Steve: Hi, this is Steve Webb, your OG Godcaster.
Steve: You're about to hear the LifeSpring Advent Calendar, which was recorded in 2006.
Steve: It's a daily show which will run right up to Christmas Day,
Steve: so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.
Steve: Now, the story of Advent and Christmas is a timeless story, so it doesn't age.
Steve: However, the links and the phone numbers mentioned on the podcast have all changed but one.
Steve: WhyChristmas.com is still current and active,
Steve: and it's the best Christmas information website on the Internet.
Steve: LifeSpringPodcast.com now forwards you to LifeSpringMedia.com.
Steve: And the phone number you'll hear on the show is changed to plus 1-951-732-8511.
Steve: Hi, and welcome to the LifeSpring Advent Calendar.
Steve: I'm Steve Webb, your host.
Steve: Let's see, let's find door number 16.
Steve: Oh, here it is.
Steve: Tell you what, you go first this time.
Music: Oh, Christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree,
Music: however green your branches.
Music: Oh, Christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree,
Music: however green your branches.
Music: Not only green in summertime, but also in the wintertime.
Steve: Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, however green you're.
Steve: Ah, well look at here, it's a Christmas tree and a Yule log.
Steve: Hi James, what have you got for us today?
James: Trees and their logs have been used to celebrate winter festivals pagan and Christian for thousands of years.
James: Evergreen trees, especially fir trees, have been used as symbols of new and continuing life
James: since pre-Roman times in Europe.
James: They were the only trees to stay alive during winter and they seemed magical.
James: Branches were used to decorate homes during the winter solstice celebrations
James: to remind people of the spring to come.
Steve: You know the Romans also used fir trees to decorate their temples at the Festival of Saturnalia,
Steve: which was the Roman mid-winter feast and celebration.
Steve: No one really knows when these fir trees were first used as Christmas trees,
Steve: but it probably started about a thousand years ago in northern Europe.
James: The first documented Christmas tree is from 1510 in the town square of Riga, which is
James: the capital of Latvia.
James: A plaque in the town is engraved with the first New Year tree in Riga, 1510, in eight
James: languages.
James: Not much else is known about the tree, apart from that it was attended by men wearing black
James: hats and that after ceremony, the tree was burnt.
James: This may also have been a form of Yule Log.
Steve: The custom of burning Yule Logs goes way back, at least before medieval times in Europe.
Steve: It was originally a Nordic tradition.
Steve: The Yule log was often a whole tree that was carefully brought into the house with great ceremony.
Steve: One end of the trunk was placed in the large open fire while the rest of the tree stuck out into the middle of the room.
Steve: The log was traditionally lit from the remains of the previous year's log and it was slowly fed into the fire during the 12 days of Christmas.
Steve: Can you imagine doing that today in our houses?
Steve: I don't recommend doing that today.
Steve: The custom of the Yule log spread all over Europe during the Middle Ages,
Steve: and different kinds of trees are traditionally used in different countries.
Steve: In England, they use oak.
Steve: In Scotland, they use birch.
Steve: And in France, cherry.
James: Ouch, why do those needles always stick in you when you're walking across the carpet?
Steve: I hate the sap that gets on your hands when you carry the tree into the house.
James: There are several stories about how upright decorated trees first became used in houses.
James: Tell us your favourite story.
James: One story says that one night before Christmas, Martin Luther, the 16th century German preacher,
James: was walking through the forest and looked up and saw the stars shining through the tree branches.
James: It was such a beautiful sight that he went home and told his children that it reminded him of Jesus,
James: who had left the stars of heaven to come to earth at Christmas.
James: So he took a tree into the house and placed candles on it.
Steve: Christmas trees as we know them more probably started as paradise trees
Steve: that represented the Garden of Eden in medieval mystery plays.
Steve: These plays told Bible stories to people who couldn't read.
Steve: James, what about the first decorations or ornaments?
James: In Germany, the first Christmas tree decorations were edible,
James: such as gingerbread and gold-covered apples.
James: Glassmakers then began making small glass fruit ornaments,
James: the forerunners of the decorations we use today.
James: At first, a figure of the baby Jesus was put on top of the tree,
James: and over time it changed to the angel fairy that told the shepherds about Jesus,
James: or a star like the wise men saw.
James: Christians also used the fir tree as a sign of an everlasting life with God.
James: The first fully decorated Christmas tree arrived over here in the UK sometime in the 1830s.
James: However, they only really became popular after 1841,
James: when Prince Albert, who was Queen Victoria's German husband,
James: had a Christmas tree set up in Windsor Castle.
James: This was seen as the height of fashion and everybody had to have one.
James: And at this time, Christmas trees were also decorated with real candles,
James: which is kind of dangerous, really.
Steve: I guess it would be.
Steve: But in 1895, an American telephonist, Ralph Morris,
Steve: invented the very first electric Christmas tree lights.
James: Around the world, many different trees are used as Christmas trees.
James: In New Zealand, a tree called the Pawatakawa is used,
James: and that has red flowers on it.
James: And in India, it's sometimes a banana or mango tree.
Steve: If you'd like to know more about Christmas trees
Steve: or almost anything else to do with Christmas,
Steve: please go visit James' website at whychristmas.com.
Steve: So as you admire your Christmas tree this year, think of the stars of heaven and the Savior of the world
Steve: and how he left them so he could know you personally.
Music: O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, upon us mirth do you bestow, O Christmas tree.
Steve: of course as always the theme music today was brian duncan and the neosoul band with this
Steve: christmas and the background music was the groove barbers with oh christmas tree
Steve: This has been day number 16 of the LifeSpring Advent Calendar
Steve: I'm so glad that you were here today
Steve: For James Cooper, I'm Steve Webb
Steve: God bless you and remember
Steve: It's only nine more days until Christmas
Music: It's a love that I get from you
Music: It never gets old
Music: It's Christmas
Music: It's the love I need
Music: And it's what I want
Music: It's Christmas
Music: And it's what I want for you