Editing Christmas tree (section)

== Religious issues ==
Under the [[Marxist-Leninist atheism|Marxist-Leninist]] doctrine of [[state atheism]] in the Soviet Union, after its foundation in 1917, Christmas celebrations—along with other religious holidays—were prohibited as a result of the Soviet [[Anti-religious campaign during the Russian Civil War|anti-religious campaign]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://asia.rbth.com/articles/2010/12/15/and_so_is_this_christmas05210.html|title=And so, is this Christmas?|date=15 December 2010|first=Jennifer|last=Eremeeva|work=[[Russia Beyond the Headlines]]|quote=Russian Christians adhere to the Eastern Orthodox calendar, which lags 13 days behind the modern day calendar. This discrepancy was corrected in 1918, by the fledgling Bolshevik regime, but Christmas never reverted to December 25th in Russia, because the Bolsheviks began a systematic campaign to phase out traditional religious holidays and replace them with Soviet ones. Christmas was shifted to New Year's Eve. At the beginning, stringent measures were put in place to see off any holdover of the old days: Christmas trees, introduced to Russia by Tsar Peter The Great in the 17th century, were banned in 1916 by the Holy Synod as too German. The Bolsheviks kept the tree ban in place. Stalin declared Ded Moroz "an ally of the priest and kulak", and outlawed him from Russia.|access-date=3 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015214922/http://asia.rbth.com/articles/2010/12/15/and_so_is_this_christmas05210.html|archive-date=15 October 2015}}</ref><ref name="Connelly2000">{{cite book |last=Connelly |first=Mark |date=2000 |title=Christmas at the Movies: Images of Christmas in American, British and European Cinema |publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=978-1-86064-397-2 |page=186 |quote=A chapter on representations of ''Christmas'' in Soviet cinema could, in fact be the shortest in this collection: suffice it to say that there were, at least officially, no Christmas celebrations in the atheist socialist state after its foundation in 1917.}}</ref><ref name="MIG"/> The [[League of Militant Atheists]] encouraged school pupils to campaign against Christmas traditions, among them being the Christmas tree, as well as other Christian holidays, including [[Easter]]; the League established an anti-religious holiday to be the 31st of each month as a replacement.<ref name="Ramet2005">{{cite book |last=Ramet |first=Sabrina Petra |title=Religious Policy in the Soviet Union |date=10 November 2005 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-02230-9 |page=138 |quote=The League sallied forth to save the day from this putative religious revival. ''Antireligioznik'' obliged with so many articles that it devoted an entire section of its annual index for 1928 to anti-religious training in the schools. More such material followed in 1929, and a flood of it the next year. It recommended what Lenin and others earlier had explicitly condemned—carnivals, farces, and games to intimidate and purge the youth of religious belief. It suggested that pupils campaign against customs associated with Christmas (including Christmas trees) and Easter. Some schools, the League approvingly reported, staged an anti-religious day on the 31st of each month. Not teachers but the League's local set the programme for this special occasion.}}</ref> With the Christmas tree being prohibited in accordance with [[Soviet anti-religious legislation]], people supplanted the former Christmas custom with New Year's trees.<ref name="MIG">{{cite book |date=1993 |title=Echo of Islam |publisher=MIG |quote=In the former Soviet Union, fir trees were usually put up to mark New Year's day, following a tradition established by the officially atheist state.}}</ref><ref name="Dice2009">{{cite book |last=Dice |first=Elizabeth A. |date=2009 |title=Christmas and Hanukkah |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-1971-7 |page=44 |quote=The Christmas tree, or Yolka, is another tradition that was banned during the Soviet era. To keep the custom alive, people decorated New Year's trees instead.}}</ref> In 1935, the tree was brought back as [[New Year tree]] and became a secular, not a religious holiday.

