Why do people feel so confused over whether to have a Christmas tree or not?

Our Christmas tree at night by Dean Beeler 18 December 2004

Courtesy of wikimedia commons

For those who do not know me, I am Reverend Alaina Damewood, and I have been studying religions for more than eighteen years. One of my favorite areas of study is the myths around the holiday traditions.

For all who have a Christmas tree up in your house at this time of the year and have wondered how it fits into the holiday or why we use the tree to represent the birth of Christ, we must go back and look at the history and the heritage behind how our calendar was created.

The calendar we use in today’s time is based off the one created by the Catholic Church of Rome in a time period where the church was dealing with issues related to the pagans in their lifetime.
But how is that relate to our holidays? During the time period in question, the pagan traditions of the early Roman Empire had four major and four minor holidays.

The minor holidays marked the solstices for the seasonal year in celebration for being one step closer to the end of the year. The spring solstice celebrated the growth of the harvest. The summer solstice celebrated the beginning of the summer season. The fall solstice celebrated the change of summer to fall and the time of saving food for the coming winter. The winter solstice celebrated the coming of the new season. We recognize those on the calendar as the days which mark the beginning of spring, summer, fall and winter.

The major holidays were Beltine, which was celebrated for the warm weather that came from the change of spring to summer, Östra, the goddess of fertility, the time mother earth creates life from animals to people, samhine, the day of the dead or what we know as Halloween, and Yule, the end of the calendar year, also the birth and death of the oak king in winter to be reborn in the spring.

The Catholic Church of early Rome recognized the traditions of the pagans practiced in their time, and to get them to convert over to the religion of the Catholic Church, they decided to design their calendar to have the same celebrations.

The most famous example of this is Christmas, the day of Christ’s birth when Mary found out she was pregnant at the feast from the immaculate conception on December 8th. Because the Catholic church could not determine Christ’s actual birthday, they made it the same as the pagans Yule celebration and then adapt the celebration of the death and birth of the oak king for a Christian purpose. Since the burning of the log would not work for celebrating the birthday of Christ, the church stole a portion of a ceremony from the pagan faith again to represent the Norish day of the dead. 

In the same way family members would decorate their tree with ornaments to represent memories of their dead loved ones, Christmas is done the same way, except hanging the ornaments and giving presents to each other is to represent Christ’s birthday.
 
And since then, this has been the on-going tradition for the season to show respect to God’s birth and death no matter which religion you view it from. Whether you decide to put up a tree though, that is up to you. 

                                

The Kaneohe Morgan's Corner part I The Dawn "Deedee" Murder Spot

Entrance to Auloa Street on foot, from Pali Highway. Courtesy of Kaleo, UH publications

This one in from my good friend Joe  of Oahu Ghost Tours.

Kionaole/Auloa Rd...
the Kaneohe Morgan's Corner, the place where supposedly workers found over 1,000 human skulls while building it, known by many many ghost hunters as a "Kapu" place, even for ghost hunting.  This is one of my personal stories of the happening on that road one night. While being a guide for 26 people.

As we got out of the vans that night and started up Robert, my friend and coworker, wishes me luck and tells me to be careful tonight. I figure same ole, same ole, shaking bushes, hot spots, foot steps, and possibly the usual running back to the vans. It is amazing how many people try to convince themselves that the footsteps and rustling they hear is only "the other guide who is supposedly watching the van *wink *wink". As if we would venture out into that area alone, as if we would actually hide alone in the bushes.

As we start up, away from the only source of light on that road, a solitary streetlamp, I can't put all the memories of that place out of my mind. Even watching the vans by yourself OUTSIDE the place can get creepy, with the voices coming out of the bush and constant breaking of twigs, as if someone stepped on them. I'm the lucky one, going up with 26 people into a very dark place... at least I'm not by myself.

We go around the first turn and then start to relate a story of a tragic murder back in 1974, the murder of a young girl from Kailua named Dawn "Deedee" , at the place that was supposed to be where her body was found face down in the mud with a bullet through her head. As I start telling the story I notice how hot and humid it is, you can see the humidity forming on the foreheads of people and glistening off whatever ambient light my flashlight provides. As I get halfway through the story I notice there is a cold spot to my left, extremely cold. This was enough to make me pause and get chicken skin but I choose not to say anything about it, figuring that this is the ghost of Dawn and that she would prefer if I didn't let 26 people stick their hands into her area to feel the cold spot. 

