A Christian Tradition (Not a Pagan Holdover)
Every December, a familiar accusation circulates on social media and in certain skeptical circles: “Christmas trees are pagan! Jeremiah 10 condemns them! Christians just baptized a winter-solstice ritual from ancient Germany or Rome!”
It’s an old claim, but when we look at the actual historical record, rather than memes and half-quoted verses, evidence tells a very different story. The Christmas tree is not a repurposed pagan custom. It is a distinctly Christian symbol that arose in the late Middle Ages and Reformation-era Germany, created by devout believers who wanted to teach the Gospel in their homes.
Where the Christmas Tree Actually Began
By the early 1600s written records from Strasbourg (1605) and Freiburg describe fir trees set up in homes, decorated with roses made of colored paper, apples, wafers, gold foil, and sweets. These were explicitly Christian homes, many of them Protestant, who saw the evergreen as a symbol of eternal life won for us by the Child in the manger.
Martin Luther is often credited with adding candles. The story says that one Christmas Eve he was walking home under a starry sky, was struck by the beauty of starlight shining through the branches of fir trees, and brought a small tree inside to recreate the scene for his children with candles. Whether or not the story is exact, it perfectly captures the spirit: wonder at creation pointing to the Creator who became flesh.
What About Jeremiah 10:3–4?
This is the verse most often quoted to “prove” the tree is pagan:
“For the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman… They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.”
At first glance it sounds eerily similar, until you read the context. Jeremiah is condemning the construction of carved idols, wooden images that are then overlaid with metal and worshipped as gods. The prophet is describing idolatry in exactly the same terms he uses elsewhere for molten metal gods (Isa 44, etc.). He is not talking about bringing an undecorated tree into your house, putting candles and ornaments on it, and singing “O Tannenbaum” while reading Luke chapter 2. No credible Bible scholar, conservative or liberal, interprets Jeremiah 10 as a condemnation of Christmas trees.
But Didn’t the Ancient Germans Worship Trees?
Yes, pre-Christian Germanic and Norse peoples had reverence for evergreens and held midwinter festivals. But historical continuity is not the same as direct borrowing. The early and medieval Church was extremely careful not to adopt pagan religious practices. When Boniface cut down Thor’s Oak in the 8th century, he didn’t tell the newly converted Germans, “Keep worshipping trees, just call it Christian now.” He pointed to a small fir tree growing nearby and said, “This little tree, pointing to heaven, shall be your holy tree. It is the sign of endless life.”
Eight hundred years later, when German Christians began decorating fir trees in their homes at Christmas, they were not reviving Druid or Norse rituals. They were drawing on centuries-old Christian symbolism of the Tree of Life, the wood of the cross that became the means of our salvation, and the evergreen that never fades as a picture of the eternal life Christ gives.
Rome and Saturnalia?
Some claim the tree comes from Roman Saturnalia. There is zero evidence for decorated indoor trees at Saturnalia. Romans exchanged gifts and had feasts, but the first known Roman reference to anything resembling a Christmas tree comes in the 19th century, centuries after the German Protestant custom had already spread.
Let’s start with the facts:
A Symbol That Still Points to Christ, look again at what Christians actually did with the tree:
The Tree Itself (Evergreen Fir or Spruce)
- Never loses its green color even in the dead of winter → eternal life given through Christ (John 3:16; Psalm 1:3).
- Points upward toward heaven → our hope is in God, not earth.
- Most evergreens naturally form a triangle → the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Lights / Candles
- Jesus said, “I am the Light of the World” (John 8:12).
- The candles represent Christ’s light pushing back the darkness of sin and winter.
- Early families called them “Christ lights.”
The Star on Top
- The Star of Bethlehem that led the wise men to Jesus (Matthew 2).
- In many older German homes it was a large, radiant star made of straw or gold paper symbolizing Jesus as the Morning Star (Revelation 22:16).
The Angel on Top (alternative to the star)
- Represents the angels who announced “Glory to God in the highest… good news of great joy!” (Luke 2:10–14).
Apples (real red apples or glass ones)
- The original ornament on the medieval Paradise Tree → the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge that brought sin and death.
- Hung next to the lights/candles, they show the whole gospel: sin entered through a tree… redemption came through the Tree (the cross).
Round Ornaments / Balls
- Evolved from apples → symbolize the world that God loved so much He sent His Son (John 3:16).
- Also represent the “fruits of the Spirit” and the completeness of God’s salvation.
Tinsel / Icicles
- Started as real silver strips in the 1600s → represents the purity and glory of Christ.
- Some families said it looked like the glory of God shining through the branches, or even like streams of living water.
Garlands / Beads / Chains
- Originally paper chains made by children → unity of believers, or the binding of sin that Christ broke.
- Later bead garlands reminded people of saying prayers (similar to a rosary or prayer beads).
Wafers or Cookies (especially in older European trees)
- Thin, round, white hosts (unconsecrated communion wafers) were very common until the 1800s → the Bread of Life, the body of Christ given for us.
Roses (paper or fabric roses)
- Used on the very earliest trees → “Jesus is the Rose of Sharon” (Song of Solomon 2:1) and the flower that blooms even in winter, just as Christ was born in the winter of the world’s night.
Bells
- Ring out the good news of Christ’s birth, like church bells on Christmas morning.
- Also symbolize the joy of the angels’ song and calling the world to worship.
Candy Canes (later addition, but still rich in meaning)
- Shaped like a shepherd’s crook → Jesus the Good Shepherd.
- White for purity, red stripes for the blood of Christ, peppermint flavor sometimes linked to hyssop (a biblical cleansing herb).
The Nativity Scene Under the Tree
- Ties the whole thing together: the Tree of Life (evergreen) stands over the manger, just as the cross would later stand over the empty tomb.
So what do we take from this new knowledge? Far from being a pagan relic hiding in plain sight, the Christmas tree is one of the most explicitly Christ-centered traditions we have, born in the homes of believers who wanted their children to see the gospel story with their eyes.
So this year, when you set up your tree, light the candles, and place the nativity scene beneath it, do it with confidence. You are continuing a tradition that began when faithful German families centuries ago looked at an evergreen and said, “This points us to Jesus, the One who was hung on a tree so that we might have life everlasting.”
Merry Christmas, and glory to the newborn King!