Leda and the swan

 (Probably) Leda and the Swan (Gold signet ring from Thessaly, 2nd c. BC. Benaki Museum, Athens)

Hmmm...Most definitely "Leda and the swan" scene...Which raises a lot of questions...

Seriously sexy Leda...Sitting on a bed being raped by Zeus in a shape of a swan...So far so good :)

Now strange stuff (for me at least):

1. While a satyr is...Watching, wanking, giving running commentary, instructions???...

2. With a hand on a helmet...Whose helmet? 

3. Which is located in front of a temple, tomb...If temple, whose temple? If tomb, whose tomb? Why?

4. What's with the shields and spears under the bed? 

5. What's with the column with a lion on it?

6. What's with the tree? What tree is it?

I can, I think, answer few of these questions. 

Some people thought the tree was a Holly. I believe that the tree is an oak. Oak was the holy tree of Zeus...And Some Mediterranean oaks have leaves which look like Holly leaves. 

Have a look this: Holly

"Holy Oak" (Kermes oak)

I talked about this in my post "Christmas trees from garden of Eden"... 

Most oaks flower between March and May and acorns mature in Summer and Early Autumn. Including most common Mediterranean oaks. You can read about this in "Acorn production and growth in Mediterranean oaks: Trade-offs and the role of climate, modular organization and phenology".  

Now the end of summer beginning of autumn is marked by Leo (end of Jul, early Aug)...Because this is when the main mating season of Eurasian lions starts...

And the 2nd of August, Middle of Leo, the day that marks the end of summer beginning of autumn, is the day when in the Balkans, Serbs celebrate the day of Perun (Slavic thunder god). Today he is known as St Elijah The Thunderer...The thundering sun...And the end of burning summer heat...Symbolised by a Triumph of Perun (Thunder god, Thunderstorm) over Veles (Fire breathing dragon, Drought caused by the burning summer sun)...I talked about thy Dragon symbolism in my post "Dragon who stole rain"...

Oh by the way, did you know that the latest scientific data shows direct correlation between sun and thunder and lightning? Basically it is the sun which powers the lightning...

Which is why Thunder god and Sun god are fused in Sky god, Elijah the thundering sun...Kind of obvious really if you look at these pictures depicting the number of thunderstorms per month in Europe. May - September with peak in June/July...

Swans mate and lay eggs at the beginning of summer, between late April and early May...So in a way their mating season signals the beginning of summer and the beginning of the thunderstorm season in the Balkans...

Thunderstorm season which ends when Lions start to mate, in August...By the way, you know that lions still lived in the Balkans at the time when Greek mythology was created...

So we have Zeus the thunder god, in a shape of a swan (beginning of summer) raping Leda under a lion (the end of summer). During the main thunderstorm season...At the end of summer...When oak, tree of thunder gods, is full of acorns...

Oh yeah, what's with the horse tailed voyeur? Did you know that wild horse mating season starts in Apr and lasts until September? And that it is governed by the sunlight...Which is why it peaks in midsummer...

Which is also the peak of the thunderstorm season...I talked about this in my post "Trojan horse"...

By the way, did I mention that Leda sounds very much like the name of the Slavic goddess of Beauty and Fertility, Lada...And like Slavic word for summer "Leto"...Which is by the way, the name of the goddess, Leto, also impregnated by Zeus, who gave birth to Apollo, the sun god...Who is associated with swans...

And did you know that: 

"In 20th-century sources Leto is traditionally derived from Lycian lada, "wife", as her earliest cult was centered in Lycia. Lycian lada may also be the origin of the Greek name Λήδα Leda. Other scholars (Paul Kretschmer, Erich Bethe, Pierre Chantraine and R. S. P. Beekes) have suggested a Pre-Greek origin"

All very strange...

Anyone has any ideas about any of the other details?

Acorns in ancient texts

A few months ago I have published several articles about oaks and acorns and their almost symbiotic link with people since Palaeolithic times.

In my first post entitled "Oaks", I tried to answer the question why were oak trees and oak groves considered sacred in the past? I proposed that the reason for this veneration could be the fact that the oaks are one of the most useful trees in the world. At the end of the post I mentioned that the oaks were particularly valued as a source of acorns which were in the past used as human food world wide.

In my second post entitled "Acorns in archaeology" I presented archaeological evidence we have for human consumption of acorns during the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Copper age, Bronze age and Iron age.

