A Short History of the Christmas Tree Christmas trees probably began as a European pagan tradition long before the coming of Christ: homes were decorated with the branches of evergreen fir trees in order to bring colour and light into their dull winters. The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands to symbolize eternal life was also a custom of the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. The modern Christmas tree originated in western Germany. Candles, symbolic of Christ as the light  ...

(This blog post contains images of the late actor David Gulpilil) We had to leave the house last Saturday. It had only been a week of lockdown but the four walls seemed to be closing in on us. The winter weather had kept us indoors anyway. Too cold and rainy and windy to even get to the park for our ninety minutes of fresh air. Where to go? It couldn’t be too far, as the winter days are short and we had already slept in until almost lunchtime… We decided to drive to Eudunda, and then  ...