Ancient history of Christmas tree : Altai hypothesis.
It is well known, that tradition of Christmas tree was in use at
Northern Europe of XVI century.
Legend has it that Martin Luther began the tradition of decorating trees to celebrate Christmas. One crisp Christmas Eve, about the year 1500, he was walking through snow-covered woods and was struck by the beauty of a group of small evergreens. Their branches, dusted with snow, shimmered in the moonlight. When he got home, he set up a little fir tree indoors so he could share this story with his children. He decorated it with candles, which he lighted in honor of Christ's birth.
The city of Riga, Latvia claims to be home of the first holiday tree, an octagonal plaque in the town square reads "The First New Years Tree in Riga in 1510", in eight different languages.
But, a little known nowadays, how, when and
why it appeared at Europe.
One possible hypothesis is closely related with
http://www.shakespeare.uk.net/altai_hypothesis.html
Altai Hypothesis
Of
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-Europeans
Indo - European civilizations.
Some historians argue that Christianity in its European form, as well as
tradition of New Year and Christmas celebration has easy recognizable
predecessor - believes of people in
http://www.adji.ru/main_en.html
Great Steppes and Altai region.
They used runic alphabets, almost the same as runic alphabets of
Europe, they had a tradition to celebrate New Year at winter, and it
was birthday of
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulgan
Ulgan deity - creator of universe. The totem of this deity is fir-tree.
Those beliefs are part of
http://www.answers.com/Tengriism?nafid=3
Tengriism
- ancient believe, which still practiced at Siberia in the form of Shamanism.
http://www.answers.com/topic/huns
Hunns,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khazars
Khazars,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythians
Scythians,
and point of view exist, even
http://dienekes.50webs.com/blog/archives/000425.html
Native Americans
practiced some forms of Tengriism.
But, according modern
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaman
Shamans of Siberia,
who are ancestors of Tengriism, tree is symbol of eternity, it is «worlds
tree».
So, it is very probable, Christmas tree tradition is very old one. It was
brought to us through many centuries - from eastern Siberia,
then to Great Steppes of Russia / Ukraine, next, probably through
Attila the Hun, to Europe, next, to Christianity.
Finally, nowadays, we still celebrate Christmas with «Worlds
Tree», which is ancient symbol of universe, eternity and
creation.
Alexander manage internet shops,
http://www.rus-sell.com
Shops sell Russian traditional consumer goods, porcelain, glass, pottery, metalware, home decor.
