Christmas centerpieces make great gifts, and bring a touch of nature into your home or office. The fresh scent can be just what you need to get you into the Holiday spirit!
Often the focal point of any celebration that includes a dining table or banquet, centerpieces make a visual and sensory impact on the entire food display that will long be remembered. Just as wreaths are used on the outside doors, evergreens are often used in the arrangement to bring the aroma of nature and life inside to complement a meal.
Evergreens, Holly, and Mistletoe
Evergreens can endure harsh winters when most other plants cannot. Christians in the 16th Century bought the trees inside to offer hope of the Spring to come. They also represent eternal life that Christians believe is present in the birth of Jesus Christ. By displaying the evergreens on their doors and inside their homes they would honor the strength of Jesus to endure prosecution and keep evil spirits and illness from invading the home. The foliage was then expanded onto the food table to keep hope of prosperity, health, and everlasting hope.
Elaborate food tables were a mainstay of the Roman times to reflect great wealth. Their feast were decorated with evergreens to honor the God of Agriculture during the season of solstice. High towers of fruit and marzipan were displayed during feasts to show their rank in society. This type of centerpiece was an important public display on tables throughout the 18th Century for any formal gathering. Marzipan often resembled animals and people in the community.
As time when on additional items were incorporated into centerpieces-candelabras, themed objects, and of course flowers.
Thousands of years of history is represented in evergreens. Holly, ivy, and mistletoe are used in many Christmas centerpieces. Why? They too, are evergreens and represent eternal life, or enduring hardship. The berries in Christmas holly represents the blood of Jesus and the prickly leaves often are used to represent the crown of thorns. Mistletoe was thought to ward off poison and an antidote to embrace fertility if ingested. The Victorians used mistletoe over doorways to allow socially acceptable kissing-but a berry must be plugged for every kiss. When the berries were gone, the kissing stopped!
What about the Poinsettia?
There is a legend that a young girl from Mexico had no gift for the Christ child on Christmas Eve. She stopped to pick up weeds along the roadside and made them into a bouquet. She presented the bouquet as she walked into the village chapel. Suddenly she remembered the words of her brother, “even the most humble gift if given in love will be acceptable in His eyes”. Suddenly the bouquet transformed into bright red flowers, or the poinsettia. The Christmas legend still carries on!
Today Christmas centerpieces still use the evergreens, holly, ivy, and many other objects from history, including the poinsettia, to enhance any Holiday meal with memorable moments. The fresh fragrance of a live centerpiece will bring smiles to your Christmas party! Check out some of our Christmas Centerpieces.
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