[[Pope John Paul II]] introduced the Christmas tree custom to the Vatican in 1982. Although at first disapproved of by some as out of place at the centre of the Roman Catholic Church, the [[Vatican Christmas Tree]] has become an integral part of the Vatican Christmas celebrations,<ref name="Stenhouse">{{cite web |url=http://www.wantedinrome.com/news/2000419/christmas-the-vatican-christmas-tree.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730173019/http://www.wantedinrome.com/news/2000419/christmas-the-vatican-christmas-tree.html |archive-date=30 July 2013 |first=Margaret |last=Stenhouse |title=The Vatican Christmas Tree |date=22 December 2010 |access-date=19 December 2012 }}</ref> and in 2005 [[Pope Benedict XVI]] spoke of it as part of the normal Christmas decorations in Catholic homes.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.appleseeds.org/christmas-quotes.htm |title=Pre-Christmas Reflection: May Our Spirits Open to the True Spiritual Light |agency=Zenit News Agency |date=21 December 2005 |access-date=19 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120625212305/http://www.appleseeds.org/christmas-quotes.htm |archive-date=25 June 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2004, Pope John Paul called the Christmas tree a symbol of Christ. This very ancient custom, he said, exalts the value of life, as in winter what is evergreen becomes a sign of undying life, and it reminds Christians of the "tree of life",<ref>{{Bibleverse|Genesis|2:9}}</ref> an image of Christ, the supreme gift of God to humanity.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.zenit.org/article-11828?l=english |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071208101926/http://www.zenit.org/article-11828?l=english |archive-date=8 December 2007 |title=Christmas tree is symbol of Christ, says Pope—And a Sign of 'Undying Life' |agency=Zenit News Agency |date=19 December 2004 |access-date=19 December 2012 }}</ref> In the previous year he said: "Beside the crib, the Christmas tree, with its twinkling lights, reminds us that with the birth of Jesus the tree of life has blossomed anew in the desert of humanity. The crib and the tree: precious symbols, which hand down in time the true meaning of Christmas."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/messages/urbi/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_20031225_urbi_en.html |title=''Urbi et Orbi'' message of His Holiness Pope John Paul II, Christmas 2003 |language=la |date=25 December 2003 |access-date=19 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130105060649/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/messages/urbi/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_20031225_urbi_en.html |archive-date=5 January 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Catholic Church's official ''Book of Blessings'' has a service for the blessing of the Christmas tree in a home.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/830/Blessing_a_Christmas_Tree.html |title=Order for the Blessing of a Christmas Tree |publisher=Crossroads Initiative |access-date=19 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230021152/http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/830/Blessing_a_Christmas_Tree.html |archive-date=30 December 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]] in ''The Anglican Family Prayer Book'', which has the [[imprimatur]] of The Rt. Rev. Catherine S. Roskam of the [[Anglican Communion]], has long had a ritual titled ''Blessing of a Christmas Tree'', as well as ''Blessing of a Crèche'', for use in the church and the home; family services and public liturgies for the blessing of Christmas trees are common in other Christian denominations as well.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kitch |first=Anne E. |date=2004 |title=The Anglican Family Prayer Book |publisher=Morehouse Publishing |page=125}}</ref><ref name="Socias2020">{{cite book |last1=Socias |first1=James |title=Handbook of Prayers |date=24 June 2020 |publisher=Midwest Theological Forum |isbn=978-1-936045-54-9 |language=en}}</ref>

[[Chrismon tree]]s, which find their origin in the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran Christian]] tradition though now used in many Christian denominations such as the Catholic Church and Methodist Church, are used to decorate churches during the liturgical season of [[Advent]]; during the period of [[Christmastide]], Christian churches display the traditional Christmas tree in their sanctuaries.<ref name="Weaver2002">{{cite book|last=Weaver|first=J. Dudley |title=Presbyterian Worship: A Guide for Clergy|year=2002|publisher=Geneva Press|language=en |isbn=978-0-664-50218-8|page=79|quote=Many congregations have begun the tradition of using a ''Chrismon tree'' in the sanctuary as part of the Advent and Christmas celebration. It is important, especially for children, that the distinction between this tree and the family Christmas tree be clearly made. The Chrismon tree is decorated only with clear lights and Chrismons made from white and gold material. White, the color of Christmas, is the color of purity and perfection, while gold is the color for majesty and glory. The Chrismons are ancient symbols for Christ or some part of Christ's ministry: the crow, descending down, fish, Celtic cross, Jerusalem cross, shepherd's crook, chalice, shell, and others.}}</ref>

In 2005, the city of Boston renamed the spruce tree used to decorate the [[Boston Common]] a "Holiday Tree" rather than a "Christmas Tree".<ref>{{cite web |title=Boston's 'Holiday Tree' Sparks Controversy |url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=510132 |work=[[The Harvard Crimson]] |date=28 November 2005 |access-date=8 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071107035844/http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=510132 |archive-date=7 November 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref> The name change was reversed after the city was threatened with several lawsuits.<ref>{{cite web |title=At Christmas, what's in a name? |url=https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/ChristmasCountdown/story?id=1356566 |publisher=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |date=29 November 2005 |access-date=19 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521092727/https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/ChristmasCountdown/story?id=1356566 |archive-date=21 May 2013 }}</ref>

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File:Bonifatius Donareiche.jpg|St Boniface felling the Donar Oak
File:Bezbozhnik u stanka - Run along, Lord, 1931, n. 22.jpg|A 1931 edition of the Soviet magazine {{transliteration|ru|[[Bezbozhnik (magazine)|Bezbozhnik]]}}, distributed by the [[League of Militant Atheists]], depicting an Orthodox Christian priest being forbidden to cut down a tree for Christmas
</gallery>