In my third post entitled "How did oaks repopulate Europe" I discussed the possibility that it was people who brought oaks back into Europe after the last ice age. I argued that people venturing up north, brought acorns with them as food and either deliberately or accidentally planted them.

In my fourth post entitled "Eating acorns" I tried to answer the question whether the acorn was the original corn and whether this is why are Thunder deities which are linked with oaks are also linked with agricultural grain cults?

In my fifth post entitled "Christmas trees from garden of Eden" I talked about the origin of Christmas trees (pine and oak). I discussed the possibility that these trees were considered the trees of life because they were the main sources of food during the Mesolithic. I ask whether these two trees are somehow connected to the ancient idea of the garden of Eden, the Golden age "when humans enjoyed the spontaneous bounty of the earth without labour in a state of social egalitarianism"?

Finally in my sixth post entitled "Bulaun stones" I wrote about the possibility that the so called Bulaun stones from Ireland are ancient acorn grinding stones, like the ones we find in North America.

In this post I will list all the references to the human consumption of acorns found in ancient (pre medieval) texts. I will present the list of references to the human consumption of acorns found in medieval and modern historical and ethnographic texts in my next post.

This is a coin minted in Arcadia, Mantineia; c. 420-385 BC.

Nicochares, who lived in the 4th century BC, was an Athenian poet of the Old Comedy. In one of his plays we find this line: “Tomorrow we will boil acorns instead of cabbage To treat our hangover.” I want to thank "SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE" blog for pointing this fragment to me.

Apollonius of Rhodes (3rd century BC) in Argonautica, talks about the time when only acorn eating Arcadians lived in Greece. 

“...when not all the orbs were yet in the heavens, before the Danai and Deukalion races came into existence, and only the Arcadians lived, of whom it is said that they dwelt on mountains and fed on acorns, before there was a moon.”

Diodorus Siculus (60 - 30 BC), a Greek historian, in his "Library of History"  talks about wild Arcadian acorn eating warriors.

"When the Lacedaemonians were setting out to conquer Arcadia,1 they received the following oracle:

Arcadia dost thou demand of me?
A high demand, nor will I give it thee.
For many warriors, acorn-eaters all,
Dwell in Arcadia, and they will ward
Thee off. Yet for my part I grudge thee not.
Tegea’s land, smitten with tripping feet,
I’ll give to thee, wherein to dance and plot
The fertile plain with measuring-line for tilth."

Pausanias (110 - 180 AD), a Greek Geographer, in his Description of Greece, described the founding of the kingdom of Arcadia by Pelasgus.

"...Pelasgus on becoming king invented huts that humans should not shiver, or be soaked by rain, or oppressed by heat. Moreover; he it was who first thought of coats of sheep-skins, such as poor folk still wear in Euboea and Phocis. He too it was who checked the habit of eating green leaves, grasses, and roots always inedible and sometimes poisonous. But he introduced as food the nuts of trees, not those of all trees but only the acorns of the edible oak. Some people have followed this diet so closely since the time of Pelasgus that even the Pythian priestess, when she forbade the Lacedaemonians to touch the land of the Arcadians, uttered the following verses:

In Arcadia are many men who eat acorns, who will prevent you;

It is said that it was in the reign of Pelasgus that the land was called Pelasgia..."

Though Pausanias was writing about what to him was antiquity, he notes that still in his own time, the Arcadians were fond of acorns.

Claudius Aelianus (175 – 235 AD), often seen as just Aelian, a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric, in his Various History. Book III, also writes that Arcadians ate acorns.

"The Arcadians fed on Acorns, the Argives on Pears, the Athenians on Figs, the Tyrinthians on wild Figs,24 the Indians on Canes, the Carmans on Dates, the Maotians and Sauromatians on Millet, the Persians on Turpentine and Cardamum."

Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (129 – 216 AD), better known as Galen, a prominent Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher, wrote "acorns afford as good nourishment as many sorts of grain; that in ancient times men lived on acorns alone, and that the Arcadians continued to eat them, long after the rest of Greece had made use of bread corn."

Strabo (63 BC - 24 AD), a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian, in his Geography writes about Lusitanians in Iberia that they ate acorn as staple food for two thirds of the year.

