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    Unlike many other trees in folk-lore, pines, firs and cedars succumb to the trait of all looking very similar and having the overwhelming similar trait of remaining green all through the year. So there tend not to be beliefs surrounding the Scots Pine, Swamp Cypress, Caucasian Pine and so on, but lore about evergreen trees with needles instead of broad leaves in general whether they are from Egypt, Greece, Scandinavia or Siberia.

    Winter in northern countries is harsh and as the year progresses, most of the trees, the deciduous ones lost their leaves and "died" for the season, only a few kinds of tree were still "alive". So evergreen trees came to symbolize immortality. They were thought to contain good spirits and possess magical powers that had resisted the evil spirits that had overcome and "killed" the deciduous trees. Where the evergreen was, the evil spirits could not go and so evergreen branches were brought indoors into peoples houses.

Over time, the original intentions of bringing such greenery into houses was forgotten and the evergreen became simply decorative. Branches were made into ropes or garlands and draped over mantelpieces, mirrors, pictures and along the ceiling.

    Decorating whole trees was initially a pagan tradition from the Upper Rhine region of Germany, trees were also sometimes placed in village squares. As ever the church did not want to be seen to be ignored in such matters, nor did it wish that people still practised old pagan rituals and festivities, so by around the 15th and into the 16th centuries, the idea of decorating trees with apples arose to symbolize Adam and Eve's expulsion from Eden. Such trees were known as "Paradise Trees" and were erected in time for December the 24th, the feast day of Adam and Eve. At a time when many people could not read or did not have access to books, the tree became the centre of a "Paradise Play" used to teach the creation of man and the fall from grace of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden

    The first record of a decorated tree at Christmas is from Germany, Strasburg in 1605 when there is a description of fir trees festooned with "paper, apples, gold-foil and sweets". The star atop the tree was added to recall the star on the first Christmas night. Decorations were mainly made of food items, wafers, sweets and fruits. Later on small gifts were hung on the trees too.

    Candles were then added to the decorations as symbols of the returning sun and because in Christian tradition, they represent Christ as the Light of the World. This idea is said to derive from Martin Luther, while walking home one star-lit winter's night he was awe struck by the brilliant stars in the dark night sky as a backdrop to evergreen trees To teach others that Christ was "light of the world" he placed candles on an evergreen tree to emulate the scene he witnessed.

    Christmas trees were brought to England in the early 1800's but it was Prince Albert the consort of Queen Victoria who popularised the practice in Britain later in the century by erecting a large Christmas Tree in Windsor Castle in 1841 as it was the tradition in his native Germany.

    There are many legends about Christmas trees that are quite clearly thought up after the event to explain the way things are. One such story about a woodcutter for instance has the man helping a poor hungry child in the forest on Christmas Eve (in other versions the child knocks at the woodcutters door). The next day (Christmas Day) the child reappears to the man and his wife and reveals that he is in fact the Christ Child, he breaks a branch from a fir tree and gives it to the couple (or plants a small fir tree next to the door). He tells them to plant and look after it and at Christmas it will bear fruit, sure enough as promised the tree becomes covered with fruit - in some versions there are apples of gold and nuts of silver.

    Another legend tells of Saint Boniface an English monk a missionary who organized the early Christian Church in France and Germany. He came about a group of people gathered around an oak tree in 725 A.D. (sometimes said to be the sacred Donar Oak near Geismar) about to sacrifice a child (in other versions he takes them out specifically to find an oak in the forest). To save the child's life or to show that the oak is just a tree and not sacred (depending on the version) he fells the tree with an axe (or even just a single mighty blow of his fist!). As it falls, the mighty oak fells all the other trees in it's path except for a single small fir tree (or in its place grows a single fir tree) Boniface tells the pagans that the evergreen fir is the Tree of Life and represents the eternal life of Christ.

    Initially Christmas trees were rather a luxury item only for the well-to-do, but as time went on and people became more affluent and goods cheaper, Christmas trees came into the reach of all. They soon caught on and today, we can't imagine a house decorated for Christmas without a tree as the centre of it all.

The Yule Log

    Great fires of evergreen logs were burned by druids in the winter solstice to draw back the sun and is thought to have become the custom of burning the Yule Log.

    The burning of the Yule Log was at one time one of the most firmly adhered to of the Christmas customs. First of all a Yule log had to be obtained either from one's own land or from a neighbours wood, buying one was unlucky. It should be a substantial piece of wood, sometimes a tree stump or root would do the job just as well that was brought home on Christmas Eve and laid on the fire hearth.

The log should be lit using a left over and carefully saved piece of last year's Yule log. It would have spent the intervening year under the owners bed where it performed stalwart service in keeping the house safe from fires and lightning. Clean hands were required to handle the new and old logs so as not be disrespectful and if the log didn't light first time it was a sure sign of impending misfortune for the family.

Once alight, the log had to be kept burning for at least 12 hours, it could be tended at all during the long Christmas Eve supper as long as a scrap of food remained on the table or if anyone was still eating. As it burned so Christmas ghost stories and tales of olden times were told washed down with the customary cider or perry (a cider-like drink made from pears rather than apples).

    In scientific terms, the Yule log is the perfect symbol of stored life and the returning sun. The log exists because of an extraordinary sequence of events whereby the light energy of the sun has been captured during the process of photosynthesis that powers all plants. A series of physical and chemical reactions has led to chemical bonds storing light energy, when these bonds are "snapped" by burning, out comes the stored light and heat.

More Christmas lore: Holly | Ivy | Mistletoe

Evergreen plants have been considered to be potent symbols of growth and re-birth particularly in Europe and Western Asia for thousands of years. They were used in winter festivities as a means of ensuring that life and growth would return again in the spring.

The plants that we now bring into our homes at Christmas time are almost without exception, taken from pagan midwinter feasts of Northern Europe rather than from Christian origins and pre-date modern religious significance which has been overlaid onto the older traditions.

One of the main differences is that we now bring such greenery into our homes much sooner than used to be done. Theoretically it shouldn't be brought into the house until Christmas Eve as this was considered bad luck. Although Christmas is just far too exciting an event for most people who celebrate it to wait - particularly if you have children!