Home - Cannibal Cruise - Site Map - Funding Projects - Who are the Optimists - Local Youth Program
November-December 2011
Season
See the schedule below....
|
The Truckee Optimist Club will once again be selling Christmas Trees this holiday season. There will be a very nice selection of locally cut Red Fir, as well as Noble and Grand Fir trees shipped to us from growers in Oregon. The tree lot will be in its usual location at the Truckee Crossroads shopping center at the corner of Highway 89 and Deerfield Drive. Tree sales will begin on Saturday, November 26 and will conclude on Friday, December 23 (or once the last tree is sold). This tree lot is manned by Truckee Optimist Club members, youth from local schools, groups and teams that benefit from the proceeds, and by other community volunteers. All profits from the sales of the trees are included in the Truckee Optimist Club annual budget of nearly $50,000 which goes directly to major scholarships, youth activities (both educational and recreation) and grants for Truckee youth programs. Recipients of Optimist Club donations include, but are not limited to: High School athletic teams, Band, Cheerleaders, Drama Club, Project Graduation, Year Book, major scholarships to graduating Seniors; Elementary and Middle School programs including monies to support field trips (i.e. Pigeon Point, Sagehen and Woodleaf), TEMPO music program, team and community programs; Community youth activities including, Kidzone,, Arts 4 the Schools; and community athletic programs including Youth Basketball, AYSO Soccer, Little League Baseball, Buddy Werner ski and snowboard program, Girls Softball, Truckee Youth Football, Rec Department Basketball, TNT Explosion, and more. “With last winter’s wet weather, the quality of
this year’s trees should be exceptional,” said Norm Nicholls,
Optimist Club publicity chair. “We thank the community in advance
for their loyal support of our Christmas Tree lot and the youth of
our community that benefit from the proceeds.” CLICK picture at right for larger picture/map: |
The history of Christmas trees
Christmas is the single most celebrated holiday in America. The time of year when we gather our friends and family together and engage in the giving of gifts, and in some cases, celebrate the birth of Christ. Of course with this holiday comes the image of Christmas. The warm fires, sparkling lights, cold snowy evenings, and softly wafting music are all part of the Christmas image, but what Christmas would be complete without the main piece? The one thing that above all others says “Christmas!” is the Christmas tree!
One might wonder, why on earth do we celebrate Christmas with trees? Especially evergreen trees? After all, unlike the nativity scenes, doves, and angels, that may or may not be part of your town’s Christmas décor, trees are not especially Christian. One does not read the Christmas story as put forth by the New Testament and see any mention of trees.
The answer is surprisingly simple. Trees are the mainstay of the American Christmas experience because a very long time ago the Christians decided that they needed a more aggressive recruiting technique to generate more Christians. During the early days of Christianity, while the faith was trying to spread from its base in the Mediterranean to the far reaches of Europe, the Christians noticed that it was easier to gain converts if they had holidays similar to those of the people they were trying to convert.
Thus, as missionaries wandered into the Pagan wildernesses of what is now France and Germany they found people who celebrated the winter solstice. These Pagans believed that as the days got shorter the sun was going away, and if it did not come back, all of humanity would die. So out into the forest they would go in search of the largest living things they could find. The largest living thing was an evergreen tree, proof that life still existed even in the dark of winter. In addition to the great tree, the celebration to bring back the sun involved getting as much light as possible. So, a large fire burned non-stop while torches lit the homes of the pagans, and the living evergreens were decorated with lights to woo the sun back into existence.
After the early Christians spread to Rome they adopted December 25th as Christmas day to increase the probability of converting the believers of Mithras, a god of soldiers, sailors, and merchants, who celebrated his birthday on the 25th of December. Thus, it was not terribly difficult to show the natives to the north that they too had a winter solstice holiday. In an effort to be even more appealing to these Pagans, they to cut down large green trees and incorporated them into the worship of Christ.
By the Dark Ages Christianity was the prevailing religion in what had once been Pagan territory, but the celebration of Christ’s birth with large green pagan trees continued. It became a revered tradition that was passed from generation to generation, and over time when waves of Germanic Christians came across the ocean in search of a new life in a new land, it came too. Thus, the celebration of Christmas with trees spread to the new world, where many were happy to see this beautiful custom and adopt it as their own.
So it is, that every year millions of Americans go forth into forests, tree farms, and home improvement stores in search of a large green tree with which to honor the birth of Christ, and perhaps implore the sun to come back.