Tannenbaum – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

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O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum! Today’s dictionary.com Word of the Day is one that we have come to associate with the Christmas season, the Tannenbaum, literally translated from German to mean “fir”.

Today most people have come to accept the Christmas tree as a holiday fixture in homes and town squares the world over. Though it’s modern form traces its roots to 15th and 16th century Germany, the practice of using evergreen branches and trees to celebrate winter festivals, pagan and Christian, dates back many thousand years before Christmas was even a thing. To Pagans, decking their homes and temples with evergreen branches during winter solstice made them think of the coming spring. Romans used evergreen branches to decorate their temples during the winter festival of Saturnalia, in homage to the god Saturn, whose name means “sowing”.

The strong association of the tannenbaum with paganism has faced the ire of…