Dear All
Compliments of the season to you all and we do hope that Santa is kind to
you. Not strictly news or an event but we just wanted to take an opportunity
to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Winter is a beautiful time in woodland as the pictures attached to this
article show; they were kindly forwarded to us by Chris Stephens a member of
the Lineover Wood Group and the pictures show Lineover nr Cheltenham,
Gloucestershire, in its full winter glory.
Now with only a few days to Christmas I’m sure you will have spent plenty of
time like me standing in queues in shops and spend time wrapping presents in
front of the television showing nothing put ‘Pop Idol! Its easy to forget
what Christmas is all about. So I started to think, I have watched nativity
plays for years and even performed in them when I was very young – no trees
– and yet one of the most symbolic things about Christmas is the decoration
of a tree; I know its not a native broadleaf but all the same at some stage
a tree became am important part of Christmas and I wondered how and why?
Well I discovered many reasons, my two personal favourites are below, and as
you can see they both mention an oak tree!! However, having started to think
about trees I moved onto shrubs, flowers etc to find out about holly, ivy,
Christmas roses, poinsettias and many more which I will not bore you with.
I’m not sure I have a moral to this rambling but I would certainly like to
thank Chris. His pictures made me revisit Christmas and why we celebrate and
why it is an important festival. It also encouraged me to do a bit of
research which I enjoyed and made a pleasant change from shopping!!!
If you have any pictures of your woods at Christmas and you can forward them
to me (we promise to return all hard copies) I think we might do a feature
in the forthcoming Newsletter and see if we can’t keep that festive feel
going a bit longer.
Well we wish you all happy and enjoyable Christmas holiday and wish you all
the best for 2004
The Legends of the Christmas Tree
There is a legend that comes down to us from the early days of Christianity
in England. In those times, there was a holy man named Wilfred. One day,
surrounded by a group of his converts, he struck down a huge oak tree. The
oak had been an object of worship to the Druids. As the oak tree fell to the
earth, it split into four pieces, and from its centre there grew a young fir
tree.
Wilfred turned to his followers and said, "This little tree shall be your
holy tree for Christmas. It is the sign of an endless life, for its leaves
are evergreen, and its spire points toward the heavens. Let this be called
the tree of the Christ Child. Bring it into your homes and gather around it
a Christmas time."
And from that time to this, the fir tree has been the symbol of the holy
season.
The story of the first Christmas Tree
The legend of the Christmas tree dates back to the eighth century, when
Saint Boniface left England to spread the gospel in Germany. One day as he
was walking through a forest, Boniface saw a group of people worshipping an
oak tree. As he moved closer, Boniface was horrified to discover that they
were also preparing to sacrifice a little boy to their pagan god. Boniface
rushed forward and released the boy; then he chopped down the oak tree. As
the tree fell he noticed a little fir tree growing up among its roots.
‘This will be your holy emblem,’ said Boniface. ‘Your houses are made of
pine wood - the wood of peace, and the fir tree’s evergreen needles will
remind you of God’s everlasting love; its pointed branches will remind you
always to look up to Heaven.’
It was Martin Luther who thought of bringing a fir tree indoors and
decorating it with candles, but it was not until 1846 that Prince Albert
introduced the first Christmas Tree to England.
|
News item - December 2003
Lineover Wood |
