Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, what’s the point of being the tallest?

On August 18, Minister Arjuna Ranatunge conducted what was described as an ‘opening ceremony’ to have the world’s tallest Christmas tree on Galle Face Green. It was also reported that this tree which symbolizes ‘peace and harmony’ will be unveiled on December 24.

Let us leave aside the structural details and logistics of this unveiling. Let us also leave aside the benefit to the poor and needy of this country by having the word’s tallest ‘Christmas tree’.

The so called ‘Christmas tree’ whether in Sri Lanka or in any part of the world has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas. Christmas, is the Feast of the Nativity - a day Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. He was born in a cattle shed and laid in a manger. It is the manger which is the centre-piece of Christmas and it is replicas of a manger which is found or should be found, in churches during the Christmas season. Nowhere, in the Bible is there any mention of a Christmas tree.

The Christmas tree which has over the decades been commercialised originated in Germany perhaps in the 15th or l6th century when the people who happened to be Christian, brought into their homes green trees which they brightened up and decorated dur- ing the the wintry Christmas season. Hence it came to be called a ‘Christmas tree’.

Last year Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith requested the priests of the Roman Catholic Church not to decorate the church with so called ‘Christmas trees’. He said that these trees have no religious significance and are a symbol of social gatherings and commercialisation. We can see this reality in almost every capital of the world even in Sri Lanka.

May the tree proposed to be erected on Galle Face Green be called the ‘Peace and Harmony Tree’. V.P. Perera Colombo 5