• In the Garden

Thursday, November 26, 2009

The pagan gardener

posted by Terry OShaughnessy at 2h40

There's no way around it; gardeners suffer from split personality, I guess. Because as we head to Christmas, or the Winter Solstice if that is your preference, we seem to take the whole garden inside. Trees, shrubs, branches – things we strictly kept out of the house all summer, we now excitedly drag inside to create, let's face it, a garden space under our roof and inside our four walls.

It's all pretty pagan, too, what with holly berries, and ivy – not to mention the mistletoe that is for nothing less than kissing under, thank God. Spinster aunts everywhere have to count on its yearly appearance after all if they want any dependable kissing done. As for the idea of bringing a whole, fully grown tree entirely indoors, well, that seems to also hint at something far older and pre-Bethlehem at the very least.

As far back as Roman times, holly, ivy and mistletoe and other greenery were brought indoors to decorate during the feast of Saturnalia, the mid-winter festival that is thought to presage Christmas. A lot of superstitous power was attached to the plants. Holly and ivy signified good fortune, while boughs of laurel were attached to doorposts as a sign of victory.

Holly especially couldn't seem to shake its potent quality, being said throughout the Dark Ages and later to protect a house against various dangers, including thunder and lightning. Ivy was supposed to have magical properties and the ability to protect against evil spirits. Oh yes, and baldness, too.

As for wreaths, that's just a whole story in itself of pagan, pre-Christian ideas – and garlanding the house in the same evergreens is a much, much older tradition than the Christmas tree itself.

But never mind all this. I think that it was simply a gardener's fault that this season became so much about bringing living things from the garden inside. It helps the transition from the summer with all its growth, and the autumn with all its production of seeds for the next planting season. It helps extend that feeling of green growth and lavish scent – even berries in the case of some of the greenery. Because at the heart of every gardener is the remnant of the pagan soul, I think. And you can see it humming right along at the very centre of Christmas itself, if you care to look.