Have you ever wondered what the Christmas tree and wreath REALLY represent?
Hint: For more than 3000 years God had a wife.
And each December you worship her.
If you’re like me, you never questioned why we put up a Christmas tree; it’s just a tradition. Hasn’t it always been that way? As a young adult I heard ramblings about Christmas traditions having roots in paganism, but it never sparked my curiosity.
Until I discovered the Goddess. She crossed my path when I was doing research in ancient regions for my doctoral dissertation and the similarities to so many of our Christmas traditions intrigued me.
Previous to my studies, I had no idea a Goddess existed across the ancient religious landscape. Raised as an Evangelical Christian, any questions about the absence of a feminine deity were dismissed or silenced.
Growing up I’d heard of feminine gods in the pagan religions, but “my God” was all male. God and Jesus: two guys in the sky! Privately, I wondered, “Where’s mom?”
The Holy Spirit was often labeled as feminine, but “she’s” a spirit, not the form of God — not “our” image. And since protestants don’t give Jesus’s mother Mary any divinity, my faith only included men in the position of power.
So, I was shocked to discover a deity in my form, attached to “my” God, who was powerful, revered, and honored across the entire ancient landscape.
Let me introduce you to her, meet Asherah, God’s wife!
If you’ve studied the Bible the name might be familiar — she is referenced sixty times in the Old Testament — either by name, title (Queen of Heaven), or iconology (the evergreen tree). Across time, she was recognized as the wife of Elohim, Yahweh, and Baal.
For more than three thousand years before the male-dominant Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) developed, she was prominent and worshiped across the ancient world. Her name was Asherah but depending on the local dialect she was also known as Astarte, Ashtoreth or Ishtar.
She’s subtly introduced in the first chapter of Genesis: “Then God said, “Let US make man in OUR image, according to OUR likeness” (1:26)
For more than 2000 years she’s been hiding in plain sight. There are vast amounts of archaeological evidence showing her eminence and worship — far more evidence than Jesus or any other Biblical figure.
In addition to the tree, she was also associated with snakes. At the time, snakes were highly regarded and symbolic for their fertility (some lay as many as 180 eggs) and renewal (the shedding of their skin). She was associated with apples because worshipers would adorn “her branches” with gifts of fruit — which later became red Christmas balls.
She was worshiped by congregating around and placing tokens “under every green tree”(1) They lit the trees with candles and they placed gifts around her strong trunk.
After her branches were stripped for fuel and shelter and all of her benevolence exhausted, the trunks were made into wood totems and placed at the entrance and
center of every prominent place. Some speculate that the obelisks seen world-wide were in worship of her, but ancient texts are very clear that wood was used as her representation — but it very well could very be the difference in available materials and the longevity of such meaningful representations. Others have tried to correlate the tree and a phallic symbol which dismisses her association, but for thousands of years it was rightfully feminine. Trees bear fruit. Trees provide shelter. Trees give like a mother.
In reverence to the Queen of Heaven, wreaths were fashioned out of vines symbolizing the vagina. Christianity changed the wreath to the symbol for Jesus’s crown of thorns, but for a thousand years longer than Jesus, it symbolized the giver of life: the womb.
She was celebrated. She had her own Holiday. Incense was burned, drinks poured out, and cakes were made, all in her honor. (2)
She was Mother Earth, the Tree of Life.
Ancient man knew of the symbolism and would have recognized it woven into the story of Adam and Eve. The “Tree of Knowledge” in the Garden of Eden became a dire warning to the Israelites not to worship Asherah, because “God” said she was really the devil. (Sounds like a really bad divorce)
In the beginning, Asherah was silenced, discarded, and ripped of her divinity when misogyny hijacked “God.”
In the beginning, God’s wife was assigned to “pagan” religions and kicked to the curb by Yahweh.
And they might have completely gotten away with killing her off, had the Ugaritic texts not been unearthed in 1929. Before the discovery, scholars believed the references to “Asherah” meant a pole, a bush, or an idol. The Ugaritic texts filled in the blanks, brought her to life, and contradicted the belief that the male God is, and always has been, a lone Deity.
In a time of Sun worship, she represented the moon. For thousands of years, celebrations for her were held on the Winter Solstice — the longest night of the year, the time when she is with us the longest .
She was the giver of life, the source of wisdom, and creativity. Asherah walked on water, healed the sick, and gave children to the barren.
Early Christians understood these beliefs, which is why during the holidays trees were not used again until the early 1600’s. It was only in 1968 that the Pope blessed the Christmas tree, and in 2004 Pope John Paul II labeled it the “tree of life” (again) but assigned it to Jesus, further extinguishing the Goddess. The wreaths representing the womb were morphed into Jesus’s crown of thorns.
Even though the early writers of the Torah altered her image in order to dismiss her, she’s been with us all along, because she didn’t go away easily.
Totems to her stood at the entrance of Solomon’s temple for 236 years, out of its 370-year history.
And, it’s not just Christians that still (inadvertently) celebrate her, the menorah is shaped as the Tree of Life.
Beliefs and faith in her were so strong that even the ancient Jewish religious leaders were devoutly devoted and managed to keep her alive through texts — even though much of the Old Testament is about converting or killing her followers.
Proverbs 9 speaks of her, “Wisdom has built her house; she has set up its seven pillars. She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has sent out her servants, and she calls from the highest point of the city, “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she says, “Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of insight.” (1–6)
Or, “Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed. (Proverbs 3:13–18 NIV)
It’s only right to celebrate “Mom” in addition to the birth of Jesus.
For me, setting up the Christmas tree now takes on a whole new meaning. It’s no longer about fussing over the hassle and cost of the tradition, but reverence to the giver all of life.
It’s about celebrating femininity and birth.
New beginnings, new moms, new life, new blessings!
Merry Christmas!
References:
1. (Deut 12:2, 1 Kgs 14:23, 2 Kgs 16:4, 2 Kgs 17:10, 2 Chron 28:4, Isa 57:5, Jer 2:20, Jer 3:6, Jer 3:13, Ezek 6:13). Bible.
2. (Jer 7:18, Jer 44:17–19, 25). Bible.
