Christmas Decorations

Christmas decorations are big business for retailers throughout the entire world, and those that sparkle with glitter will fly off the retail shelves this coming holiday. As the winter season approaches and holiday fan-fair arrives, that old holiday spirit will grow in anticipation of the celebrated season. These products are a large part of the festive traditions surrounding December 25th, and most homes across the American nation will have halls decked with holly and mistletoe atop doorways. The holiday just wouldn't be the same without the green and red Christmas ornaments for the tree.

Most Christians celebrating the season recognized as Christ's birth have no idea how many of the original holiday traditions evolved. Interestingly, some Christmas decorations represent religious practices that are directly opposed to the Christian belief that Christ was born and died to save the world from sin and eternal hell. Christians may want to know why their purchases could be symbols that do not glorify Christ. The tree decorated with Christmas ornaments is derived from a religious practice that dates back to before Christ's birth. In Jeremiah 10:2-5, the prophet Jeremiah warns God's people to not partake in a pagan ritual of cutting down a tree and decorating it with silver and gold. "For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold: they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not" (Jeremiah 10:3-4). It appears that decorating a tree is derived from a religious practice long before the birth of Christ and this practice has made its way to modern day Christmas ornaments.

The original practice of cutting down and decorating a tree is found in the traditions of the pagan worship of the sun-god Nimrod. A log, known as a Yule-log, was placed on the fire in a home to symbolize the death of Nimrod, and a tree was resurrected in the home the next day to symbolize Nimrod's "rising" again in his son, Tammus. The trees in the home were decorated with small red berries and other ornamental balls to symbolize the sun and the god of the sun they worshipped. Today, Christians place Christmas ornaments on green trees and Christmas decorations of red berries and balls are found throughout the home. And while most Christians innocently have no idea what these symbols mean, a study and examination of why we do what we do could help us focus more intently on Christ.

There are many more holiday traditions based on religious practices that have roots in paganism and religions that do not recognize Christ as the Savior of the world. Perhaps to keep Christ as the center of our worship, Christians should evaluate their holiday traditions, including Christmas decorations, and what each truly stands for. It's true that the Christmas season is a time when Christians celebrate the birth of Christ, but as Christmas becomes more and more secularized across the nation, the opportunity to assess our reasons for the season are at hand.

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