"...that they lead a simple life, are water-drinkers, sleep on the ground, and let their hair stream down in thick masses after the manner of women, though before going into battle they bind their hair about the forehead. They eat goat's-meat mostly, and to Ares they sacrifice a he-goat and also the prisoners and horses; and they also offer hecatombs of each kind, after the Greek fashion — as Pindar himself says, "to sacrifice a hundred of every kind." They also hold contests, for light-armed and heavy-armed soldiers and cavalry, in boxing, in running, in skirmishing, and in fighting by squads. And the mountaineers, for two-thirds of the year, eat acorns, which they have first dried and crushed, and then ground up and made into a bread that may be stored away for a long time..."

Virgil (70 - 19 BC), a Roman poet, in his Georgics claims that acorns were the first human staple food which was later replaced by corn.

"O Liber [Dionysos] and bounteous Ceres [Demeter], if by your grace Earth changed Chaonia’s acorn for the rich corn ear, and blended draughts of Achelous [water] with the newfound grapes."

"Ceres [Demeter] was the first to teach men to turn the earth with iron, when the acorns and the arbutes of the sacred wood began to fail, and Dodona withheld her food [acorns]."

Apuleius (124 - 170 AD), a Roman writer, in his The Golden Ass hails Ceres for replacing the barbaric diet of acorns with the civilized diet of grain.

"At one time you [Egyptian Isis] appear in the guise of Ceres [Demeter], bountiful and primeval bearer of crops. In your delight at recovering your daughter [Persephone], you dispensed with the ancient, barbaric diet of acorns and schooled us in civilizes fare; now you dwell in the fields of Eleusis."

Ovid (43 BC - 18 AD), a Roman Poet, in his Amores repeats that acorns were the original human staple food and that Dodona was goddess of old agriculture (oaks and acorns) just like  Ceres was the goddess of new agriculture (corn).

"Here comes the annual festival of Ceres:
my girl lies alone in an empty bed.
Golden Ceres, fine hair wreathed with ears of wheat,
why must your rituals spoil our pleasure?
All peoples, wherever, speak of your bounty, Goddess,
no other begrudges good to humanity less.
Before you, the bearded farmers parched no corn,
the word threshing-floor was unknown on the Earth,
but oak-trees, the first oracles, carried acorns:
these and tender herbs in the grass were our food.
Ceres first taught the seeds to swell in the fields,
and first with sickles cut the ripened sheaves:
first bowed the necks of oxen under the yoke,
and scarred the ancient earth with curved blade."

Pliny the Elder (23 - 79 AD), a Roman writer and naturalist, in his Natural History gives detailed description of various known types of oaks and their acorns and explains which of them can be used as food. One of the oak types he lists is called Æsculus which means edible. He also says:

"It is a well-known fact that acorns at this very day constitute the wealth of many nations, and that, too, even amid these times of peace. Sometimes, also, when there is a scarcity of corn they are dried and ground, the meal being employed for making a kind of bread. Even to this very day, in the provinces of Spain, we find the acorn introduced at table in the second course: it is thought to be sweeter when roasted in the ashes. By the law of the Twelve Tables, there is a provision made that it shall be lawful for a man to gather his acorns when they have fallen upon the land of another.

The varieties of the glandiferous trees are numerous, and they are found to differ in fruit, locality, sex, and taste; the acorn of the beech having one shape, that of the quercus another, and that, again, of the holm-oak another. The various species also, among themselves, offer a considerable number of varieties. In addition to this, some of these trees are of a wild nature, while the fruits of others are of a less acrid flavour, owing to a more careful cultivation. Then, too, there is a difference between the varieties which grow on the mountains and those of the plains; the males differ from the females, and there are considerable modifications in the flavour of their fruit. That of the beech is the sweetest of all; so much so, that, according to Cornelius Alexander, the people of the city of Chios, when besieged, supported themselves wholly on mast. The different varieties cannot possibly be distinguished by their respective names, which vary according to their several localities. The quercus and the robur we see growing everywhere, but not so with the æsculus; while a fourth kind, known as the cerrus, is not so much as known throughout the greater part of Italy. We shall distinguish them, therefore, by their characteristic features, and when circumstances render it necessary, shall give their Greek names as well."

Hesiod (750 - 650 BC), a Greek poet, in his Works and Days, asserted that acorns were staple human food:

"But they who give straight judgements to strangers and to the men of the land, and go not aside from what is just, their city flourishes, and the people prosper in it: Peace, the nurse of children, is abroad in their land, and all-seeing Zeus never decrees cruel war against them. Neither famine nor disaster ever haunt men who do true justice; but light-heartedly they tend the fields which are all their care. The earth bears them victual in plenty, and on the mountains the oak bears acorns upon the top and bees in the midst. Their woolly sheep are laden with fleeces; their women bear children like their parents. They flourish continually with good things, and do not travel on ships, for the grain-giving earth bears them fruit."

