Why do we have CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS and CHRISTMAS TREES?

To appease the tree spirits, people in the Dark Ages attached painted stones and coloured cloth to oak branches in midwinter. The belief that bad luck will follow if you leave Christmas decorations up past Twelfth Night also has its origins here: if the spirits were not released once midwinter had passed, the forests and fields might not awaken again.

richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK.