Bringing evergreen plants into the home

Tim Hutton - 2014-12-10 11:44:56+0000 - Updated: 2014-12-10 11:44:56+0000

Bringing evergreen plants into the home in the depths of winter is an ancient pagan tradition in Europe. The Christmas tree has its origins in Germanic paganism and is thought by some to represent Yggdrasil, the world tree of Norse mythology. This explains why we put a star on top - it represents Asgard, the home of the gods.

http://structural-communication.com/Articles/world-ash-tree-stclair.html

Yggdrasil, the World Tree

Shared with: Public, Jochen Fromm

+1'd by: Dr Nick Hammond, Michael Velik, Jochen Fromm, Paul Gray

Jochen Fromm - 2014-12-10 12:40:27+0000

The Ancient Maya had a world tree in their mythology, too http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_world_tree

Tim Hutton - 2014-12-10 14:25:46+0000

+Jochen Fromm The axis mundi mentioned there would tie in with the pole star being what we put at the top of the tree, which I've seen suggested elsewhere.

Hans Havermann - 2014-12-10 15:05:18+0000 - Updated: 2014-12-10 15:27:22+0000

Back in 1969, Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend published Hamlet's Mill devoted to reinterpreting world mythologies as deriving from celestial observations. Although at the time "severely criticized" (Wikipedia), the thesis has managed over the years to pluck some heartstrings. For example, in relation to the World Tree, John Major Jenkins notes in his commentary to an online edition of the book (http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/hamlets_mill/hamletmill.htm): "Maya epigrapher Linda Schele has promoted the Mayan Sacred Tree, one of the oldest motifs in Mayan myth, as a description of the intersection of the ecliptic with the Milky Way."

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