Just this past week, I had the pleasure of being with a number of Americans who had met in İstanbul to celebrate an American Thanksgiving. The group held the event at a local restaurant. The young Turkish manager, Yetka, was curious to know exactly why we were having this dinner and took me aside to ask about its importance. His simple question earned him a short tale of the English Pilgrims and the hardships they had endured during their first year in their new American colony. I explained how they decided to have a communal feast to celebrate a successful harvest in 1621. We Americans annually still give our thanks and share the bounty that has been given to us. However, coming soon for many Westerners is another important holiday. As Yetka sometimes comes to my home on a business errand for his boss, I may have to explain why I now will have a living tree in my small living room.
Even though Christmas Day is of little consequence to most Muslims, every year I invite a few Turkish friends to experience the holiday. At the heart of my holiday is the spirit of giving and the gathering of friends. Over time, my Turkish friends have come to not only respect but also to enjoy my need to have a Christmas dinner, complete with presents.
Until now, my guests have found their small but carefully chosen presents piled up next to an 11-inch high plastic tree brought by a Chicago visitor. That tradition is changing! I am getting my first real Christmas tree since I left the United States 11 years ago.
The tradition behind the Christmas tree has more to do with the winter solstice than with any specific religion. The summer and winter solstices are noted as the days the sun “stands still” and then changes its direction. On the day of the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, daylight hours are at their shortest and darkness is at a maximum. In prehistoric times, winter was a difficult time for people in northern latitudes. Harvesting times had ended, and tribes had to live off of stored food and whatever animals they could catch. Until the winter solstice, the life-giving sun sank lower in the sky each noon. After the winter solstice, they had good reason to celebrate as they saw the sun rising earlier once more. Although months of cold weather remained before spring, folks took heart in the return of the so-needed growing season.
Celebrations took a simple form. Even though deciduous trees, fruit-bearing bushes and crops died or hibernated for the winter, evergreen trees remained green, withstanding the rigors of cold and snow. They became a symbol of hope. Bits of shiny metal and wooden toys were hung on living outdoor trees. Small boughs from these same trees cheered the indoors of people’s homes. These practices were not limited to European lands. Even ancient Egyptians considered the ever-present palm tree to symbolize a similar promise of a coming season of fruitful planting and so decorated their homes with its branches during the winter solstice.
The decorated evergreen tree tradition dates back to western Germany in the 16th century. They were called “Paradeisbaum” (paradise trees) and were brought into homes to celebrate the annual Feast of Adam and Eve on Dec. 24. The tradition was brought to America by German immigrants. Christmas trees became popular among the general population around 1850 when US President Franklin Pierce arranged to have the first Christmas tree in the White House.
Today, the Christmas tree has become accepted in many countries by people of many faiths as a late-December tradition and as part of our present-day international culture. It is primarily a secular symbol of hope for the new year and the future return of warmth to the earth. By the way, this year’s winter solstice falls on Sunday, Dec. 21.
Now back to how and why I am getting my tree! An American woman who recently moved to İstanbul will be visiting her family in Ohio for the holidays. Yet she did so yearn for a Christmas tree in her new home. Her Turkish husband happily went along with the idea and located one in a nursery, all the while broadly hinting that after she left for her brief vacation, he would be so-not-interested in the intrusive plant. After asking around, she found a person volunteering to take in the evergreen after she leaves -- yep, that’s me!
My tree sharer and I had until recently been simply casual acquaintances, meeting briefly now and then at a professional women’s group. Over the last few weeks, we have taken to frequently calling and e-mailing to debate the size and shape of the tree and to agree on what we could both afford as we are splitting the cost. We have even met for dinner to further discuss the details. The shared tree, before it was ever purchased, has brought us each a new friend in addition to the joy of a holiday tradition. I’ll enjoy meeting her husband when he brings the tree to my home in mid-December.
Such an odd arrangement would very likely not happen often in America, but here in Turkey, people are not that surprised. We do our best to maintain our most cherished traditions from our homelands while finding ways to adapt to the culture in which we have chosen to live.
I look forward to “trimming” the tree, to putting on the small geegaws I have collected overseas and to hunting through the back streets of Eminönü for some larger ones. Decorating the tree has always been a family-oriented occasion. Now it is a friends’ event. Handmade decorations are the most treasured and will be wrapped carefully after the holiday to be used again and again each year. My friends here in İstanbul know this and already have given me such delightful small gifts. The hand-blown glass teardrops, the straw angels and the beaded stars are to be the highlights of my tree as they represent my current friendships and past joys.
During and after the upcoming holiday celebrations, this small shared tree will be much more than a festive decoration. It will be a living reminder of precious moments shared between friends. As a potted plant, it will continue to grow and thrive throughout the year, just as my friendships in İstanbul will flourish. Not for nothing are these traditional seasonal trees called evergreens. With all luck and careful tending, both the tree and the friendships will be evergreen at this time next year. Perhaps at this time in 2009, I will call this young plant a “sharing tree” rather than a “shared Christmas tree.”
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