Reflecting verse:
“On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”
-Revelation 22:2
On Christmas, during my Sunday school days, I remember vividly, we presented the popular Christmas song “O Christmas Tree” swinging tree branches in our hands. Until now we were never told what a tree had to do with Christmas. Biblically, Jesus was neither born in a forest nor under a tree or on a tree. So, why Christmas tree? Who started it? When and where did this tradition of Christmas tree begin? What is the purpose of cutting down a young, perfectly well-shaped, healthy pine/fir/spruce or any evergreen conical tree just to decorate it and throw away after/on the Twelfth Night (Epiphany)? Is it a satirical welcoming of Jesus that barely 33 years later he would be nailed on a tree (Acts 5:30)? Or is it a metaphorical celebration of decorating a cross?
There could be a hundred questions and one may answer tracing the pre-Christian era practices and legends or justify by the usage of plastic/synthetic tree ducking the ecological concern, or that it symbolises a sign of everlasting life with God and other theological representations, or one may just say that a Christmas without a Christmas tree is incomplete. The answer lies on one’s own fantasy of interpretation. Nevertheless, considering its relevance, significance and the ecological concerns in today’s context, it is quite extraneous particularly in the milieu of the Indian society. So why Christmas Tree in our Indian context?
Contextually, conical evergreen tree does not picture the general image of India rather it does with a Banyan or a Peepal (sacred fig) tree let alone the decorated tree. Decorated with ornaments such as twinkling-lights, stockings, wreaths, swags, tree skirts, candy cane, Santa Clause, hanging icicles, figurines, glass balls, stars do not signify ‘true’ Christmas in our Indian context neither culturally nor traditionally. Speaking of its significances, there has been no signs of any Indianness in it either in its legends or myths. Ecologically, cutting trees (considering its authenticity), the plastic/synthetic trees (usually contain a dubious chemical called polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, “which produces carcinogens during manufacturing and disposal”) and the ornamental material themselves are hazards to the nature.
How true do we find about the birth of Jesus in Christmas tree? If Christmas tree is considered to be as an identity or a symbol of Christmas in its ‘trueness,’ there has to be an incorporation of the ambiances of the birth of Jesus which does not have any decoration but of coldness, emptiness, filth and shit. That is the identity and the symbol of the birth of the Son of God in dirty places. We have over romanticised Christmas with great pomp and show turning it into a carnival. Do you want to symbolise a ‘true’ Christmas over a tree? Then, planted shit-stained tree. That is the true Christmas tree.
Rather than the decorated ‘Christmas tree’ without any essence of neither life-giving nor fruit-bearing tree as its identity to the of birth of Jesus. we better identify with the ‘Tree of Life’ himself who bears “twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” particularly in times of the pandemic.
Prayer
O God you became flesh through Christ our lord, who was born in a shitty place, the stable. You taught us humility and love through radical means. Open our eyes to see your love this Christmas, so, we may share it among all creation to bring healing to the nations. Amen.
About the Author: Jianthaolung comes from a small town Tamenglong in Manipur. He completed Bachelor of Divinity at The United Theological College, Bangalore and is currently working as Executive Secretary – Youth Concerns in National Council of Churches in India, Nagpur
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