How Holly Became A Christmas Tradition

Does anything evoke Christmas and the winter holidays more than a sprig of green holly leaves with red berries? Perhaps not. And as an evergreen shrub or tree in your home landscape, holly is a real showstopper in winter when little else is green. The same features that make it so attractive today are what made holly a mythical plant to ancient cultures.

Holly is a broadleaved, slow-growing tree or shrub with glossy green leaves, wavy margins, and sharp spines. In woodlands, holly often grows under trees as an under-story species. Its bright red berries are a rich source of food for native birds and it offers winter shelter for songbirds and other wildlife.

“The name christdorn is used in Germany for holly meaning ‘Christ thorn’, a reminder to Christians of Jesus’s suffering and a nod to the legend that his crown of thorns was made from the holly bush. The well known anonymous Christmas carol The Holly and the Ivy, from the 1700s, uses the holly’s white blossom, red berries and bitter bark to demarcate the stages of Jesus’s life, where the holly and ivy are used as metaphors for Jesus and Mary.”

The Irish News, Take on Nature: The holly and the ivy, from Celts to Christmas

How the tradition of using holly in winter festivals began

The tradition of using holly in winter celebrations began when Rome ruled over Europe, between 200 BC and 14 AD. Northern European cultures believed holly had special significance since it was still green in winter when deciduous plants had dropped their leaves and become dormant. As the ancient winter holidays centered around the shortest day of the year (on our modern calendar in mid-December), holly represented the waning sun as the solstice approached.

Holly cuttings adorned homes during the winter solstice as it was believed to bring good luck and ward off evil forces in the coming year. Its wood was used to build items believed to have special powers or to bring good luck and it was believed that a holly plant grown close to the house kept its inhabitants safe from fire, lightning strikes, and nightmares.

• The Romans used Holly as a decoration in their Saturnalia festival which occurred in mid to late December. The festival was a thanksgiving to their God of agriculture, Saturn.
• In some areas of Britain holly was once referred to simply as ‘Christmas’
• In pre-Victorian times Christmas trees were not pines, but holly bushes.
• The holly tree, or cuileann in Irish, was considered to have magical powers to the Celts. Druids wore sprigs of holly at their festivals and in rituals and believed it to be a sacred tree, never to be felled.
• In Celtic mythology the Holly King ruled from the summer to the winter solstice. He was depicted as a powerful giant covered in holly leaves and branches, and wielding a holly bush as a club.
• Christian culture adopted the holly – along with ivy – in Christmas celebrations.

While most of us no longer believe in the magic of plants, holly is indeed a beautiful adornment to our winter homes (“deck the halls with boughs of holly”). It’s a common addition to decorations and flower arrangements during the Christmas season.

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Planting tips for Holly

As every deciduous plant goes into dormancy each winter, holly really comes into its own, retaining its green luster and producing bright red berries. These berries are a favorite food source for many native birds who have a difficult time finding food sources in the deep winter. Holly’s burst of red and green in the winter landscape is a welcome sight when nearly every other plant is dormant.

But holly’s red berries are only produced on female plants. Hollies are dioecious, which means male and female flowers occur on separate plants (female flowers must be pollinated by male flowers to produce berries). So if you would like to see those bright red holly berries in winter, you’ll have to plant one male for every 5-10 female plants.

References: Trees For Life, Holly mythology and folklore; The Irish News, Take on Nature: The holly and the ivy, from Celts to Christmas; Illinois Extension, Holly for the Holidays