Step into the past and discover the powerful story behind the wreaths you see every holiday season. In this teaching, you’ll uncover the rich history of wreaths—where they came from, what they meant in ancient cultures, and how they’ve been viewed through the lens of Scripture and Christian tradition.
So many traditions are practiced without understanding their roots. We believe every believer should know whether these symbols align with scripture or simply reflect man’s invention. This video solves the puzzle of wreath symbolism, empowering you to make informed, faith-aligned choices in your celebrations and daily life.
Join us as we trace the wreath’s journey through time, separating fact from fable, and giving you a fresh, biblical perspective. Come discover the God Honest Truth about wreaths.
#HistoryOfWreaths #GodHonestTruth #WreathMeaning #ChristianHistory #HolidayOrigins
AI Academic Reports
Notes
Transcript
Teaching Introduction
So, if you’re going to do a series on Christmas, if you’re going to do a study on Christmas, one of the aspects that you’ve just got to bring up, one of the things you got to look into is the subject of wreaths. And how does that play into the whole Christmas thing? Where does it come from? How are they used in the past? What does the Bible have to say about it? Because the word wreath is actually used in the Bible. But how is it used? Is it used in a good way or a bad way? Well, we’re going to get into that in this study coming up next from God Honest Truth.
Video Start
So, this episode is going to be all about wreaths or what we commonly think of as wreaths and what I will define my interpretation of what a wreath is in just a moment. But if you would like more information on this subject and what we have currently put into this presentation, by all means, go check out the article post that we have provided for you on godhonestruth.com. There you’ll be able to find the on-demand video. You’ll be able to find the draw slides that you see here on your screen. You also be able to find the notes that we took and provided to you for this particular subject. We also have several files from AI, some research papers that we had AI do in the subject of wreaths. So you can go and find out even more than what you find out here. So go check that out on godhonestruth.com or go down below in the description and click on the convenient link that we provided for you there and it should be there whether you’re watching on an audio podcasting platform or a video platform, it’ll be down there in the description all the same. Just click on that convenient link.
What is a Wreath?
So something that really opened my eyes that I kind of had mixed up—I’m guessing at least technically so—is what is a wreath actually and what do they mean by wreath? When I think of a wreath, I think of this large circular decorative thing, usually with lots of green in it and usually made of evergreen with most of the ones I’ve seen. And a lot of times they’ll have flowers. Sometimes at like weddings or even especially funerals, they’ll have wreaths made out of colorful flowers and different shapes. Sometimes in art shape, I’ve seen them, but most time it’s in a circle shape and that’s what these large things, that’s what I really thought of as a wreath. That’s something that’s not always been the understanding throughout history.
So let’s go ahead and start out by defining what is a wreath. We look at Merriam-Webster and this comes from merriam-webster.com for the definition of wreath. And it has as number one: “something intertwined or arranged in a circular shape such as a decorative arrangement of foliage or flowers on a circular base or a band of intertwined flowers or leaves worn as a mark of honor or victory”. Now that to me sounds more like a crown than what I would think of as a wreath. Like I said, it kind of seems like I was wrong on this particular understanding. And the second definition they have here for the meaning of wreath is: “something having a circular or coiling form”.
Now, keep this concept in mind because this is something we’re going to get into a lot as we go through some of the historical information and especially some of the scriptural information during the drash. That whole “something having a circular or coiling form” because that gets brought up a lot in various translations, but we’ll get into that here in just a little bit.
The other definition I want to kind of put out there for your notes and for your understanding and something that I come to understand is the definition of garland. And according to Merriam-Webster, garland is defined as: “a circular or spiral arrangement of intertwined material such as flowers or leaves”. This is really getting down to the heart and definition of what I think a wreath is, but it’s actually the definition for garland.