Lucretius (99 - 55 BC), a The Roman poet and philosopher,  also tells us that acorn decked oak boughs were carried in procession in the rites of the Eluesian Mysteries, so important was the oak to people's lives. He also says in Of The Nature of Things that 

"during the savage period of mankind soft acorns were man's first and chiefest food".

Oribasius or Oreibasius (320 – 403 AD), a Greek medical writer, also wrote about the the acorns as human food (as quoted by Abu Rihan Burini, the 10th century Iranian scientist).

"Acorn’s nutritional value is superior to that of [other] fruits, and even approximates that of the grains with which bread is made; and in the past, people used to live on balūṭ alone."

4th century BC Greek philosopher Plato in his Republic, says that when Socrates imagines founding a city full of people who live moderately, he creates a menu for this city, and on it are berries, chickpeas, and, finally acorns...

In Assyrian records from the Harran district, from the time of the king Sargon the second (720 - 700 bc), we find inventory of "belut" (white oak) trees. We know from ethnographic records that acorns of these white oaks are used as food.

In Sumerian mythology and literature we find a character called Lugalbanda who features as the hero in two Sumerian stories dated to the Ur III period (21st century BCE), called by scholars Lugalbanda I (or Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave) and Lugalbanda II (or Lugalbanda and the Anzu Bird). In the story "Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird" we find the reference to eating acorns.

"...The banks of the mountain rivers, mothers of plenty, are widely separated. With my legs I stepped over them, I drank them like water from a waterskin; and then I snarled like a wolf, I grazed the water-meadows, I pecked at the ground like a wild pigeon, I ate the mountain acorns."

4th century AD Roman poet Prudentius comments that "acorn bread was imported into Rome from Sardinia when there was a shortage of grain"...

According to the 16th century Desiderius Erasmus’s Adagia, "Satis Quercus", literally "Enough of the Oak", is a Latin proverb alluding to a supposed acorn diet in the days before the use of corn was discovered, before people were civilised...

So these are all the ancient historical record of acorn eating which I managed to find so far.  I would be more than grateful to anyone who can send me any reference that I have missed so that I can update my post. I am particularly interested in ancient North African, Near and Far Eastern records. We know that people in these areas consumed acorns as staple starch food from Mesolithic time to the 20th century and in some areas they still do. So there must be more records of this in ancient texts from those areas.

Anyway stay happy and healthy. And keep smiling. 

Oak chapel

An old oak struck by lightning burning from the inside. For Slavs, trees struck by lightning were believed to ward off demonic forces and possess purifying power. Probably because "Perun, the thunder god, now resided in them"? 

Serbian hollow oak chapels

This particular one is dedicated to St Pantelija which was built inside of a hollow ancient oak near the village of Jovac, Vladičin Han region, South-eastern Serbia. The chapel was built by a local villager Dragoljub Krstić in 1991.

St Pantelija to whom the chapel is dedicated is the last of the "fiery" summer saints. He is celebrated at the beginning (9th) of August at the end of Kresovi, the fire days, the days of the highest heat. St Pantelija is in the Serbian folk tradition the brother of St Ilija the Thunderer (Sveti Ilija Gromovnik). St Ilija the Thunderer is in the Serbian folk Tradition the saint who controls the thunder. His day is the 2nd of August which was originally the day of Perun. This means that both St. Ilija the Thunderer and St. Pantelija Christian personifications of Perun, the thunder god, the third and most powerful head of Triglav.

It seems fitting that the chapel dedicated to the St Pantelija is inside of an Oak, the holy tree of the thunder gods.

Christmas trees from garden of eden

What is the origin of Christmas trees? We can read that the Christmas tree customs are the Christianized versions of the older pagan Winter Solstice customs involving evergreen trees. But why are the two main European Chrismas trees Oak and Pine (Spruce, Fir)? Are these two trees somehow connected to the ancient idea of the garden of Eden? And if so, how are they connected? These are the questions that I would like to try to shed some light on.

A few days ago I came across this early christian relief from Naxos depicting the nativity (birth) of Jesus scene. Unlike the later representations of the Nativity which take place in a stable, the Nativity scene on this early marble slab is framed by two trees, which means that the scene takes place in a forest, a grove. I found a good high resolution picture of the above image in Wikipedia. 

