Year end evergreens, wound into a last minute door wreath on Christmas Eve.  The ivy, laden with green berries would make a subtly monochrome decoration on its own but somehow Christmas demands holly and red berries too.  The holly from the garden is so prickly that I decided a few, token sprigs were enough.  The ‘berries’ (and little red bells) come round again year after year.

Medieval Christmas carols co-opted the holly and the ivy into Christmas myths but their role in year end festivities is much older than that.  The magical significance of plants that hold their green leaves through the dark days, when all else seems dead, belongs to a distant time but carries echoes into the modern world.   Life still depends on the green and the growing.

Wishing you light in the dark days, warmth in the cold and a peaceful Christmas.

Judith

 

A Christmas greeting for Thursday Doors.