– by Susan Tice, Russell Nursery –
Christmas means something different to everyone and there are many ways to celebrate it (or not!).
Family traditions play an important role in Christmas celebrations and serve to connect us to each other and to our past. These days families are scattered and fragmented, but traditions draw us back together and create the memories that sustain us. There is comfort in recreating Mum’s shortbread or Gran’s mincemeat tarts. Such efforts often seem to involve a flurry of phone calls and texts as recipe details are decoded, results are proudly shared and the traditions carry on.
Many of our traditions revolve around decorating the house and getting it ready for company. The right tree is selected, the ornaments are dug out, greenery is draped over doorways and railings and the wreath is hung on the front door. The tradition of decorating our homes with evergreens dates back to ancient times. In pagan cultures evergreens represented eternal life and were placed over doorways to celebrate the winter solstice and to ward off evil spirits. Holly, ivy, and even pine cones all had symbolic meaning and these symbols were adapted into Christian celebrations where, for example, holly came to represent the Crown of Thorns. The ancient symbolism of the plants we associate with Christmas has been forgotten over time, but to us they symbolize festivity and family traditions. They smell like Christmas and they look like Christmas!
When first adopted into the Church, evergreen wreaths were meant to lie flat on a table where they became Advent wreaths. Five candles were added and during each week of Advent one more candle was lit, with the last one being lit on Christmas Day. Somewhere along the way, people started to hang wreaths on their doors as a way to welcome guests into their homes, and a modern tradition was born.
About 15 years ago we started teaching wreath-making classes at Russell Nursery and over that time we have seen some new traditions started. The classes have become a way for friends and family members to get together to do something creative and fun. The fire is on, the smell of spiced cider is in the air and it’s a welcome break from the crazy, often exhausting pace of Christmas preparations. Many people come back year after year and I know that while some of them probably won’t remember what they got for Christmas, they will remember the warmth and laughter they shared as they made the wreaths for their front doors from a pile of evergreens, holly and pine cones.
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