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Adam and Eve brought death upon us by eating the fruit of a live tree. Christ bought us eternal life by dying for us on a cross made of a dead tree.

The Christmas tree is a German tradition partially inspired by Medievil Passion plays where trees were cut and displayed to represent the Garden of Eden.

“The solution which developed [to spread Christianity among the illiterate peasants in Europe, especially in what would become Germany] was found in traveling troops of actors who would act out Biblical stories in the town square. In a generalized way they were called “Passion Plays”. They didn’t always depict the death and crucifixion of Jesus, often they portrayed beloved Old Testament stories like Daniel in the Lions den, or the Worship of the Golden calf.

One of the most popular “acts” was that of the garden of Eden, and the fall into sin. This enactment always contained a small enclosed area of the stage, the “Garden of Eden” which contained the “tree of life.” This tree was usually hung with apples, the most common fruit available to the people in Europe, and small round pieces of flat bread symbolizing the wafers of communion. The decorations on this Tree of Life were thus meant to symbolize sin and evil by means of the apples, and love and forgiveness in the pieces of bread. This early connection of apple with the tree is what has caused so many paintings to depict Adam and Eve picking apples.

These passion plays were quite the rage. The troubadours traveled from village to village, city to city for the common people and rarely performed for the nobles…with them they carried the latest gossip and news. Thus during the time of the Crusades, when exotic spices and new fruits like oranges started flooding into Europe, they also found their way onto the tree. Perhaps in the interest of accuracy, but more likely just to boast about their connections and travels, the troubadours started hanging new fruits together with the apples on the tree…apples, oranges, lemons, limes, apricots. All found their colorful niches on the Tree of Life. Coincidentally around this time (the 1200’s ) the wafer bread began to be baked with the new spices of nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice. In addition, someone came up with the idea of also cutting out of the dough Male and Female shapes representing Adam and Eve to hang on the tree along with the circles.”