Each year as the holidays approach people around the world gather among family and friends to celebrate Christmas and the birth of Christ. While religion is not one of my strong points, growing up in a household that not only celebrated Christmas but a Norwegian heritage made for some interesting traditions.

These traditions carried out by many family's during the holidays can vary and serve to celebrate not only the Christmas holiday but the heritage and ancestry of any given family and their people. Carried down centuries from father to son and mother to daughter, traditions serve to remind us of not just where we come from but what we are.

As people run to the malls and gather their gifts and garnish their trees in anticipation of the coming holiday I can not help but notice while scanning various websites and forums in some cases a total lack of understanding pertaining to the symbolic significance of historical artifacts and their actual roots and connection to Christmas.

When I initially put this site up geared to the Third Reich it was not intended to be anything but a celebration of culture, while the era itself is dark and the items to outsiders may seem odd, the Reich in its short time in existence exploded with some of the finest artistic works ever produced and bought forth some of the most interesting items relating to culture and the ancestry of the German and European people and their Pre- Christian roots.

Most all of the symbols incorporated into the Christian religion and the celebration of Christmas predate the Christian religion and the birth of Christ and are attributed to ancient European beliefs and their worship to various Gods. These symbols were utilized by the National Socialist regime to take the German people back to their roots as people of family and of the earth.

"With the notable exception of the Nativity scene, nearly all the symbols and decorations that we associate with Christmas such as the tree, wreath, holly and Ivy, lights, mistletoe, eggnog, yule log, Christmas caroling, and even Santa Claus are of Pagan origin. Many Americans, in fact, often refer to Christmas as "the Yuletide" And no wonder: Yule is the winter solstice. Most modern Pagans still celebrate Yule. Even most Christians use Christmas and Yule interchangeably to describe the season without thinking of its Pagan origin."

The Pagans celebrated Yule, symbolic of the pagan sun god Mithris and his birth and celebrated on the shortest day of the year. As the sun god grew and matured the days became longer and warmer. It was customary to light a candle to encourage Mithras, and the sun, to reappear next year.

Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. The word Yule itself means “wheel,” the wheel being a pagan symbol for the sun. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual. Holly berries were thought to be a food of the gods.

The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. Evergreen bows were sometimes carried as totems of good luck and were often present at weddings, representing fertility. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshipping huge trees.

It was not until approximately 312 with Emperor Constantine that Christianity rose to be the dominant religion in the Roman Empire, It is here that these pagan symbols are adopted into the Christian religion.

While many think that Christianity was stifled during the Reich, it does not really appear to be the case. Heinrich Himmler did take his SS men to a level of Pagan ritual and living, even issuing a guide on how the holidays should be celebrated within an SS family, the National Socialist Party utilized many of the symbols as well and incorporated them in many ways, but the civilian populace and various branches of service clearly show that Weihnachten (Christmas) was in fact alive and well. The reason for this by most accounts is that the strength of the Christian religion and the inability of the N.S Party to overcome it.

In one notable example of the foothold of Christianity, SS Obergruppenfuhrer Oswald Pohl, head of the SS economic concerns and the camp systems under Himmler referenced the following poem from the The Consecration of the Night by Hebbel to adorn a commercially sold Juhlfest plate and signed with his signature.

From all the stars, flows a glorious blessing,
So that tired strength can once more feel itself refreshing,
Out of darkness moves the Lord, as far as he can,
And the threads which have been broken he is mending all again.

While the rear inscription references Yuletide greetings, a pagan term, the poem itself has clear Christian connotations and caused at least one academic to question the integrity of the plate itself. It is said Pohl had taken on Christianity prior to his execution. In my opinion the poem questions whether or not he had some Christian beliefs all along, or more likely,  inclined to cater to the masses.

I remember one family Christmas where everyone was so eager to open presents that we managed to catch the ire of my father who felt we were missing the point, we were, and while that made for a couple tense hours we eventually over came it by feeding him some Glugg or Glogg, a home made wine that had been made within the family every year for as long as I can remember.

While the ire of my father on that one Christmas was no doubt bought on by a failure to acknowledge the birth of Christ, I also have no doubt that he understood the roots of Christmas and its symbolism. I am my fathers son.

Merry Christmas and Yuletide Greetings!!

Weihnachten (Christmas) and Symbolism