Try as I might to keep this to myself, there was a local girl in the group who stopped me and tells me "That girl that you're talking about?  She's on your left right now, looking at you and listening to you". Great, there goes any secrets. This girl apparently looks as shocked as I do, she just realized that she had the gift to see ghosts. What a place to start seeing ghosts! I look towards the cold spot and tell the cold spot to please correct me if I'm telling something wrong, or please let me know if you would like me to stop telling your story. Nothing happened, except now people moved over and started feeling the cold spot everywhere until, inevitably, it disappears. As I finish the story and allow the people to ask questions or take pictures for like 2 minutes, I notice that this local girl isn't saying much, or moving much.  Her boyfriend comes up to me, panic clear in his voice, saying. "Brah.... someting wrong wit my girlfriend! She not moving cuz! Brah help her!". He pulls me through the crowd up to her, and realizes that the air around her is now freezing cold. He starts freaking out more "Brah, she's freezing! Look! You can see her breath!" as he shines the light in her face you could see the misty smoke coming out of her mouth every time she exhales.  I ask her if she's okay, and she just shakes her head slightly. I ask her if she wants this entity to leave, and she nods slightly. Panicking now, I have no idea what to do... I'm a storyteller not a priest! I follow my gut and listen to my senses. They're telling me that this isn't a ti-leaf waving, salt throwing, yelling in Hawaiian, moment. This entity is Dawn, and she's a good ghost, lonely perhaps but nothing evil that I should repel. I ask out loud for Dawn to please leave this girl alone, telling Dawn that this isn't the way to make friends, and she's scaring the heck out of this girl. Immediately the cold spot leaves. Truly an awesome experience, and seeing as how we have had an experience with the paranormal, I look at the group and ask them if they're ready to leave now? I always try to leave it up to the group, so if anything happens, its not my fault. They (even the girl who just had the experience) look up excited, and say. "Lets keep going!".


You would figure that logic would win out... if A, then B right? If there are ghosts here, which we have clearly witnessed, then what about the stuff I told them before? What about the people that have gotten choked, at least once in a month, at the location where Dawn was found murdered (she was choked before she was shot)? What about the heavy, oppressive feeling hanging in the air, as if ready to suffocate you? I silently curse for giving them the option, and then sigh and cautiously lead them up the old abandoned road further in.


Read on for The Kaneohe Morgan's Corner part II, Kaupe, The half-man half-dog cannibal

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The Kaneohe Morgan's Corner part II, Kaupe, The half-man half-dog cannibal

Entrance to Auloa Street on foot, from Pali Highway. Courtesy of Kaleo, UH publications

This one in from my good friend Joe Punohu of Oahu Ghost Tours.

Kionaole/Auloa Rd... 

the Kaneohe Morgan's Corner, the place where supposedly workers found over 1,000 human skulls while building it, known by many many ghost hunters as a "Kapu" place, even for ghost hunting.  This is one of my personal stories of the happening on that road one night. While being a guide for 26 people. if you missed the first part click on the colored text for The Kaneohe Morgan's Corner part I The Dawn "Deedee" Murder Spot entry

As we start walking, the place really becomes alive.  Bushes moving, branches breaking behind us.. on our sides... the heaviness increases with each step. The group seems to be loving every step of it, feeding off of it, as if they convinced themselves that this is a haunted house-type ride and everything is fake, after all nothing bad can happen in Hawaii right?  I stop to tell them the story of Morgan's Corner, about Terese Wilder's murder, etc. etc.  As I'm about 3/4 of my way through the story, the local girl grabs me by my wrists and pulls me over to the other side of the road without a word as to why. I shrug it off, I'm here for the sole purpose of storytelling and I'm going to finish this story as fast as I can. If I go looking for stuff, I may just find something. If i look for something every time i go up to a certain place, then it gives them the right to come looking for me. In fact, it was here a few years ago with a bunch of friends that I made the flashlight rule which goes, "The light is for seeing where you're walking... not for looking at whats shaking the bushes, cuz you look, you might see".  That night, years ago, we did see... an old lady's face about 7  feet high in the air above the california grass. 

I finish the story about Ms Wilder, and then ask the girl why she moved me.  She tells me that she saw something moving in the bushes as I began the story, and it kept coming closer and closer in the bushes, she pulled me to the side when she saw it step out of the bushes and walk right towards me less then 10 feet away. I gulp as I see the people to either sides of her nodding in agreement, fear clear on their faces. I dare to ask for the description of this 'shadow'.  She tells me that this shadow stood about maybe 7 feet tall, darker then the pitch black, since she saw it moving in the bush, and was a man for most part... except for his head which resembled a dog or wolf.

