or even earlier weapons of defeated enemies would be harvested and burned. Today, we sacrifice a ham or turkey, maybe a duck, but in going back to 5 B.C.E. This precursor to the Christmas we celebrate today with presents, feasting, and er, sacrifice goes back to at least 5 B.C.E. If we go back to the furthest historic mentions of the Christmas tree itself, was it right-side up or upside down? Well, the earliest mentions we have of a tree associated with a spiritual or religious celebration is the fir tree brought indoors in the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia during the third week of December. The Christmas tree has its origins in the celebration of Saturnalia Inspiration and motivation is what it’s about, baby. I’m willing to bet that the classes you did well in or enjoyed, had roots in a teacher that at least did not use the “dry eyes” voice and likely was actually fun, funny, and witty. I don’t think one has to be a history nerd to be able to enjoy a travel through history – I’m a firm believer that the common stereotype of subjects deemed to be dull is not because of the subject itself but rather one of delivery.Įver have a teacher in school that used the voice from the “dry eyes” commercial? Likely you didn’t enjoy the class and maybe even did poorly in it.
While it may not be possible to definitively point to the exact origin with any empirical certainty, we can have a little fun uncovering some of the tales. So imagine trying to uncover the original story when it possibly, potentially, maybe goes back 1200 years or longer. In fact, “playing” the Telephone Game or Chinese Whispers, will bear out how much an original story or message can change within a span of 30 seconds. Like many historic stories, there is a lot of myth, confusion, or disagreement when it comes to origins. Was it a passing fad or trend, or there was actually a history behind the practice – a sort of revival of an old tradition? Was it a rejection or statement about Christians or Christianity as an orthodox religion? Was it a pagan or “heretical” practice? Sacrilegious? Then, lo and behold, I saw them for sale at a big-box store.īeing an absolute nerd when it comes to history, culture, and religions, I decided to find out the story behind the upside-down tree. However, I saw another one pop up…and then another one. None of my friends seemed to know, which I took as confirmation or validation of my one-off hypothesis.
Having not grown up within a Christian household I figured it was something that some eccentric Christian practiced and I would just ask a religious friend what it was about. I chalked it up as simply being a one-off – a unique or incredibly uncommon occurrence. About 6-7 years ago I noticed a house that I drove by on my morning commute had an upside-down Christmas tree hung on the ceiling of its front porch.
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