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The Meaning of International Spruce Day
The Meaning of International Spruce Day
Jan 4, 2025
The holiday season is upon us. Like many Americans I like to get out my Christmas decorations on Thanksgiving weekend. While I frequently purchase Christmas presents prior to Thanksgiving weekend I start serious Christmas decorating and shopping after the Thanksgiving holiday. This approximates the Christian season of Advent which mark the 25 days leading up to Christmas.Day.
Once Christmas is upon us our tradition celebrates Christmas for twelve days culminating on January 5th which is the twelfth day of Christmas. January 5 th marks the end of the holiday season when we pack away our Christmas and holiday fare and clean up in time to say goodbye to the year passed and to make a fresh start for the New Year.
Our motto at the Spruce Initiative is don’t just clean let’s Spruce. What better way to Spruce up our communities and the Earth than by planting a tree. Trees Spruce up any environment. Whatever your family or community traditions we invite you to join us in a tradition of giving back to the Earth our home and thus our global community by thanking the Earth for our lives and the lives of our fellow creatures on the planet.
For people who celebrate Christmas with a tree why not say thank you to the Earth for the year past and the year coming by planting a tree. Many people cut down trees for Christmas and they end up in landfill after Christmas as do plastic and metal trees which last more than one season. Personally I think there is nothing like the fragrance of a fresh spruce tree in the home.
Instead of cutting down a tree why not plant one instead with a spirit of renewal. You can purchase a tree in a pot and plant it, send it back to the nursery or place the tree and pot in your garden and bring it inside for the holidays next year. If you choose to cut down a tree how about purchasing two trees: one to replace the one you chopped down and one to say thank you to the Earth when you take down your holiday decorations on January 5 th, the twelfth day of Christmas which in our new take on an existing tradition, International Spruce Day.
If you don’t wish to or can’t plant a tree personally there are many fine organisations which will plant them for you: protecting forests and restoring wildlife habitat.
We would encourage you to join in sprucing up the Earth by planting a real living which won’t end up in landfille every year to celebrate International Spruce Day. However if you still have an artificial tree when you take it down on January 5 th, which is International Spruce Day or Spruce Up Day, why not say thank you to the Earth by planting a living living tree or seedling as a thank you.
With modern technology we have lost many of our traditions in favour of a cultural melting pot. We have become culturally impoverished. We are slow to realise that we need to keep our tradtionns alive and to create new ones. The annual planting of a tree is a simple way of saying thank you for our lives on the Earth and leaving the Earth a little better than we found it.
International Spruce Day is a way of honouring the traditions of cyclic time and is a new take on the Christian spirit of giving at Christmas.
Do join us at the Spruce Initiative, pick up one piece of rubbish everyday when you are out on your daily walk even if it is inside. Don’t just clean every day and after the holidays. Let’s take one day a year to give the gift of life to our planet and spruce up the Earth by planting a tree every year.
Happy New Year!
Cheers,
Felicity
Clean and green is our motto. Remember: one piece a day sends the rubbish away! Don’t just clean let’s Spruce.
www.thespruceinitiative.info
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