The first sign of Christmas is the hanging of the
Christmas wreath from the front door of the house. People take a lot of
pain to make their wreaths look different from those of the other
people. However, most of them have never ever tried to find out the
history and origin of the Christmas wreath. If you are one of the few
people who are as much interested in knowing Christmas wreath history as
in hanging the wreath, this is the right article for you. Read on to
know about Christmas wreath origin.
The origin of the Christmas wreath dates back to the ancient cultures
of the Persian Empire. During that time, wreaths were believed to be a
symbol of importance as well as success. They were much smaller in size
than the present ones and were known as 'diadems'. People used to wear
the wreaths as headbands, sometimes along with jewels also. Somewhere
around the 776 BC, Greeks started placing wreaths, made of laurel, on
the head of the athletes who came first in the Olympic Games.
Even in ancient Rome, the chief of leaders, like Julius Caesar, used to
wear wreath on his head, just like the crown of a king. The transition
of the wreaths from a headgear to a wall/door decoration is not known
with much accuracy. However, it is believed that once an athlete decided
to save the headgear as a souvenir of his/her victory. From then
onwards, started the tradition of using wreaths as a Christmas door/wall
decoration.