 

When I looked at trees depicted on the relief more closely, I discovered, to my astonishment, that these two trees were a Pine and an Oak, the two Christmas trees of Europe. You can clearly see the pine cone on the left tree and the acorn on the right tree. But these were not just any pine tree and any oak. Based on the shape of the trees, their leaves and fruit, I think that I managed to identify these two trees as the Stone Pine and the Downy Oak, ancient species used and cultivated by people as food since prehistory. 

The downy oak (qercus pubescens), is a white oak. It is native to southern Europe and southwest Asia, from northern Spain (Pyrenees) east to the Crimea and the Caucasus. It is also found in France and parts of central Europe. Downy oaks typically grow in dry, lime-rich soils. It is a submediterranean species, growing from the coastline to deep in the continent. Its optimum is in the submediterranean region, characterized by hot dry summers and cold winters with little rainfall. In western and central Europe, downy oak is confined to areas with a submediterranean microclimate (gorges, sandplains, steppe slopes) or to coastlines of former lakes. In Serbian, this oak is known as "medun", "medunac" or honey oak referring to its sweet taste.

The stone pine (Pinus pinea), also called Italian stone pine, umbrella pine and parasol pine, is a tree from the pine family (Pinaceae). It has been used and cultivated for its edible pine nuts since prehistoric times. The tree is native to the Mediterranean region. At present it is found in Europe ( Iberia, Italy, Southern France, Balkans, Aegean and Western Turkey), Western Asia (Southern Anatolia, Lebanon, Syria, Northern Israel) and North Africa (Morocco and Algeria). It grows in dry arid areas mixed with oaks and shrubs.
 

 

Here are the tree details enlarged so you can see the leaves and fruit:

Stone Pine with pine cones:

Downy Oak with acorns:

So what we have here is the nativity of Christ taking place in the Garden of Eden which consists of the edible wild trees, oaks and pines, the oldest starch foods of the Mediterranean from Upper Paleolithic onward. Both acorns and pine nuts were found among the oldest plant food remains in Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic archaeological sites in Europe, Western and Eastern Asia, North Africa and North America. Even though the types of Oaks and Pines used as food sources by people differ from area to area, wherever we find major acorn eating cultures we find that pine nuts were also collected and used as food. 

So Here is the above Nativity scene again with the trees and fruits identification.

Is this a coincidence considering that most of the European Christmas (Winter solstice) traditions and customs are in some way related to the agricultural and particularly the corn, bread fertility?

In Genesis we can read this description of Eden: 

A river rises in Eden[a] to water the garden; beyond there it divides and becomes four branches. The name of the first is the Pishon; it is the one that winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. The gold of that land is good; bdellium and lapis lazuli are also there. The name of the second river is the Gihon; it is the one that winds all through the land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it is the one that flows east of Asshur. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

In Genesis we also find this: 

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good....Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

In the brilliant book: Oak: The Frame of Civilization,  William Bryant Logan has this to say about the garden of Eden:

The above excerpt from the Genesis is a description of the area comprising of the Zagros Mountains, Oak Pistachio uplands, Assyrian steppe and alluvial Mesopotamian bottom land. This is where we find some of the earliest settled villages in the world. While excavating these settlements, archaeologists found many grinding stones and underground storage pits. But very few sickles. And those sickles that were found were not the right kind for harvesting wheat. So what were the people in these first settled communities grinding, storing and eating? 

As I have shown in my last few posts about acorns in archaeology, eating acorns and grinding acorns, they were grinding, storing and eating acorns. 

Oak uplands can easily support large villages of up to 1000 people and these people could harvest in 3 weeks enough acorns to last them 2 to 3 years. Acorns could be stored in above ground aerated bins, in underground pits or they can be buried at the edge of streams where they can get leached while they keep fresh. The people of these oak cultures could, with very little effort, provide their daily bread doing what god told them to do: eat the fruit of the trees and plants that bear seeds. With plenty of free time people could enjoy life and develop their culture and technology. With plentiful supply of food there was no need to kill and eat all the animals that were caught. So people could catch and keep the animals, breed them and eventually domesticate them. It was these animals that were probably first fed the wild grasses which later became our grains. 

If we look at the word Eden we see that the origin and the meaning of the word "Eden" is uncertain. The official etymology says that it comes from Hebrew עדן (eden), perhaps from Sumerian e-den "Steppe, garden".

