Karen Wils photo A festive wreath graces a door.

ESCANABA — A simple green wreath hangs on the weathered, old boards on a barn.

A red bow flaps wildly in the north wind.

The wreath’s pine cones are glazed over with ice and snow. How can such a basic Christmas decoration cause so much beauty to a rural country lane?

Probably because Christmas wreaths are one of the oldest and most meaningful of all the seasonal adornments.

Dating way back to the 16th Century, northern and eastern Europeans were bringing evergreen branches home during the winter.

The Germans are credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition. People ventured out into the dark, snowy woods to harvest a fir or pine tree for the house.

The trees taken from the wild needed to be pruned to fit in the small house and also so that they would have a nice triangular shape. The triangle was important, with the three corners representing the Holy Trinity.

The limbs that were cut off of the Christmas tree were shaped into the very first Christmas wreaths.

The round wreaths symbolized eternity as the shape has no beginning and no end. The evergreen branches were also a symbol of hope and life without end.

Today wreaths decorated our doorways, they hold candles and lead us through Advent, they mark the graves of our loved ones and they hang from fence posts and barns all over the countryside.

The lush green conifers of Upper Michigan are woven into many a wreath year after year.

Some families still go out into the woods and cut branches for wreath making. My mother taught me the art of wreath making decades ago. I recall it was the last day of fire arms deer season back in the lean years (1970s) for deer. Dad had not filled his deer license yet so he brought Mom and I to camp to wait while he hunted.

Mom had me gather the greens near camp. She used wire from coat hangers to make circles and twine to twist the branches onto them.

Over the years, we made many wreaths together. In the early years of my married life, my husband and I made Christmas wreaths that we sold.

There is nothing like the fresh scent of balsam fir branches in your basement. Creating a plump wreath decorated with all natural pine cones, milkweed pods and berries is something that sure puts you into the spirit of Christmas.

Wreaths can be made out of almost anything these days, but they all stand for that special meaning. See how many kinds of Christmas wreaths you can spot this weekend.

Happy St. Nicholas Day (Dec. 6).

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Karen (Rose) Wils is a lifelong north Escanaba resident. Her folksy columns appear weekly in Lifestyles.