Most of us know that Texas has been under six flags during its history and that includes even before it became Texas. What we sometimes don’t think of is that our culture is even more diverse. We probably realize that a lot of that culture came through Pass Cavallo. Some of us may even remember it goes back over 400 years ago, even more if you think about the Karankawas’s. Some of the Spanish influences came here after landing in Central America and Mexico.

Since this is the Christmas season it seems appropriate to look at how that variety of cultures has affected the way we celebrate Christmas. There is an interesting book you can buy at the Calhoun County Museum on just that subject. It describes many cultural influences, Spanish, Frontier, German, English, Czech, Polish, and many more. As one reads through all these one thing that jumps out is the way the Christmas tree has evolved.

Living here in between the woodsy East Texas Piney woods and the West Texas Dry area we find fewer trees. After this summer of heat and no rain maybe we are shifting west or west is moving east, who knows.

When thinking about Christmas trees one of the first questions to ask is where did that tradition start. It isn’t mentioned in the stories about Bethlehem and the Christmas beginnings that was desert and things like that. Christmas trees were established in Europe before the folks started coming here to this land of opportunity.

Its start has many legends. Possibly the most appealing one is the English tradition. Their missionary Saint Boniface stopped a pagan sacrifice in Germany. After stopping it he cut down the Oak tree where the sacrifice was initiated. At that spot a young fir tree appeared. St Boniface told those pagans this was the tree of life and it represented the Christmas birth. Thus are traditions born.

Those who know of Germany and the northeast of Europe know that the fir tree is plentiful in that area. It became the tree of choice as well as the tree of opportunity. Those who know our area know that it is not the tree of opportunity especially in the early times of the immigrants. Nowadays we can get them shipped in from elsewhere if that is the tree we want. So when those Germans headed by Prince Cal Solms-Braunfels arrived in that December they didn’t find fir trees. The Prince had found and secured the services of a Minister the Reverend Louis C Ervenberg.

He conducted a Christmas Eve service in Port Lavaca. Probably didn’t have Port in its name then. But notice this for Irony. It was under an Oak tree decorated with candles. The Prince provided presents for the children. That was probably the first public Christmas tree in Texas. Nowadays it seems every town has a tree for Christmas.

That’s another first for our county. As time went by we added native mistletoe and holly and electric lights.