Posted on 11/24/2005 6:08:34 AM PST by NorthOf45
'Inclusive' name change needles N.S. tree grower
CBC News
November 23, 2005
A spruce tree grower in Nova Scotia isn't happy his 16-metre Christmas tree has become a "holiday" tree in Massachusetts.
Every fall, the province sends a tree to Boston as a thank-you gift for the help the New England city gave Halifax after the devastating 1917 ship explosion that levelled parts of Nova Scotia's capital.
Officials with Boston's parks department decided it would be less offensive to some people and generally more inclusive if the word "Christmas" was dropped when they referred to the tree.
"A lot of people celebrate various religious holidays but also enjoy the lights, and we're trying to be inclusive," said Toni Pollak, Boston's commissioner of parks.
But Donnie Hatt, of Beech Hill, says he wouldn't have sent his 36-year-old white spruce to Boston this year if he knew it would be called a "holiday" tree. In fact, he'd rather see it run through the wood chipper in his backyard.
"I think it's a bunch of bullcrap," Hatt said Tuesday. "The States is never happy with the way things are. They always gotta change something.
"Ever since I was born, a tree was put up for Christmas, not for holidays, because if you're gonna do that you might as well put a tree up for Easter."
Not everyone in Boston agrees with the name change, either.
"A lot of us felt it wasn't right," said resident Ray Brochu. "How could they have the right to even change the name of a gift that was given to us from the people up there?"
Despite the controversy, the "holiday" tree will be placed in the Boston Common and the lights will be powered up on Dec. 1.
Are there any other holidays that have a tradition involving a pine tree, either decorated or undecorated?
I don't know of any, but that doesn't mean there aren't.
Anybody?
If I'm remembering correctly, the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony didn't celebrate Christmas with trees, etc, either. They were rather austere, and Christmas was just another day working to survive.
That said, Boston is being stupid, but I think most towns and cities are doing the same thing these days. They don't want to invite a lawsuit by some idiot claiming he or she was 'offended' by the sight of a Christmas tree.
It is a "Yule" tree, and decorating the tree was originally a pagan ritual.
This holiday crap has got to stop. If we claim to be so tolerant of all religions, why the hell can't we mention Christmas?
Would we ever refer to the "holiday candle holder thingy? Of course not.
Supposedly intelligent people duped by the smarmey and idiotic "political correctness" moronic schlemeel crowd.
The Lemmings are on the march again so the blimp heads got in lockstep like good little Socialists.
You've never witnessed the annual fall festivals involving unshaved men and dead animals around a pine fire?
Moral Absolutes Ping.
"Holiday" tree. Arbor Day? Labor Day? Why are they so afraid of the word "CHRIST mas?"
Freepmail me if you want on/off this pinglist.
Happy Thanks Giving!
LOL.
....It is a "Yule" tree, and decorating the tree was originally a pagan ritual.......
Originally the day of December 25 was a pagan day of festival!
"You've never witnessed the annual fall festivals involving unshaved men and dead animals around a pine fire?"
You mean deer season?
Incredible. Witch hunts are only "witch hunts" because there is no such thing as a witch and anyone so accused is being falsely accused. McCarthy on the other hand was chasing communists -- who really existed, and the people outed as communists then really were communists. That's no witch hunt.
Dumbasses. First of all, Christmas tree have absolutely nothing to do with Christmas and second, the root word for "holiday" is "holy day" so they're STILL giving the tree a religious connotation.
Yes, it is ridiculous. Especially when you know that the word 'holiday' was derived from 'Holy Day'.
And did you know the word 'liberal' is a derivitive of 'politically correct loser'?
Yeah, deer, elk, or whatever game is in season.
There is nothing in the Christian story of the New Testament that does not find its earlier version in 'paganism.'
The virgin born dying and rising god-man is an archetypal narrative; the suffering savior motif - is without dispute an idea found in the world's religious traditions long before Christianity.
The cross, a resurrection/ascension, sacred meals, sacred meals of bread and wine are all 'pagan' in origin.
Other ideas are also long antedated in paganism - the logos/rational principle of creation being incarnate; the idea of atonement; the Holy Spirit of the Deity; baptism by blood or water; anointing with oil and on.
Even most of the teachings of Jesus Christ as we find them in the New Testament are predated in various schools of thought in Judaism or Stoicism.
The folks who gripe about the 'pagan' origins of the Christmas tree are straining at gnats and swallowing camels.
A quick and dirty guide, dated but still generally accurate, especially in its cataloging of histories rising and dying god-man saviors is: The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors.
Syncretism is a fact in every religion of humanity. There is no more a 'pure' Biblical Christianity than a man on the moon.
It would seem better to appreciate the good gifts of Deity in creation, to behold with wonder the symbolism in the Christmas tree and the lessons it or Advent wreaths or yule logs, etc. teach us. All truth is God's truth. We ought not despise it even in the guise of a tree.
That said - my opinion is that changing the name of Boston's Christmas tree to Holiday tree is moronic.
Calling the Orkin Man, nasty pest infestation at the Parks Department. Please hurry.
You are probably right. The Christmas Tree was imported into the celebration of Christmas by Martin Luther in Germany. He used the tree to support candles, which when lit represented the stars on the night of the Holy Birth.
Whether it was a previous pagan symbol I neither know nor does it matter. But no, I would guess Puritans had not picked up on the custom.
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