But I believe that the root of this word is much simpler. In Serbian we have word "jede" which is in the old south Serbian dialect found in a form "ede". This word means eat. It comes from the Proto Indo European root "*h₁ed" meaning to eat from which the English word eat also comes from. In Serbian we have the following words derived from the root "ede, jede":

jelo, jedja, jedivo, jestivo – food
edenje, jedenje - food (south Serbian dialect). Literally means eating and is the direct cognate of the English word eating.
eden, jeden - eaten

The garden of Eden was the garden of edible trees. It was the garden of god given food, of edenje, jedenje, eating. Is this the actual original, simple meaning of the word Eden = Eating, Food? Was the garden of Eden the post glacial Northern hemisphere, which was going through an incredible transformation from a cold wasteland into a lush garden full of easily obtainable abundant food? And was then, as William Bryant Logan says, this garden of Eden responsible for human transformation from humans into modern humans? I believe so. If we look at the Mesolithic northern hemisphere, we see first civilizations hatching in Western and Easten Asia, In the Balkans and Iberia, in north Africa and in Mexico, all situated in "gardens of edenje", gardens of eating, food, full of easy to collect and store acorns, nuts, roots, wild grains, and easy to catch small game, fish, shellfish and snails. The garden of Eden was the old Golden Age of the Greeks and Romans, the post glacial northern hemisphere.

That this is the actual meaning of the garden of Eden we can see from the choice of the trees present on the above Nativity scene. Thees trees turn out to be the two main Winter Solstice (Christmas) trees in Europe. 

In the northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year, the winter solstice, falls on the 21st of December. Many ancient people believed that the sun was a living god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become old, sick and weak. The sign of this was the fact that the days were getting shorter and colder, and that the vegetation was dying. Winter solstice was the turning point when the days start getting longer again heralding the arrival of spring, warmth and new vegetative cycle. People who depended on this vegetative cycle celebrated the solstice as the rebirth of the sun god.

The accepted theory is that around the time of the Winter Solstice, people decorated their homes and temples with evergreen branches and worshipped evergreen trees and plants in general, because the evergreen plants reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god gets reborn after the Winter Solstice. This is a good enough explanation. But it is the choice of these Winter Solstice (Christmas) trees which is very interesting: Oak and Pine (Spruce, Fir). I believe that the choice of the choice of these trees has as much to do with the fact that they were the oldest starch (bread) bearing trees, as with the fact that they were evergreen. To illustrate this I will here give the list of the European Winter Solstice (Christmas) traditions involving trees to show that all of these trees are Either Oak or Pine (Spruce, Fir), the oldest starch (bread) bearing trees, the trees that appear on the Naxos stelle.

Romans

Romans marked the solstice with a feast called the Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. In Roman mythology, Saturn was an agricultural deity who was said to have reigned over the world in the Golden Age, when humans enjoyed the spontaneous bounty of the earth without labor in a state of social egalitarianism. The revelries of Saturnalia were supposed to reflect the conditions of the lost mythical age, not all of them desirable. The Greek equivalent was the Kronia. The Romans knew that the solstice meant that soon farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs. We are told that it was holly tree branches that were used because they don't lose their leaves during the winter. But is it possible that it wasn't holly tree branches that were used, but the branches of the evergreen Mediterranean oaks, such as Quercus coccifera (Kermes Oak), Quercus suber (Cork Oak) and  Quercus ilex (Holm Oak)? Holm oak is called Holm oak because its leaves resemble holly tree leaves, holm being the old name for holly. The thing is the other two evergreen oak trees have leaves which resemble holly leaves even more.  Have a look at these pictures and tell me if it was easy to confuse the evergreen oaks and holly:
Holly

Kermes oak. The Kermes Oak was historically important as the only food plant of the Kermes scale insect, from which a red dye called crimson was obtained. Red berries, red dye...

Cork oak

Holm (Holly) oak

Which of these trees do you think is a more appropriate symbol of the god of agriculture, the god of food, the god of the old Golden Age "when humans enjoyed the spontaneous bounty of the earth without labor"? Do you thing that it is the one that bears edible acorns like oak, or the one that bears poisonous berries like holly? Who got it wrong, the Romans who misunderstood or forgot the old customs of their forefathers, or us who misinterpreted Roman customs? Or did roman customs change and adopt as they migrated further and further up north where these evergreen oaks are not found and so they had to replace them with what every looked the most like these evergreen oaks, and that is holly tree?

