Exploring the Holiday Evergreen A Candlegrove interview with Sheryl Karas, author of The Solstice Evergreen Few of us know the origins and spiritual significance of the Christmas tree. Throughout centuries and cultures, the evergreen has been a potent symbol of rebirth. Contemporary Christmas Trees are a vestige of the pagan practice of bringing greenery into the home during the winter solstice to symbolize life in the dead of winter.

In The Solstice Evergreen, author Sheryl Karas sheds light on this worldwide heritage. Karas has gathered nearly 40 myths, legends and folktales from diverse cultures around the globe. Excellent for both adults and children, the book will deepen your appreciation and broaden your understanding of the holiday evergreen tree, which symbolizes ideals that connect all human beings. Although she grew up Jewish, Sheryl has had a lifelong interest in the Christmas Tree. Sheryl, who holds an MA in Transpersonal Psychology, is also the author of Changing the World One Relationship at a Time. Sheryl, in the book's introduction, you talked about the many years spent gathering research and the sometimes difficult process of discovery in tracing the many "roots" of the Christmas tree in religions and folklore. Beyond your own book, have you seen a difference in the past decade, in terms of the amount published and the general awareness of the ancient origins of our holiday symbols and traditions? I would say so. I think people's interest in the spiritual significance of what they do is growing leaps and bounds every year. I have seen a lot more published of this nature, and locally in Santa Cruz, there is even a University of California Extension class being offered about the pagan origin of the Christmas tree and corresponding traditions (which I'm not teaching!). Why do you suppose that is? Is it millenial? Or the openness and diversity of our culture now? Other factors? Maybe all of the above. Personally, I've been more interested in spiritual issues since that book came out and all my friends seem to be. In fact, if I were writing the book today I might include more about Kaballah and Jungian psychology and other things I want to explore a bit more. At the time I wrote The Solstice Evergreen I was anything but spiritual in my everyday life. I don't think that necessarily comes across in the book itself. I was interested in the tree from an intellectual point of view. But since then I have had experiences my intellect cannot make sense of and many of my friends have experienced the same thing. A more New Age-oriented person than myself would attribute it to astrology or "Earth changes" of that kind of thing--a spiritual awakening designed to interrupt our self-destructive tendencies. The intellectual side of myself scoffs at this but another part wonders if it might be true. What kinds of response has the book generated? Mostly positive. I have received many e-mails and letters from people who found my book to be healing for them because they have mixed-religion marriages. It has helped people think about the tree in a less divisive way -- believe it or not, putting up a holiday tree can be very controversial. In Santa Cruz protests were staged against the town Christmas Tree (they tried to call it a Community Tree) because it was offensive to those raised Jewish that a symbol of Christianity be used as a symbol that represented the community as a whole. One local paper interviewed me on the topic hoping to smooth things out. But, even though I wrote the book to reconcile my own mixed feelings as a Jew about Christmas Trees I have to respect those that see it as a Christian symbol. It is very gratifying for me, however, when I hear that my book has brought families closer together. How so? One fan wrote to tell me that he and his wife no longer fight about whether to have a Christmas Tree. He's Jewish, she's not. Instead, he is now able to support her desire to have a Christmas Tree by celebrating it as a pagan ritual with significance they can both support. They read stories from my book around the tree every year as part of their new blended-religion family. I've received several letters of this nature. Your recently revised edition includes stories from modern-day sources. Are there other authors or storytellers whose work inspires you? Can you recommend some? Most of the storytellers I love do not write their stories down. Brother Blue, who does street-performance story-telling in Cambridge, MA is probably the most inspirational teller I have ever seen and heard. He is amazing and puts across very deep spiritually significant messages in such an accessible way that a person is moved to laughter and tears without knowing they've just been preached to. Until later, when it hits them just how profound what they heard actually was. Two other storytellers from New England stand out in my mind as well--Medicine Story (a Wampanoag elder who tells traditional and not so traditional Native American stories) and Doug Lipman (who tells great Hasidic stories with thought-provoking messages). Both of them are good at holding the material they share with great respect while adding their own twists and interpretations. In the world of books, my favorites change every day. I loved the first Harry Potter book, the only one I've read. It's great storytelling -- the kind that paints pictures in your mind and takes you on a wild adventure. Very unlike the sanitized pablum most children's authors have been forced to offer up in recent years. Not at all surprising that children snatch them up. I also recommend Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Naomi Remen, MD. The book is about the healing nature of storytelling and story listening from the most personal point of view. It's about how powerful it is to really listen to someone and care about the story they have to tell--not performance storytelling or entertainment storytelling but human sharing. We are all so busy these days we don't take the time to listen and be there for one another. But when it gets down to it, "each other" is all that's really important. This power of storytelling seems to be a strong theme running through your work. Is there a story behind how this interest developed in you? I think that storytelling is a big part of my heritage. I remember the rabbi telling traditional Hasidic stories about the village of Chelm in lieu of a sermon many Saturdays because they were such good teaching devices. People tend to forget that Jesus was Jewish. It's not a coincidence that this other famous rabbi used storytelling - parables - to make his points. It's a time-honored Jewish tradition.:) How do you celebrate the winter holidays today? Do you plan anything special for this year? I do something different every year. I like the idea of establishing a personal tradition but I don't seem to be the traditional type. I DO often have a small Christmas Tree that goes up for Winter Solstice...but not always. Also, I belong to an African dance class which is actually closer to a weekly community happening. We stretch and dance together as in any other dance class but we also read poetry, sing together, celebrate each other's birthdays, support worthy causes, and do seasonal rituals. This Winter Solstice I plan to spend with them - dancing and singing and sharing a holiday ritual in which we creatively express what the season means to us and our wishes for the coming millenium year. I'm looking forward to it. This holiday means "community" to me more than any other - not Christmas but Solstice. Solstice feels like a holiday that includes everyone. It doesn't have the trappings of Christmas and all the expectations that go along with it. It doesn't trap you into "proving your love" by blowing your budget. It doesn't make you feel left out or insignificant if you do not have a family to share it with. As a Jew I can participate as an equal, not just as a guest. I don't have to change who I am to be there or put my own feelings aside; I can bring my full Jewish self to the table and feel welcome. I guess that's why I was drawn to finding out more about it.

>>Buy the book from Amazon.com >>Read the introduction to The Solstice Evergreen >>Visit the Web site for The Solstice Evergreen

A note about the commerce links on this site: Candlegrove is essentially non-commercial. In some cases, links from this site yield a small affiliate fee. Half of all funds generated by such links help sustain this site. The other half is donated to environmental organizations.