BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea

Subject: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: Alice
Date: 14 Dec 08 - 12:36 PM

I just saw this for the first time on the Food channel, as part of a Christmas decor program.
Apparently, the latest fad is to hang or stand the Christmas tree upside down, but the idea is documented as far back as the middle ages.

click here

and click here for lit tree

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: Bobert
Date: 14 Dec 08 - 12:40 PM

I used to go to a bar in Richmond (The Village) that had a fake Xmas tree hangin' over the cash register... Been there for years... Had a few very dusty Xmas balls, some tinsel and a string of lights which stayed lit 24/7...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 14 Dec 08 - 06:17 PM

HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA

"some think an upside-down Christmas tree is - - - sacrilegious."

A pagan decoration, sacreligious to the Christian faith? Oh deary me, haven't had such a good chuckle for ages!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Dec 08 - 09:34 PM

There's a guy I know who has dusty balls....

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: open mike
Date: 14 Dec 08 - 09:42 PM

i saw an up-side-down santa hanging from a car port roof yesterday.
and an up-side-down reindeer in a yard--i think it had been windy!

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: mouldy
Date: 15 Dec 08 - 03:55 AM

They appeared on the scene last year and I suppose they are intended for these compact living spaces that haven't got room for a trad tree.

One good thing I notice is that they let one's baubles dangle freely!

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 15 Dec 08 - 12:12 PM

But where does the fairy go?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: PoppaGator
Date: 15 Dec 08 - 12:17 PM

Liz, you must be a REAL pagan ~ that's an angel, not a fairy, on top of the tree. (Or, if you prefer, a star.)

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Dec 08 - 06:45 PM

The nissetroll has no trouble keeping track of either kind, but he or she will still stay out of sight as much as possible.

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 16 Dec 08 - 01:29 AM

Actually Poppagator, I bat for the other team as it were... which is why my Christmas tree always has a star on the top of it.

But, as the Christmas traditions practically all have 'pagan' beginnings, (i.e., tributes to gods who are not the One God') I like to find out exactly whose toes I'm treading on when I put holly around my house and light my Christmas candles (or mini bonfire!)

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: Paul Burke
Date: 16 Dec 08 - 03:30 AM

The Christmas tree is no more pagan than Prince Albert was. It's German and commercial. Back to history, after the (UK) Civil War and before about 1820 you see very little mention of Christmas- nobody thought it was very important. All the modern symbols of the holiday- the tree, cards, Santa etc.- developed from the early Victorian period onwards, and it's no coincidence that one of the recurring themes on cards is the stagecoach in the snow- nostalgia for the pre- railway age of unhurried simplicity (huh).

Not that I'm against celebrating the Winster Solipsist, it's just about 4 days too late and goes on too long. Let's get back to the original meaning of Christmas, and evict a few peasants.

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 16 Dec 08 - 04:09 AM

That looks kinda cool, upside down.   Are you supposed to sit upside down to get the full effect though, or does that just happen naturally after several bowls of sherry trifle?

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 16 Dec 08 - 04:37 AM

I first noticed the upside-down Xmas trees last year. There's a mention of them from 2005 Here, which gives a 12th century origin for the European X-mas tree - though it wasn't until 1841 that they became popular in England, taking its place alongside other anciently traditional evergreen decorations - the holly, ivy & mistletoe - but just how anciently traditional is difficult to say, much less to ascertain any actual significance (in terms of symbolic meaning), pagan or otherwise. Frazer has a lot to answer for!

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 16 Dec 08 - 05:07 AM

A test:
Draw a simple Christmas tree.
Don't scroll down 'til you've drawn it!











If you've followed cartoon & Christmas card standards you will have a picture of a tree with branches sloping downwards. Look at a real one, the branches go up!(unless it's hanging from the ceiling) Strange isn't it?

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: MMario
Date: 16 Dec 08 - 09:05 AM

the evergreen being HUNG upside down from the rafters is well documented; which just goews to show that there's nothing new.

Christmas was very downplayed in the UK for a number of reasons - and pretty much a strictly religious holiday in most other countries; untl, as Paul said, the Victorian Era - which in England and the US ushered in a much more secular Christmas.

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Dec 08 - 10:56 AM

Ah, heck, we've hung the tree upside down and even had it on a sling over in the Mudcat Tavern over the years.

Alcohol was involved.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: MMario
Date: 16 Dec 08 - 11:02 AM

and squid.

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: Megan L
Date: 16 Dec 08 - 03:51 PM

Aye SRS but what I want tae ken is Has anyone ever bin caught walkin doon Sauchiehall Street wie it under their arm :)six o us did it wie a palm tree we got aw the wey frae the Three Pigeons tae near the bus stationa good mile and a hauf when a polis luked at us then luked at the tree and pointed back up the road so we carried it aw the wey back .

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 16 Dec 08 - 05:32 PM

Only because they cannae spell Sauchiehall and wanted ye tae tak it tae North Street!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: Megan L
Date: 16 Dec 08 - 05:33 PM

Aw jings a kent we shouldny hae gaen ye thon scots dictionary lassie :)

Subject: RE: BS: Upside down Christmas tree - decor idea
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 16 Dec 08 - 05:55 PM

Aye, an I'm havin a Glasgae A te Zeed tha ken!

LTS