Celts

Apparently Druids, the priests of the ancient Celts, also decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life. The evergreen plant that the Druids used is said to have been Mistletoe. Mistletoe which is said to have been used by Druids actually grows on Oaks. The Druids preached in oak forests, and considered oaks sacred. Young deciduous oaks keep their leaves through the winter.  Also a lot of Southern European oaks are evergreen, like the sweet Holm Oak or Holy Oak.

Pliny the Elder, writing in the first century AD, describes a religious ceremony in Gaul in which white-clad druids climbed a sacred oak, cut down the mistletoe growing on it, sacrificed two white bulls and used the mistletoe to cure infertility:

“ The druids — that is what they call their magicians — hold nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and a tree on which it is growing, provided it is Valonia oak..."

Quercus macrolepis, (Valonia oak), is another Mediterranean oak with leaves which look like holly tree leaves. The trees of this oak species shed leaves in October through January with a peak in December–January, but even during these months at least 10% of the trees remained evergreen.

 

Quercus macrolepis is found in the Southern Mediterranean, in the Balkans including the Greek Islands, in Morocco, and in Anatolia....

Quercus macrolepis has a subspecies known as Quercus ithaburensis (Mount Tabor oak). Quercus ithaburensis is found in Southeastern Europe, from Southeastern Italy across Southern Albania to Greece, and in Southwestern Asia from Turkey South through Lebanon, Israel, and neighbouring Jordan.

Mount Tabor (Hebrew: הַר תָּבוֹר, Modern Har Tavor Tiberian Har Tāḇôr, Arabic: جبل الطور, Jabal aṭ-Ṭūr, Greek: Όρος Θαβώρ) is located in Lower Galilee, Israel, at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, 11 miles (18 km) west of the Sea of Galilee. It was the site of the Mount Tabor battle between Barak under the leadership of the Israelite judge Deborah, and the army of Jabin commanded by Sisera, in the mid 12th century BC.

It is believed by many Christians to be the site of the Transfiguration of Jesus.The Transfiguration of Jesus is an episode in the New Testament narrative in which Jesus is transfigured (or metamorphosed) and becomes radiant upon a mountain.In these accounts, Jesus and three of his apostles go to a mountain (the Mount of Transfiguration). On the mountain, Jesus begins to shine with bright rays of light. The fact that Christ started shining on the mount Tabor became very significant when you see the acorns of the mount tabor oak:

They look like a shining sun. Is the reason why the druids would prefer this oak to all the other oaks is because of the shape of its acorns which are shaped like a blazing sun? Is the transfiguration of Jesus in some way linked to the transfiguration of mount tabor oak acorns as they ripen?

Any sun worshipper would prefer this oak to any other. But these oaks don't grow in the Northwest of Europe. Where did Celts and Druids come from and who were they if their sacred acorn, the sun acorn, only grew in Southern Mediterranean, in the Balkans including the Greek Islands, in Morocco, and in Levant??? Are the Irish legends about the migration from the Balkans true?

I believe that the main solstice tree of the Celts was the Oak tree. In the areas where the "sun acorn" oaks grow, the acorns generally begin to ripen in November and the shedding of acorns extends from December until January. Right through the solstice time. So on the day of the Winter Solstice, the "sun oaks" are full of evergreen leaves and full of acorns, food. I believe that if there was mistletoe worship among Celts, it was a substitution for the evergreen sun oak worship. When Celts migrated from the Mediterranean to the Northwest of Europe they adopted their belief system to the new type of oaks which weren't evergreen but which had evergreen mistletoe growing on them. Evergreen mistletoe leaves became the substitute for the evergreen oak leaves. And mistletoe, became a substitute fertility symbol for acorns...

Germanic, Scandinavian

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "Tree worship was common among the pagan Europeans and survived their conversion to Christianity in the Scandinavian customs of decorating the house and barn with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the devil and of setting up a tree for the birds during Christmastime."

A yule log is a large wooden (oak) log which is burned in the hearth as a part of traditional Yule or modern Christmas celebrations in several European cultures.

In Scandinavian mythology, the oak was sacred to the thunder god, Thor. Here I would need help in clarifying something. Is there any reference in Norse mythological sources to any tree being used during Winter solstice celebrations? I found some vague references to Yule log. 

It was apparently a large oak log decorated with sprigs of fir, holly or yew. Runes were carved on it, asking the Gods to protect the people from misfortune. The log was struck by a smith with a hammer, playing the role of Thor the thunder god. The new fire was kindled on log. A piece of the log was saved to protect the home during the coming year and light next year's fire....

