The Fourth Day of Truth - The Wreath
A circle of pine branches and assorted greenery; it sounds ripe with symbolism. As it should. The ancient Greeks and Romans used laurel wreaths as a symbol of victory. The origins of this are unclear, but circles and rings have been revered in almost every culture throughout history. The christmas wreath, however, is known as an advent wreath. It's origins are better known. The advent (from the Latin for waiting) wreath has it's origins in the Celtic peoples traditions of making wreaths out of the boughs of the trees that survived the winter still green and adding candles to symbolize that the winter would end and warmer days were to come. No small leap, then, that as the christians spread into the Germanic lands they found the symbolism to be very similar to the four weeks before christmas in which they celebrated awaiting their savior.
This holiday symbol was directly and blatantly re-purposed for use by the christians. I personally am not a fan of waiting, so I can't give this symbol too much support.
And now you know.
A circle of pine branches and assorted greenery; it sounds ripe with symbolism. As it should. The ancient Greeks and Romans used laurel wreaths as a symbol of victory. The origins of this are unclear, but circles and rings have been revered in almost every culture throughout history. The christmas wreath, however, is known as an advent wreath. It's origins are better known. The advent (from the Latin for waiting) wreath has it's origins in the Celtic peoples traditions of making wreaths out of the boughs of the trees that survived the winter still green and adding candles to symbolize that the winter would end and warmer days were to come. No small leap, then, that as the christians spread into the Germanic lands they found the symbolism to be very similar to the four weeks before christmas in which they celebrated awaiting their savior.
This holiday symbol was directly and blatantly re-purposed for use by the christians. I personally am not a fan of waiting, so I can't give this symbol too much support.
And now you know.
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