in levant itself there were at least 10 other ethnicities, many of them indo-european

The relevance of ancient pre-Christian customs to the 16th Century German initiation of the Christmas tree custom is disputed. Resistance to the custom was often because of its confirmed Lutheran origins.[12]

16th century German

yeah, that sits right with me

i think it is more ancient than that

Other sources have tried to make a connection between the first documented Christmas trees in Alsace around 1600 and pre-Christian traditions. For example, according to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands to symbolize eternal life was a custom of the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. Tree worship was common among the pagan Europeans and survived their conversion to Christianity in the Scandinavian customs of decorating the house and barn with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the devil and of setting up a tree for the birds during Christmas time."[13]

in orthodox world, especially here, we didnt decorate trees, but we instead burned oak branches

http://www.thelivingmoon.com/44cosmic_wisdom/02files/Tree_Life04.html

in eastern europe i think they did decorate trees too

we decorated houses

the pagan tree -> christmas tree doesn't seem like a fluid thing

Look up the history of Christmas

even if it does have definite origins

in pre-christian practices and beliefs

seems pretty obvious to me

it does seem obvious, which I admit

that the origin is these practices and beliefs

the question is though, is it a later imposition/addition

christmas trees are a masonic invention

or was it organically transmitted due to these people accepting christianity

because they look like pyramids

that's what you're trying to say

no

but close!

this specific "tree of life" symbolism infiltrated christianity

masonry is a new thing

and the star on top is just the cherry on top

tree of life isn't only a european symbol

yes, I'm aware

Midwinter in Scandinavia is dark, so they put lights on fir trees

it existed in levant, south asia, pretty much everywhere

that's why it's a fir and not an oak or whatever

Christianity could not exist as a remotely relevant tradition had it not borrowed from Traditional teachings

that seems like a rationalisation after the fact @Deleted User 57835c2c

It would be like Islam

Even "esoteric Islam" has basically nothing to do with Koran, other than when it comes to the most circuitous rationalizations

esoteric Islam = hellenic teachings

http://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas-trees

good, it should infiltrate christianity

and we should bring back more pagan symbols

and ceremonies