Would you rather...

[Eden]

Wasn't it from the plague? So many dead and dying that you'd want a garland around your neck to ward off the smell? Surfs off to look this up.

I read garland had no holiday significance at all in it's origin - it was, at first, the stringing of the guts of one's slain enemies around a tree to celebrate your glorious victory and warn off anyone else who might wish to fight with you…. nasty stuff.

[smilingcat]

yeww. I think I will stick to der Tannenbaum (a fir tree). paegan yes. Winter solstice yes.
O Tannenbaum is German musik here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lhQ_hBT7lA not the best example. And it deosn't mention about Christmas or Christ child. You can read the lyric. Run it through google translate for some good laugh.

So I'm tad confused. How did O tannenbaum become a song about a Christmas tree?

I'll pick Rudolph. He is the best.

[Eden]

So I'm tad confused. How did O tannenbaum become a song about a Christmas tree?

probably the same way a song about a medieval prostitute (Greensleeves) turned into a song about a certain baby (What Child is This?)…...