Helleborus niger was valued as a medicinal plant long before it became associated with Christmas. The first mention comes from 900 B.C. when her discovery was attributed to a shepherd. He used it first with restless, agitated animals and then a neighbor who was considered insane. The king of Argus heard of the cure and contacted him to heal his three daughters, all convinced that they were cows. The shepherd's treatment was successful and his reward was marriage to the youngest princess. You can't make this stuff up! 

The association with Christmas came from another shepherd, a  young girl named Madelon. It was a cold and bitter night when three wise men following a star passed by her watch. They told her of the wondrous birth and she followed them to the manger. When they arrived, all had gifts for the baby Jesus - frankincense, myrrh, gold, honey, fruits and herbs. She had nothing to give him and began to cry. An angel appeared and asked her why she was so unhappy. She explained that she had no gift for the new born King. The angel took pity on her and turned each of her tears into a beautiful white flower edged in pink. Madelon was over joyed as she presented her gift of the Christmas Rose to the tiny baby. 

Joseph of Arimathaea carried a staff made from the hawthorn to Glastonbury, Somerset, England when he journeyed there to share his ministry of Christianity to the ancient Britons.  He arrived at wearyall Hill, exhausted from his long journey, and thrust the hawthorn staff into the ground.  The tree took root, grew leaves and is said to blossom twice annually, in the spring and again in the winter on the birthday of Christ.  

The famous Abbey of Glastonbury was built next to the famous Glastonbury Thorn, and pilgrims traveled there for years to seek the blessing of the thorn.  The original tree has been propagated several times by grafting. Sadly, the original tree was burned during the English Civill War. It was replaced in 2010. Cuttings from the tree have been grafted since ancient times and one was taken to the National Cathedral in Washington, D. C. where it is currently growing in the Bishop's Garden.

When Christianity arrived in northern Europe and the legend of the Christmas tree became known, three angels, Faith, Hope and Charity were sent from the heavens to find the perfect tree!
The perfect tree was to be as 
Great as Faith
High as Hope 
Sweet as Charity
It was also to have a cross on every bough. 

The search ended when they found the fir tree.  
They lighted it with stars and it became the first Christmas Tree. 

"As for rosemary, it is the herb sacred to remembrance and to friendship." Sir Thomas More

When Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus fled through the Egyptian desert from King Herod's soldiers, they found shelter in a rosemary grove. Mary draped her blue shawl over one of the white flowered bushes before she retired for the night.

The next morning when Joseph removed the shawl, they found that the white flowers had changed to the shade of blue of Mary's shawl. Since then, most rosemary blossoms are blue and traditionally flower in December around the time of the celebration of Christ's birth.

This comes from Merry Christmas from Valley Rural Electric Co-op, Inc., a 32 page booklet celebrating the Golden Anniversary of Franklin Roosevelt's introduction of the signing of executive order 7057. The booklet is filled with crafts, decorations, recipes, stories and gift ideas. 

The Legend of the Spider 

Once upon a time, long ago on Christmas Eve, a mother and her children prepared their home for the visit of the Christ Child. Everything was scrubbed and cleaned, and when the tree was beautifully decorated, the family went to bed. While they were sleeping, the spiders, who had been chased from their favorite nooks and crannies, crept back to view the lovely preparations. They were filled with wonder at the tree's glittering beauty and crawled on every branch to see each shining ornament, but alas, after their inspection, the tree was shrouded with cobwebs. 

When the Christ Child came and saw what had happened, he smiled at the thought of the spider's wanting to see his tree and he blessed it as he touched each web to turn it into gold and the tree glistened with beauty even greater than before. 

This is how it happened that in so many parts of the world, it is a custom to have a spider web on every tree.

Materials:

2 silver tinsel pipe cleaners
silver thread
1 inch styrofoam balls
black pipe cleaner
black chenille bumps (small)
eyes (wiggle eyes or silver sequins

Directions:

Cut the tinsel pipe cleaners in half and space three of the pieces evenly apart to make the frame of the web. Tie with silver thread at the center to keep them in place. Then, using the silver thread, circle around the spokes, wrapping around each stem and tie at the last connection. About three or four concentric circles make it look like a spider web.
Cut the styrofoam ball in half, cover with black bumps and glue on eyes. Cut the black pipe cleaner into eight sec ions, insert into flat side of the spider's body, and bend feet to fasten to the spider web.

Pine is often used in protective wreaths during the holiday season. Pine replaced the dead black chicken which was once hung on doors to discourage witches from entering. They were honor bound to count every feather before they could go inside. Thankfully, pine needles replaced the feathers, undoubtedly more fragrant than rotting poultry!

Witches have very active minds and often get distracted and lose count, so instead of starting over, they will probably go next door. (You may want to advise your neighbors to get a pine wreath.)

I, on the other hand, like witches - the term comes from Wicca meaning "wise one' - so I don't bother with pine on the door. It is handy inside however, as the fragrance purifies and refreshes the air and discourages illness. The evergreen needles are said to ensure continual joy! You may want to consider incense, instead of, or in addition to, the fresh pine boughs!

Pine gives us another gift! Amber! It is said to have the energy of liquid sunshine, to make the wearer more beautiful, to attract wealth and success, and dissolve opposition.

Most of us are familiar with the golden yellow and orange ambers, but it can also be an orange-red, brown, green, black or even violet, though very rare.

Amber is made from the fossilized resin of the pine tree, and to be classified as true amber it must be over 100,000 years old! That is miraculous, don't you think?  Copal, or Columbian Amber, less than 1,000 years old, has not yet fossilized but is also beautiful and truly remarkable. There is something sacred about pieces that have been part of the earth for so long! 

Amber is revered in the Far Eastern Asian cultures. Asian Indians regard amber as the 'soul of the tiger', endowing the wearer with courage. Egyptians placed a piece of amber in the casket of a loved one to ensure the body would forever remain whole. Early physicians prescribed amber for headaches, heart problems, arthritis and a variety of other ailments. In ancient times, amber was carried by travelers for protection.

Wishing you all a holiday season of fragrant, protective pine and the warmth and sunshine of amber!

This one is from the archives but worth repeating! It's been a long bitter winter in Maryland, and the birds are finally beginning to share their songs again. This morning I saw a robin and her baby scratching for earth worms when Zippy and I took our morning walk. A cardinal perched in a gingko tree looked as beautiful as he sounded against the fan shaped leaves. I'm still looking for my first Baltimore Oriole now that I'm living in Baltimore. (I'm a dedicated baseball fan so I see the non-feathered specimens almost daily!) 

Birds add vibrant color to our world. But do you know that at one time their feathers lacked the beautiful variations we see today?

An African American legend explains that at the beginning of time a torrential rain fell on the earth.  When it ended, the world was gifted with a glorious rainbow.  No one had ever seen such brilliant colors!

The birds were the first to see it and the flew swiftly to get closer, joyfully flying in and out of the brilliant, iridescent arch!  As they passed through the colors, their feathers were painted the gorgeous colors of the rainbow!

The cardinal fell in love with the red and spent most of his time flying in and out of the crimson stripe!  The goldfinches were charmed with the yellow, staying predominantly in that area!  Blue birds favored the blue, weaving in and out of the glorious blues.

Other birds, such as the kestral, flew through several different colors.  This caused stripes and spots of colors to form on his beautiful feathers!  The swift and exuberant hummingbird flew merrily in and out of every color, causing him to have his own iridescent rainbow, delightfully visible when the sun catches his feathers.  

Imagine! Two of our most delightful treasures, color and birds, working in harmony to create beauty that we see every day if we just stop to notice!