Now my jaw literally drops open and fear begins to take a hold inside. The people who saw this apparition, don't understand the full meaning of it... the WHO it is. Before I ask them if they are ready to go back to the vans yet, I decide to tell them a little bit about this shadow whom perfectly fits the description of the infamous half-man half-dog cannibal, Kaupe. I tell them that at one time, Kaupe filled the entire island with terror at the mere mention of his name. As I'm done relaying what information I know about him, I then decide to ask the group what their wishes are... we have a 3rd location not too far away, or we can turn around and head back.  As always I leave it to the group. I'm a bit shocked when a few of the people in the back (who didn't see the shadow) decide that this haunted house ride isn't over!  They want to continue... the people in the front are clearly undecided, but choose to go with the group. At this point I call Robert at the vans and tell him to get the vans started up, turned facing away, and leave the doors open, to allow for a faster escape. Reluctantly, I take them up.  I figure that I need to test my courage as well if I'm going to continue doing a job like this. 

As the bushes start to shake a little here, a little there, and as a branch breaks, falling down right in front of us...  I look at the group and think "This is what they want... no one can complain about being scared".  As we walk up I ponder the foolhardiness of the group, myself now included since I continue to take them up.  I say a few silent prayers for safety and protection and continue towards our final destination. Read on in The Kaneohe Morgan's Corner part III The Infamous Trees of Morgan's Corner

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Sheena's Christmas Angel

When I was a kid my family lived in Connecticut. In our community there were no rich people. My family however, had it better then most. Three doors down from our house lived a family that was not on welfare or anything, but I can say at the end of each month when all their bills and rent were paid there was no money left over at all and some months there was not enough money to pay rent, all the bills and buy food.

In that house lived a family with two kids, Jason which was 12 years old and my best friend and Sheena which was 5. Now, I remember one-year things were so thigh that they had no money for Christmas. I still remember how Jason’s Mother borrowed $20.00 from my Mom so she could buy her children each one small Christmas gift. Since Jason’s Dad could not afford a Christmas tree he went out and found a big branch cut from another tree, put a string of lights on it and an angel on the top.

On Christmas Eve afternoon Jason and Sheena’s Mom sat in the living room of their very modest home looking at the poor excuse of a Christmas tree crying because she wanted Christmas to be special for her kids. She was so sad and heart broken.

Sheena walked up to her Mother and crawled up in her lap and gave her Mom a big hug asking her why she was crying and her Mom replied because we have no food left and I wanted this to be a Happy Christmas. Upon hearing that, Sheena told her Mother that she shouldn’t cry and that this would be the best Christmas ever. Her Mother asked Sheena how she could know that and Sheena replied that the angel told her so. Shocked by what she had just heard Sheena’s asked her what angel and Sheena pointed to the so-called Christmas tree and said that angel mommy. Not wanting to discourage Sheena, her Mother forced a smile and said that’s right honey; this will be the best Christmas ever because I have you and you’re brother and daddy.

Later that evening when the whole neighbor hood was at midnight Christmas church Service Sheena and her family sat through the entire service as well as did the other neighbors that attended the service. When it was over Sheena had fallen asleep and her Mother carried her out to the old car they had and Sheena’s brother and dad followed.

When they arrived home Sheen’s Mom walked into the house to find that in the kitchen there was food. So much food that they could eat for a week. There were pies and cakes all sorts of vegetables and milk and juice. Also in the fridge was a huge turkey just waiting to be cooked in the oven. Shocked and surprised, she took Sheena to her room and put her to bed and returned to the kitchen and her son and husband stood there in awe.

They all three walked into the living room and found a 6ft tree all decorated and with plenty of gifts under the tree. Sheen’s Mom remembered what little Sheena had said about the angel and, as Sheena’s mom looked up at the angel, she saw a glow leave the top of the tree and float to Sheena’s room and stay there. Sheena’s Mother began to cry tears of joy. No one ever found out where the tree, gifts and, food came from. So, you see my friends there are really angels, always looking out for us and protecting us. We just have to learn how to let them into our lives.

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Remember to check out our Paranormal Corner Online Store and if you have story you would like us to look into for posting in our blog contact us at waikikiblogboi@gmail.com

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