Search: why are christmas colors red and green
Why: I have been Christmasing up my Farm(ville) even though I am of the Yehudim (and because Farmville does not have a giant menorah for sale).
Behold.Answer: Green = life, red = death (blood [of Jesus]):
Another theory about the origin of the colors dates back to the 1300s, when "Adam and Eve's Day" (?) was celebrated on Dec. 24th. Because so many people were illiterate, churches put on "Miracle Plays" as teaching tools. It was too cold for a real apple tree prop, so they tied apples to the branches of pine trees to serve as the Tree of Knowledge. This idea spread, and soon everyone did it. The modern-day Christmas tree tradition was born, and the official colors of the Christmas season became green and red – green for the pine tree and red for the apples – the combination of which represented the "Paradise Tree," which made its debut in the 14th century.Plants depend on chlorophyll for life. With respect to Christmas, green symbolizes the hope for eternal life that Jesus offers. Evergreen trees are green and are commonly associated with Christmas as are many Christmas lights, Christmas ornaments and bows.
Red is intended to symbolize the blood of Jesus. Santa sports red with his popular costume. Most Christmas decorations contain some red too.
The combination of the Christmas colors red and green are also part of annual Christmas celebrations. Holly, which consists of green leaves and red berries, is meant to incorporate both red and green to symbolize life and blood.
Eventually, this tree was also decorated with small white wafers – symbolizing the Holy Eucharist – to remind people that, while Adam and Eve were responsible for the fall of mankind, the birth and death of Jesus would reverse it all.
Source: Christmas Lore, Essortment
The More You Know: Red became more popularly associated with Santa Claus due to Coca Cola's depiction of him starting in the 1930s:
This feastival actualy originates far before the life of Jesus on Earth.
ReplyDeleteIt originally was a fertility feast, called Saturlina, when children were slaughtered, offered and burned. That is where the red comes from.
The green is the meaning of new life given by the fertility goddess. The Tanak already describes the habit of bringing a green tree into a house for the pagan idols.
So the origin was against the purpose of Jesus on Earth, it was for idol worship.
Christmas was also not observed by the religious community before 325 C.E. Somewhere there pagan priests "joined" the current christmas religion and kept the green trees and the symbols, just adjusted it to the new religion.
How can the red in christmas be assosiated with death and the blood of Jesus is christmas has nothing to do with the death of Jesus?