The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

janet chin of tree valley garden centre sorts the hundreds of poinsettias at its bayview avenue location in richmond hill staff photomike barrett by andrew hind special hile we may hope for a blanket of snow to coat the holiday land scape in a gentle shroud of white tradition suggests green is the true colour of christmas we take it for granted most of our more enduring christmas traditions involve green ery festive wreaths and boughs sprigs of mistletoe decorated evergreens we literally deck me haus with the stiiff why well believe it brvnot they almost all began for reasons we can readily appreciate they lck nice atihie when most every thing else appears barren if not dead but thats just me beginning were talking hundred of years of tradi tions ifce stories behind why we hold these plants so dear at christmas are fascinating tales the kind you may weuteu your children or grandchildren around a fire one christmas eve v- w v mistletoe evwyoiristmasptopieofbritishdescent hang mistletoe over doorways throughout the home to steal kisses from die unwary ihough distorted over the centuries mistle toe has beena sacred plant in britain fbr- thousands of years this despite the fact- mistletoe is a parasitic plant a weed the druids priests of the pagan celts cut mistletoe shoots on the winter solstice for their ceremonies because it grew on other trees and flourished throughout the winter months when the host was dead the druids felt mistletoe drained the life out of other plants to sustain its own health throughout the harsh months they were convinced mistletoe held magic powers for this reason they felt it could cure a greatmany ills as well as pro duce fertility in barren women a kiss beneath it symbolized an end to grievances or hostility christians borrowed elements of this belief for their own ceremonies in the middle ages it was believed mistletoe could protect a home from fire orughtning and it was proba bly around this time we first began to hang it inside our homes w the french call it herb of the cross because of ah old legend tiiat mistietoewas used to construct the cross upon which jesus was crucified i v j evergreen boughs and wreaths another christmas tradition borrowed from the pagans gardeners love evergreens because they keep their colour and shape throughout the wmter months for much the same reasons the druids considered evergreens magical imagine what- they must have thought of these won- drous plants that remained green and vibrant throughout the harshest of weather to these ancient people evergreens repre sented long life and immortality subsequently they cut evergreen boughs and invoked their strength during the ancient winter solstice ceremonies other earlyeurqpean people had similar beliefs the teutonic tribes ofgermany believed godlike spirits resided within evergreens while romans exchanged ever- green boughs as tokens of goodwill for the festival of saturnalia in middecember romans decorated their homes with swags and garlands again early christians borrowed these pagan customs in this case however it was a matter of survival rather than- choice christians were brutallypersecuted by the romans so they took up the custom so as to j avoid drawing suspicion to themselves before lohgthe evergreen was a central part ofmeirchiistmastraditiorist v holly v flychuistians gave hollyla religious sig- nificancelhat has been all but forgotten holly hasstiff thorny leaves and many early christians believed this wasthe plant from which jesus crown of thorns was made as a result the brightred berries were called christs blood v english legend goes furthenlt explains the robin got its red breast in its effort to relieve jesus suffering by removing the thorns the robin was struck by the thorns its own blood v staining its chest feathers red and that is why holly berries remain a favouritefood ofthe robin the wreathswe hang upon our doors were originally made from holly and meywefecir- ciilar to represent jesus crown of thorns in many countries meghstrhas meal is topped by a sprig of holly as a blessing ten christ- poinsettia the poinsettia is a relatively recent addi- tion to the christmas tradition dating back less than 200 years unlike other plants there are no religious connotations to the use of poinsettias we simply lqvethe striking beau- tyoftheir poinsettias afe originally from mexico where they have been a part of native legends for ages the central american indians called ittiierfifefldwer early spanish settlers in mexico were no fj h see im dreaming page 1 1 mmmmmwmmm raj success starts ft ere oxford students develop skills for success in school and life grl through high school little reader children who learn how to read early are more confident learners small classes caring teachers enriched programs 36 years old learning centres 4261 hwy 7 east near kennedy 905 5138186 reading writing spelling math study skills french homework support ki