But I could not find any concrete reference to any of these customs. Are there any sagas, historical texts, ethnographic records that record any such customs among the Scandinavians? Was Yule log actually part of the Yule celebration in the Scandinavian countries during old pagan times?



Georgian

In Georgia people have their own traditional Christmas tree called Chichilaki, made from dried up hazelnut or walnut branches that are shaved to form a small coniferous tree. 

These pale-colored ornaments differ in height from 20 cm (7.9 in) to 3 meters (9.8 feet). Chichilakis are most common in the Guria and Samegrelo regions of Georgia near the Black Sea, but they can also be found in some stores around the capital of Tbilisi. Sometimes the Christmas tree is hazelnut branch which is carved into a Tree of Life-like shape and decorated with fruits and sweets.

Slavic Polish

In Poland there was an old pagan custom of suspending at the ceiling a branch of fir, spruce or pine called Podłaźniczka associated with Koliada the ancient Slavic winter solstice festival. The name Koliada comes from the word "kolo" meaning wheel, spinning circle and representing the spinning of the circle of sun and therefore of life.

 
The branches were decorated with apples, nuts, cookies, colored paper, stars made of straw, ribbons and colored wafers. Some people believed that the tree had magical powers that were linked with harvesting and success in the next year. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, these traditions were almost completely replaced by the German custom of decorating the Christmas tree.

Slavic Serbian and Bulgarian

For the Serbs, all trees have always been considered sacred, but the Oak was and still is the most sacred tree of all. This is why in Serbia oak is also the Christmas tree in a shape of a Christmas log and the Christmas boughs. The tree from which the log and the boughs are cut, has to be a young and straight oak, which is ceremonially felled early on the morning of Christmas Eve. 

It is then brought into the house and placed on the fire on the evening of Christmas Eve where it is supposed to burn through the whole night. The felling, preparation, bringing in, and laying on the fire, are surrounded by elaborate rituals, with many regional variations. This is the central tradition in Christmas celebrations among the Orthodox Serbs and Bulgarians, much like a yule log in some other European traditions. In Serbian language the oak Christmas tree is called Badnjak and in Bulgarian language it is called Budnik. This literally means the awoken one, the one that stays awake, that keeps you awake. In Serbian the Christmas Eve is called Badnje Veče and in Bulgarian the name for Christmas Eve is Budni Večer which means "The evening when we stay awake". Serbs believed that the sun is a living being which has a lifespan of one year. On the winter solstice night, the old sun dies and on the winter solstice morning the new sun is born. The burning of the Christmas tree log ritual is the remnant of the ancient wither solstice ritual performed to help rekindle the sun and to insure that the sun's fire starts blazing and producing heat again. The ceremony also includes the feast which is organized to celebrate the birth of the new sun, the young sun. Christmas itself is in Serbian called Božić (Cyrillic: Божић, pronounced [ˈbɔ̌ʒitɕ]), which is the diminutive form of the word bog ("god"), and can be translated as "young god". The whole ritual is also linked to fertility, particularly grain fertility, bread fertility. In Serbian tradition we find the direct link between the old bread source (oak and acorn) and new bread source (grain). This can even be seen from the fact that both oak branches and grain sheaves and hay are used in ceremonies.

I will dedicate a whole post to this Christmas tradition (Badnjak - Yule log).

As you can see, the choice of trees used as Winter Solstice (Christmas) trees is very consistent. It is Oak (acorns), Pine, Spruce, Fir (pine cones), Walnut, Hazelnut. You can also add to this list Chestnut, as chestnuts are also roasted for Winter Solstice (Christmas). These are all the large seed bearing trees, the trees which provided the humans on the northern hemisphere with the first starch food, first bread during the Golden Age time. These trees were the main sources of food for the Mesolithic cultures living in the Oak - Pine ring of the northern hemisphere, the Garden of Eden, and they must have been worshipped as gods. That this was the case can be seen from the worship of the Oaks which still exists in Serbia and the adoration of the Oak tree itself during the Winter Solstice (Christmas) ceremonies. The worship of these trees continued even when the grain replaced the acorns and pine nuts as the main starch source. The main old "bread" trees, Oak and Pine, Spruce, Fir are still used as central symbols in the Winter Solstice (Christmas) agricultural grain fertility festival. This shows that the transition from the old tree bread to the new field bread was slow and long, allowing the preservation of the old tree fertility customs albeit thinly disguised as grain fertility customs. Like a Serbian Badnjak oak wrapped in a wheat sheaf...
Merry Christmas.