St Anthony’s Church
Writing his monthly column ‘From the Vicarage’ published in the Alkham Newsletter, Vicar of St Anthony’s Church, in Alkham near Dover, Brian Williams, was shocked to hear that the Christmas Tree in the church could be so controversial.
He wrote:
“You wouldn’t think that a Christmas Tree would be so controversial. But it seems that when St Anthony’s was being decorated for Christmas a visitor took exception to the fact that there was a Christmas Tree in church, arguing from a series of Bible passages that this was pandering to paganism.
“Had I been there, I would have reminded our friend that the tradition around Christmas Trees can be traced back not to paganism but to a Christian missionary. It’s said that having entered a monastery as a young man Winfred, or Boniface as he became known, travelled as a Christian missionary to what is now Germany. There he came across a tree, the ‘Thunder Oak’ where each year the locals would sacrifice a child to the pagan god Thor.
“Boniface and his companions arrived as the sacrifice was imminent, carried out a risk assessment and
decided to fell the oak anyway. It was expected that Thor would strike him dead – but Boniface survived unscathed. The job done, a small fir tree was found growing nearby. Its evergreen needles, Boniface pointed out, spoke of eternal life; its branches pointed towards heaven; henceforth it would be called the tree of the Christ-child.
“Having made his case, many of those who were there were baptised. The practice of having a small evergreen tree in the house at Christmas spread across Germany; those who eventually settled in America took the tradition with them. With both George III’s German wife Queen Charlotte and Prince Albert having Christmas trees in their homes, the custom quickly spread in this country, too.
“Sadly, most of our trees are last seen in January, waiting for the dustcart – but still with their needles speaking of eternal life, and their branches pointing towards heaven….”
Brian Williams