the christmas tree——圣诞树的故事
although it is generally agreed that the christmas tree in its current form came from germany in the early 19th century, the tradition of decorating a tree to mark winter celebrations dates back hundreds of years to roman times, when they used to decorate evergreen trees with small pieces of metal to celebrate saturnalia.
in medieval times the 'paradise play' was performed every year on 24 december. this depicted the creation of man and the fall of adam and eve from the garden of eden and always included an evergreen hung with apples which represented the apple tree of temptation.
there is a legend that st boniface, an english monk, came upon a group of pagans gathered around an oak tree who were preparing to sacrifice a child to the god thor. in order to stop the sacrifice, and save the child's life, st boniface is said to have felled the tree with one blow of his fist. later on, a fir tree grew i