Social Evolution of the Christmas Tree
Throughout the history of Christmas Trees, the human significance of bringing a living evergreen into the home represents the continuation of Life through the cold and darkness of winter. The choice of the evergreen is universal through all cultures that have adopted the winter celebration, such that "the holidays" have become a human festival as well as a Christian festival.
Thus the term "holiday tree" serves the purpose of engaging larger groups of people regardless of their practiced or non-practiced religions. The primary decoration is light (originally produced by candle flame), which celebrates light in the darkness of the winter.
The Christian roots of the Christmas Tree are logical from this social evolution standpoint. Most cultures and religions celebrate light over darkness, and life over death.
The tree represents Life in winter, Light in Darkness, Hope of coming Spring, etc, in the same way that the Infant Jesus does by his birth—regardless of the actual date. Thus across all cultures and climates, the adoption of Christmas trees and celebrations is in addition to, rather than separate from, the various celebrations that take place around the winter solstice.
Source: Christmas tree - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
