Where Does the Lady Fit in With the Holly and Oak King Story
December 23, 2020
By Alex Henderson, Curator of Living Collections, Royal Botanical Gardens.
The day that many lionise Christmas has its origins in the trench history of ancient peoples of northern Europe. Christmas is celebrated midmost of overwinter when the trees have none leaves and the globe has botanically asleep to sleep. Each year, we beautify with evergreen trees, branches, and winter blooming plants but people seldom ask why and what lays buns this past plant symbology? Understanding Christmas botany opens new perspectives along customs of times long yesteryear and reveals cultural elements from around the existence which have been incorporated into today's Christmas traditions.
The antediluvian peoples of Europe had a far greater connection with nature than most people in present times. They held reverence for the sun and held an annual solemnisation to mark the wintertime solstice along December 21. It was believed that the Sunday stood even for 12 days so a log was flaming to crush darkness, banish evil spirits, and bring luck for the coming year. This was famed as Yuletide. During the celebration, houses were decorated with Buddy Holly, ivy, Loranthus europaeus, and other plants. Galore of these plants were opinion to hold special powers but they were also victimised as a reminder of rebirth, a return to longer days, the planting of crops, and the world comme il faut abundant again. Christmastide became Yuletide and many pagan beliefs and rituals were absorbable past the church into Christmas celebrations. December 25 was selected as the appointment for Christmas out-of-pocket to its law of proximity to the solstice.
Winter solstice celebrated the rebirth of the sun, a repay to life, and the changing of the seasons. Symbolizing the changing seasons, the legend of the Oak tree King and Charles Hardin Holley King represented personifications of summer and winter. They were locked in a never-ending engagement for seasonal supremacy. Both Kings represented solar lightness, darkness, crop renewal, and increase. During the warm days of summer and when in full leaf, the Oak King is at the height of his strength. Along the approach shot of winter and with the loss of the Oak tree King's leaves, the Holly King regains power which peaks at the winter solstice. At this point the Oak King is reborn. As his new leaves open, the cycle perpetuates. Some are portrayed in familiar ways with the Holly King as a woodsy edition of Santa dressed in red with sprigs of holly in his hair. The Oak tree Queen is portrayed as a fertility god-look-alike figure coming into court as a common man or similar forest character.
The story of the Oak B. B. King and Buddy Holly King still resonates today with many celebrating the passage of seasons including summer and winter solstices. During normal pandemic-free years all December 21 in Toronto, a festival marks the payof to light. This includes costumed revelers, line lanterns, theatrical scenarios, shadow play, and wandering big puppets some of which take in biology themes. The longest Nox concludes with a fete of fire and a community feast to wanted the return of the Oak King.
We may prefer to take up or snub that our familiar Yuletide traditions have attentive past ethnobotanical beliefs of winter solstice celebrations. The study of Christmas botany does however give us greater perceptiveness into how plants are inner to the history and spiritual beliefs of the festive season. Ethnologically, Christmas can be described as one of the most successful examples of a tidy sum ritual that has international, cultural, and religious importance. It has been incorporated and interpreted by people from different cultures globally and its very foundations are built on conventional institut employ, noesis, and botany. Happy Christmas, the return of the Oak King, and the impendent renewal of the sun.
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Where Does the Lady Fit in With the Holly and Oak King Story
Source: https://www.rbg.ca/the-everlasting-battle-of-the-oak-king-and-holly-king/
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