At Large

The oncoming car was cruising along in its own lane, likely doing something close to the speed limit and generally abiding by accepted rules of the road.  

What caught our attention was not the way it was being driven, but what was hanging on its grille – a holiday wreath, complete with a red bow that was blowing merrily in the wind and, if memory serves, a few plastic holly berries attached at strategic places on the circle.

In the wisp of a moment, the car had passed, with the unlikely chance that we would meet again, although ending up in a market parking lot as the holidays approached was not out of the question.

What remained was the image of the wreath … and the mind began wandering off into the reason one might wire the device to the front of a car. Had there been an updated version of the circa 1885 English children’s Christmas rhyme distributed on the Internet that we might have missed?

Christmas is a comin’
The goose is getting fat,
Come let’s hang a plastic wreath
On the front of the Honda

We’ll let that notion pass in favor of wandering off and digging into the colorful history of the wreath as part of the holiday traditions. Some annual traditions continue, without any good reason other than “that’s the way we always do things.”

Holidays and saints

Historically, the use of a wreath made up of intertwined evergreen branches with four (or five) candles took hold in 16th century Germany. An enterprising cleric used a wagon wheel wound with pine garland and set with four candles as an object lesson for children to mark the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Advent was the liturgical season, and lighting one candle each Sunday (the fifth was added and lit only on Christmas Day) was a way of counting down to the Feast of the Nativity. 

As migrants came to America, traditions came with them, and the Advent or Christmas wreath became part of the culture, as did the Christmas tree.

But digging further, there appeared another holiday wreath tradition that reaches all the way back to 304 AD when a young woman named Lucia is said to have carried needed food to believers hiding in the catacombs under the city of Syracuse on the island of Sicily. In order to have both hands free to manage the “Doordash delivery,” she fashioned a wreath, wore it on her head and placed candles in it to light her way.  

The local powers in Syracuse were not thrilled with the notion of Lucia catering to the needs of the outlawed Christians, so Saint Lucia was arrested and reported martyred on December 13th. Her feast day has been celebrated ever since. In keeping with her connection with sharing food, Scandinavian countries celebrate St. Lucia with special “Lucia buns” baked with fruit and saffron.

A symbol of honor

We’ve come to expect wreath-laying ceremonies on Memorial Day at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery, at the graves above the beach at Normandy, and at other historically important military cemeteries around the world. The wreath has come to symbolize respect, honor, eternity, and hope.

Not confined to St. Lucia’s Day, Advent, or remembrance days, wreaths have become a part of decorations to mark any number of seasons. Flower wreaths mark the coming of spring, and wreaths of interwoven wheat celebrate the harvest. Fall wreaths with mums, pumpkins, and maple leaves appear on doors with amazing regularity.

But, hanging on the front of a car?

Why not?

Whether we watch our children and grandchildren expectantly opening the individual “doors” of their Harry Potter Advent Calendar (there’s also an adult Advent calendar with 21 shots of whiskey behind the doors) or indulge in a nostalgia-filled ceremonial opening of the box of ornaments for the tree, there are seasonal moments that make each December uniquely wonderful.  

This has been a tumultuous year. Anticipating and hoping for some respite from the madness and inviting others to share in a few moments of holiday mirth is very much in order.

Too bad there’s no grille on the front of a Tesla upon which to hang a wreath.