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Christmas Tree
Legend Told
The lights of the Christmas tree, most beautiful when reflected in the eyes of a child, will bring peace and joy to millions of homes again this season, as they have for centuries.
But how did it begin? Why do we connect trees and lights with the birth of the Babe whom Christians consider the Messiah? There are several stories about the origin of the Christmas tree. People in Scandinavia once worshipped trees, and, explains World Book Encyclopedia, they made evergreen trees part of Christian festivals when they became Christians. One legend tells how the iirst Christmas tree was shown in a miracle to the English missionary Winfrid (later called Boniface). More :han 1,200 years ago, while traveling in what is now northern Germany, Winfrid found a group of heathens at an oak tree, about to sacrifice a child to the god Thor. Winfrid stopped the sacrifice and cut down the "blood oak." As the oak fell, according to the legend, a young fir tree appeared. Winfrid said the fir was the tree of life, representing Christ. The Germans probably were the first to decorate Christmas trees. They used stars, angels, toys, gilded nuts, and candies wrapped in bright .paper, and later added tinsel and lighted candles. Scandinavians at one time trimmed their trees with little flags. Now they also use cookies, apples, and guilded nuts. In the United States and Canada, homemade paper ornaments, candy canes, and strings of cranberries and pop corn were popular before the advent of shiny colored balls and strings of colored electric lights.
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