As lovely as a tree?

When Charles Dickens dismissed the Christmas tree as that silly German toy he was apparently unaware of the many traditional and social forces from which the decorated tree was sprung. Dickens was no doubt responding to the introduction of the tree to England by Prince Albert, German consort of the young Queen Victoria.
Much has been written about the connection between Christmas and Saturnalia, that midwinter Roman feast where revellers bedecked their halls with boughs of holly, mistletoe and other greenery. But does the custom of the tree have an earlier origin?
An ancient myth tells how the body of Osiris floated ashore at Byblos, Phoenicia, and was revived as a green tree. Osiris is one of the principal deities in Egyptian mythology. He represented the male reproductive force in nature and became identified with the setting sun. He is reputed to have reclaimed the Egyptians from savagery and taught them to worship the gods. Before his time the Egyptians had been cannibals but Isis, the wife of Osiris, discovered wheat and barley growing wild. Osiris introduced the cultivation of grain among his people. He is said to have been first to gather fruit from trees, to train vines and make wine. The story goes that his brother Set tricked him into lying down a highly decorated coffer he had made himself. Set quickly fastened the lid and cast the coffer into the Nile. It floated down the river and away out to sea until it came ashore at Byblos, an ancient city on the coast of Syria. Here a tree grew, enclosing the coffer in its trunk. The king of the country had the tree cut down. Restored to life, it was elaborately decorated and dressed with green leaves. This gave rise to a beautiful feast held each year, at which a fallen tree was erected and, with much ceremony, replanted.
Decorated trees have come down through the ages, and are with us today, which is why I believe that Giorgio Sadotti – he of the undecorated tree in Tate Britain – is missing the point when he says that an undecorated tree looks beautiful in the forest. Why not just leave the damm thing in the forest? Today, we not only have decorated trees but pink ones and black ones, gold, silver and white ones. Charles Dickens may not have delved too deeply into the origin of the tree, but we won’t quibble over that. Instead, we will recite his other great Christmas accolade: God bless us all, everyone.