The Yule Tree and its Lesson in Diversity

We put up our Christmas tree and decorated it last night.  We don't put it up every year as we are often away during Christmas, but we will be home for part of the holidays this year, so we decided to decorate.  We bought some new ornaments for it this year.  Here is a picture of the tree after we decorated it last night:

The Yule Tree

I fully embrace diversity and have several friends who are Wiccan.  My Wiccan friends call this a Yule Tree.  The Yule Tree is decorated and consecrated for the Winter Solstice, which is at the latter part of December and is the shortest, and often the coldest and darkest day of the year.  The Celtic Druids venerated evergreen trees as manifestations of deity and as symbols of the universe. To the Celts, these trees were sacred because they did not die from year to year like deciduous trees. Therefore they represented the eternal aspect of the Goddess who also never dies. Their greenery was symbolic of the hope for the sun's return.

The Yule tree is consecrated by sprinkling it with salted water, passing the smoke of incense (bayberry, pine, spruce, pine, spice, cedar, or cinnamon) through the branches, and walking around the tree with a lighted candle saying:

By fire and water, air and earth,
I consecrate this tree of rebirth.

I have never been at a Winter Solstice ceremony, but I am sure that it is quite lovely! 

I am indeed privileged  to have some Wiccan friends who are kind enough to help me understand more about their religion.  I had a very strict Catholic upbringing and for a long time was scared to death of the pentagram as I thought it to be a symbol of evil. This is not the case in Wiccan beliefs, in which the pentagram represents the five classical elements, which are invoked during many magical rituals, notably when consecrating a magic circle. The five elements are Air, Fire, Water and Earth, plus Aether (or Spirit), which unites the other four.

The latter description of the pentagram is vastly different from I was brought up to believe. This just underscores the fact that there are many people in this world who are prejudiced against what they don't understand!

If we would all just take some time to talk with and understand people who are different than us, we would find that there is much more beauty in the world than what we can behold while wearing our blinders!  When we free our mind from prejudice, we become so much more enriched in life!

Update - 20 January 2012

Although I still fully embrace diversity and think that Wiccan beliefs are interesting, my Wiccan "friends" that I referenced in this post turned out to be intolerant biggots who hate Christianity and everything associated with it.  Needless to say, I am not friends with these people any more. This is sad, but my last word on the matter is "good riddance".