A Holiday Tree For the White House

President Obama has announced that this year the White House will have a “holiday” tree instead of the traditional “Christmas” tree. This seems to have raised quite an uproar in the Christian community, and I have to admit, it really bothered me to an extent, as well. Then I began thinking about the symbolism of a Christmas tree and its origins and a different train of thought began to emerge. One only has to do a little research to find interesting facts about our tradition. First of all, decorating a tree during December is strictly a Pagan rite. The tree was originally set up outside and decorated with seeds, bread and other treats for the wildlife. Pagans believe that the Yule, approximately December 21st, is the beginning of the year as this is when the days grow longer. The tree was a celebration of this event, as well as the Yule log, which was supposed to be large enough to burn continuously throughout the 24 hour celebration. From the information I could find, the Christian community adopted this tradition in order to attract the Pagans to their faith. This was decided during the reign of Constantine, who saw his empire being torn apart because of warring religious factions. Constantine, who was Pagan himself, organized a council of religious leaders at Niceae in 325, three centuries after Christ’s death. These leaders voted on what rites and celebrations would be included in the Christian faith, as well as what writings were important enough to include in the official bible. Constantine converted to Christianity to keep his empire together and the newly reformed Christian faith was begun.
Since it is not recorded as to when the exact date of Christ’s birth, the Catholic Pope set December 25 as that time, and the event was celebrated as “Christ’s Mass” or “Christmas”. Personally, I don’t believe that Jesus was born in the heart of winter, but in the spring of the year. My reason for this belief is the mention of the shepherds watching over their flocks in the fields, which was more likely to be done in the warmer spring months.
So why would President Obama’s decision bother so many Christian? I believe it is because Christians feel their identity is being lost. America has always been a Christian country. With the influence of each new wave of immigrants, new beliefs and traditions are brought to this country, and we become more of a melting pot. I feel that our President is trying to show respect to all faiths in his actions. I would caution him, though, to not bend so far in trying to make this a country of all faiths that he loses sight of what has made this country last as long as it has under one government. The majority of Americans still have a basic belief in God and we live our lives according to our own personal relationships with him. I, as many of the Christian faith do, feel that our identity as a God-fearing nation is being slowly eroded into a cacophony of differing faiths, gods, beliefs, and traditions. An event which I feel will, in time, bring this great country to its knees.