This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories, and all show long, a celebration of Christmas.

Up next, our next story comes to us from a man who's simply known as the

History Guy. His videos are watched by hundreds of thousands of people of all ages over on

YouTube. The History Guy is also heard here on our American stories. Let's take a listen to the

History Guy as he recalls the forgotten history of Christmas trees.

Traditions involving evergreen plants in midwinter are as ancient as civilization.

The winter solstice, the point where one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt away

from the sun, occurs in December in the northern hemisphere, very close to Christmas, usually

December 20th or 21st.

The solstice represents the longest night and the shortest day of the year, and days

thereafter will grow longer until the summer solstice.

Many ancient religions saw the significance.

To them, winter came because the sun god had grown ill or weak, and the solstice was a cause

for celebration as it represented the day when the sun god began to recover.

Evergreen plants were used because they represented the triumph of life over death.

In ancient Egypt, on the solstice people decorated their homes with green palm prongs in a celebration of Ra, the god of the sun.

Ancient Roman celebrated Saturnalia, a raucous festival in honor of Saturn Ra the god of the sun. Ancient Romans celebrated Saturnilia, a raucous

festival in honor of Saturn, the god of wealth and agriculture in mid-December, and the festival

of gift-giving and libation included decorating the home with evergreen boughs. Celtic druids

and ancient Britain decorated evergreen trees at the onset of winter to ensure a fruitful

coming year. Germanic peoples venerated sacred trees and oaks and associated the evergreen trees at the onset of winter to ensure a fruitful coming year.

Germanic peoples venerated sacred trees and oaks and associated the evergreen tree with

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