem of a website, for the holiday geek in all of us. It said:

In ancient Rome, people used decorative wreaths as a sign of victory. Some believe that this is where the hanging of wreaths on doors came from. The origins of the Advent wreath are found in the folk practices of the pre-Christian Germanic peoples who, during the cold December darkness of Eastern Europe, gathered wreaths of evergreen and lighted fires as signs of hope in a coming spring and renewed light. Christians kept these popular traditions alive, and by the 16th century Catholics and Protestants throughout Germany used these symbols to celebrate their Advent hope in Christ, the everlasting Light. From Germany the use of the Advent wreath spread to other parts of the Christian world. Traditionally, the wreath is made of four candles in a circle of evergreens with a fifth candle in the middle. Three candles are violet and the fourth is rose, but four white candles or four violet candles can also be used. Each day at home, the candles are lighted, perhaps before the evening meal-- one candle the first week, and then another each succeeding week until December 25th. A short prayer may accompany the lighting of each candle. The last candle is the middle candle. The lighting of this candle takes place on Christmas Eve. It represents Jesus Christ being born.

It makes me laugh to think that to truly celebrate traditionally with a Christmas wreath, a lot of houses in our area would have to stage multi-hour candle lighting ceremonies, not to mention quite dangerous ones! - each night. Instead, I think the wreaths here have become yet another competition in our local world - instead of having the brightest house with the most straight little lines of Christmas lights around the windows, or the biggest, most beautiful tree in the window, it is an all out wreath camouflage war around here. I suppose I could rationalize the multi-wreathed homes with the idea that their inhabitants live in a colder climate than S and I grew up in, and so we need that hope of spring, but really, it's just people trying to outdo one another (we've gotten 2 inches of snow all year, guys, so we're not pre-Germanic Eastern Europe).
 
I'm glad I learned about the history of this tradition, and think the pre-Christians really epitomized how wreaths should be used for this season. Sure, the baby Jesus, the reason we now celebrate Christmas, is about victory, and sure, it gets cold this time of year, but I think this whole holiday is mostly about the pure and unadulterated hope of coming life and the love we have for it.