This Christmas card from the early 20th century features another festive wreath, this time decorated with innocent white flowers. Photo / Whanganui Regional Museum Collection Ref: 1802.10748
This Christmas card from the early 20th century features another festive wreath, this time decorated with innocent white flowers. Photo / Whanganui Regional Museum Collection Ref: 1802.10748
It's Christmas week, and the shops and houses are festooned with tinsel, lights and the long-time favourite decoration – Christmas wreaths.
But hidden among the holly, berries and evergreen branches lie centuries of history and symbolic meaning.
The humble Christmas wreath began as a tree. Christmas trees were first used in northern and eastern Europe in the 16th century, when evergreen trees were brought indoors to celebrate the festive season.
Evergreens were admired for their ability to survive the winter and were chosen as a symbol of resilience, hope and long-lasting life.
The English monk Saint Boniface first used the triangle to demonstrate the Holy Trinity of the father, son and the holy spirit during the 7th century, and the trees were trimmed into triangles to reflect his message.
But at the time nothing went to waste, so instead of the trimmings being thrown away they were woven into a circle, originally known as writhen (meaning to writhe or twist) and used as decorations.
A circle was easier to hang on tree branches but doubled as a symbol of everlasting life.
Larger wreaths were placed on tables where the evergreen foliage was a reminder of spring's return, and a candle in the centre represented the coming warmth.
But wreaths have long been symbolically important. In ancient Rome, athletes were crowned with wreaths of laurel, olive, wild celery or pine leaves, as a symbol of their victory in the arena.
Similar wreaths decorated the heads of state leaders and important guests at feasts.
Floral wreaths signified honour and joy and were worn by Greek priests performing rituals and sacrifices and given to heroes upon their return from a successful battle.
Greek lovers would hang them on their beloved's doors as a love token, while brides wore them to encourage fertility.
Ancient Egyptians sewed flowers onto strips of fabric, making bands called chaplets, and tied these to the heads of the statues of the gods.
And Pagans had long used wreaths in rituals, where the circle represented the rotation of the seasons, adding candles to represent the elements of earth, air, fire and water.
Wreaths were adopted by the Christian church in the 19th century, when German Lutheran pastor Johann Hinrich Wichern wove greenery around a cartwheel and used it to symbolise advent.
A postcard from the Freeman Postcard Album, compiled during the early years of the 20th century. Photo / Whanganui Regional Museum Collection Ref: 1978.77.5
He placed four candles in the wreath and lit them in the weeks leading up to Christmas to represent hope, peace, love and new life.
Some later chose to add a fifth candle to light on Christmas Day to represent the birth of Jesus.
The choice of foliage, to create the wreath, was also symbolic. Green foliage symbolised life and growth, while red bows or berries represented the blood on the cross, and nuts and fruit signified rebirth.
Holly represented the crown of thorns; pine and yew represented new life; cedar represented healing and laurel represented victory over pain and suffering.
Like the Christmas tree, the Christmas wreath became much more popular after the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Their marriage facilitated the acceptance of Germanic traditions in the UK and around the world, and now the Christmas Wreath is a common feature on cards, doors and social media.
The Whanganui Regional Museum wishes you the best for the festive season.
• Sandi Black is the archivist at Whanganui Regional Museum.
