In all these customs, which are no doubt survivals of the belief in a tree-inhabiting deity, we see the collateral relations, if not the direct progenitors of our Christmas-tree. In short, modern as it is in its present form, the Christmas-tree epitomises many most ancient ideas; is the point to which many streams converge whose source is hidden in a far distant antiquity. It is the meeting-point of the old pagan belief in the virtues vested in the tree and of the quaint fancies of the Middle Ages, which loved to see spiritual truths embodied in material forms. Christ, the Tree of Life, blossoming on Christmas-eve in Mary’s bosom; the fatal tree of paradise whence sprang the cross, the instrument of man’s salvation,—that “fruit-bearing heavenly-nourished tree planted in the midst of redeemed man,” so often represented in mediaeval art; the miracle of nature, so stirred by the wonder of the event as to break forth into blossom in the midst of winter—all these ideas, so characteristic of mediaeval thought, became grafted together with observances derived from solstitial worship, upon the stock of the sacred tree, laden with offerings and decked with fillets. Indeed the Christmas-tree may be said to recapitulate the whole story of tree-worship,—the May-tree, the harvest-tree, the Greek _eiresione_, the tree as the symbol and embodiment of deity, and last but not least, the universe-tree, bearing the lights of heaven for its fruit and covering the world with its branches. FOOTNOTES [1]Robertson Smith, _Religion of the Semites_ (Edin. 1889), p. 84. [2]Goblet d’Alviella, _The Migration of Symbols_ (London, 1894), p. 119. [3]_Op. cit._ chap. iv. [4]J. Menant, _Les Pierres gravées de la Haute-Asie_ (Paris, 1886), Part II. p. 63. [5]_Les Origines de l’Histoire_ (Paris, 1888), vol. i. p. 88. [6]A. H. Sayce, _Religion of the Ancient Babylonians_ (London, 1887), Lect. IV. [7]Robertson Smith, _op. cit._ p. 169. [8]Cf. Ex. xxxiv. 13; Deut. vii. 5, xii. 3, xvi. 21; Judges iii. 7, vi. 25; 1 Kings xiv. 15; 2 Kings xvii. 16; cf. also Isaiah i. 29, lxv. 3, lxvi. 17. [9]Robertson Smith, _op. cit._ p. 172. [10]Eusebius, _Praepar. Evang._, lib. i. cap. 10. [11]Goblet d’Alviella, _op. cit._ p. 125. [12]Ezek. xli. 18. [13]1 Kings vi. 29-35. [14]G. Maspero, _The Dawn of Civilisation_ (London, 1894), p. 122. [15]Slatin Pasha, _Fire and Sword in the Sudan_ (London, 1896), p. 114. [16]J. G. Frazer, _The Golden Bough_ (London, 1890), vol. i. p. 60. [17]Duff Macdonald, _Africana_ (London, 1882), vol. i. p. 60. [18]Frazer, _op. cit._ vol. i. p. 307. [19]A. H. Sayce, _op. cit._ p. 238. [20]_Encyclop. Brit._, 9th edition, vol. xviii. p. 850. [21]_Isis et Osiris_, 46. [22]Lajard, _Le Culte du cyprès pyramidal_ (1845), p. 148. [23]Sir. W. Ouseley, _Travels_ (London, 1819), vol. iii. p. 83. [24]Herodotus, vii. 31. [25]R. Folkard, _Plant-lore, Legends, and Lyrics_ (London, 1892), p. 239.