I saw this on Facebook and I had to stop and think for a minute.  How confused is society?  How led astray is Christianity?

“Did you know that the chopping down of the Christmas tree represents the death of Christ and putting it back up again represents the resurrection of Christ?  Did you know that the wreaths we hang are never ending circles that represents eternity?  Candy canes were made to look like shepherds’ hooks and the color red Jesus’ blood, white purity.”

Let me give you the history of Christ’s mass, specifically the roots of greenery during Christmas.

Early Romans marked the solstice with a feast called the Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the solstice meant that soon farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs. In Northern Europe the mysterious Druids, the priests of the ancient Celts, also decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life. The fierce Vikings in Scandinavia thought that evergreens were the special plant of the sun god, Balder.

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes.

From http://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas-trees

Devout Christians?  Well, maybe they were, but they had Germanic root.

Yule or Yuletide (“Yule time”) is a festival observed by the historical Germanic peoples, later undergoing Christianized reformulation resulting in the now better-known Christmastide. Scholars have connected the celebration to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin and the pagan Anglo-Saxon Mōdraniht.

Terms with an etymological equivalent to Yule are used in the Nordic countries for Christmas with its religious rites, but also for the holidays of this season. Today Yule is also used to a lesser extent in English-speaking as a synonym for Christmas. Present day Christmas customs such as the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others stem from pagan Yule. Today the event is celebrated in Heathenry and some other forms of Modern Paganism.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule

There is a book called “Pagan Christmas: The Plants, Spirits, and Rituals at the Origins of Yuletide”, from the description of the book says the following:

(This book is…) An examination of the sacred botany and the pagan origins and rituals of Christmas

• Analyzes the symbolism of the many plants associated with Christmas

• Reveals the shamanic rituals that are at the heart of the Christmas celebration

The day on which many commemorate the birth of Christ has its origins in pagan rituals that center on tree worship, agriculture, magic, and social exchange. But Christmas is no ordinary folk observance. It is an evolving feast that over the centuries has absorbed elements from cultures all over the world–practices that give plants and plant spirits pride of place. In fact, the symbolic use of plants at Christmas effectively transforms the modern-day living room into a place of shamanic ritual.

This book is not saying that “an evil thing has happened and no one should do these things”, it simply states facts.  It actually talks about how wonderful these things are.  Yes, life is great, it is much better than death but these symbols of life during this time of the year comes from the worship or the fear of gods.

My daughter recently went to a church where the pastor said that the green tree symbolizes “His never ending life” and that the red in Christmas symbolizes His blood.  To say that the resurrection of the Christmas tree symbolizes “Christ” being resurrected is not true.  To say that a wreath symbolizes G-d’s eternity is false.  Don’t lie to my kid.

Call it what you will, it is “Interpretatio Christiana” (Christian reinterpretation):

Reformatting traditional religious and cultural activities and beliefs into a Christianized form was officially sanctioned; preserved in the Venerable Bede’s Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum is a letter from Pope Gregory I to Mellitus, arguing that conversions were easier if people were allowed to retain the outward forms of their traditions, while claiming that the traditions were in honour of the Christian God, “to the end that, whilst some gratifications are outwardly permitted them, they may the more easily consent to the inward consolations of the grace of God”.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpretatio_Christiana

In Mark 7:9, Yeshua says:

He (Yeshua) was also telling them, “You set aside the commands of God, in order that you may validate your own tradition.

G-d’s traditions have been set aside in order to follow pagan (Christian reinterpreted or not) traditions.