The Home School Advent Calendar - 4th December

The first and second Sundays of Advent are typically hectic, and this day falls in between the candle lighting, Stir Up Sunday, with its Christmas Pudding preparations, making it equally busy. Tree Dressing Day traditionally falls between these events.

In the olden days when Advent was 40 days long, there were many traditons before Christainity came and one of these was Tre dressing or Wassailing - singing or addressing the trees mid- winter to encouage a good harvest in the coming year. Tree dressing has been celbrated in many differnt cultures all over the world in many different ways. Today, Tree Dress Day aims to encourage the celbration of real treas - not christmas trees - the trees in both the city and the country side. Those who act as wind breaks, flood breaks, trees that give shade and reduce the temperature of those beneath them.

The tradition of appreciating the importance of our native trees was revived in the 1990s when a group of people adorned 150 London trees along their streets. There are numerous tree dressing events happening nationwide that you can participate in - don't forget to bring along friends and invite someone who may have been feeling a bit isolated lately.

If you are lucky to live out in the country side you may know of a Wassailing event where the community walks the boundaries of the village and sign to the trees.

if not, and you have a fire pit, gather a free friends around and have a sing alone of your own - dedicated to the trees of course.