So just keep that in mind too as we go throughout this and as you look through the information that we have provided for you on our website at godhonesttruth.com such as those AI research papers or the notes that we took. A lot of times the words will be used together as wreath and garland, but you’ll be thinking one thing but they’ll be meaning another by this other word. That happened to me so it took a little bit extra time to get my mind corrected and understand exactly what they were talking about specifically, which is one of the reasons we didn’t have a drash last week, according and in addition to other stuff too. But anyways, moving on.
This is from Symbol Genie and the article, “What Does a Wreath Symbolize?” And here it says, quote, “A wreath is an arrangement of flowers, leaves, fruit, twigs, or other materials that is usually hung on a wall, door, or window”. “Wreaths have been used for centuries as a way to decorate homes and as a symbol of hope and goodwill”. End quote. And that’s what I think of when I think of a wreath. Something that’s decorative. It has the twigs, it has the flowers, it has the leaves, but especially the greenery.
And here is a picture of what I would normally understand as a wreath. That’s not always been the understanding. Sometimes, especially back in the day, as sometimes said, a wreath just simply meant something that was circular. It could be small. It could be big. It could be even sometimes made out of metal, but not usually. Usually, it’s made out of perishable organic material like flowers or branches or leaves, stuff like that. But here on your screen, this is what I would normally think of as a wreath. But sometimes, technically speaking, it can be referred to this as a garland instead.
I usually think of garland as those string things that you would put on Christmas trees or decorate the house with, but they would be long strands of stuff, not this circular thing. This is something that’s really opened my eyes, but hopefully this is good information for you, too.
Now according to the Etym Online, the etymology of the word wreath , they say it comes from the Middle English wrethe—I’m saying that correctly—or even wreathed spelled differently, but meaning a round or coiled shape. “Something coiled up or wound in a circular shape”. “A twisted band, especially a flowering branch or the like twisted in circular form worn about the head”. From Old English wriða or wriðian, meaning fillet, bandage, or band. “Meaning ring or garland of flowers or vines is recorded or usually starts about the 1560s,” so about middle of the 16th century, something like that. So once again, this is not something that I would have defined a wreath as being, but again according to this definition, it’s something that’s worn up on the head, something I would call a crown nowadays or something similar to that or garland.
The etymology of garland from Etym Online is from about the 1300s, meaning “wreath of flowers”. Also “crown of gold or silver” from Old French garlande. The word is found in many forms in the Romantic languages such as Old Spanish goranda, French guirlande, Italian ghirlanda, Portuguese grinalda. I know I probably butchered the pronunciation of those, but you get the point. They’re all fairly similar. They mean the same thing. This kind of reminds me of the whole Easter teaching when we got into that and most words around the world or what we know of as Easter uses a derivative of the Greek word pascha, whereas in America we use the pagan goddess name of Easter. So it just kind of reminded me of that when all these words were very very similar in sounding to the word garland.
stephanos / 1 Corinthians 9:25
But anyways, let’s go ahead and look at some scripture, why don’t we? Looking at 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 25. “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable” , and that coming from the RSV.
Now, other translations also use this very same word, I’m sorry, this very same word of wreath. For example, we got on screen here the ESV, but other translations choose a different word and they choose the word crown, such as the King James version, the Legacy Standard Version, and the version we use here at God Honest Truth, The Scriptures 2009. So, is this a wreath or is this a crown? Well, in my definition, it’s one way, but in other translations, they think of it as a different way.
Here the word used in the Greek is the Greek word G4735. That’s G4735. And that is the Greek word stephanos. And here Allen of biblical usage from blueletterbible.com has it down as “a crown, a mark of royal or exalted rank, etc., etc.”. Strong’s definition has it defined as “a chaplet, a badge of royalty, prize in public games, or a symbol of honor”. Generally, that’s the meaning of the word stephanos in from the Greek.
Here’s the Greek lexicon for stephanos, meaning “a crown, a mark of royal or exalted rank” from the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. “A wreath consisting of foliage or precious metals formed to resemble foliage or and worn as a symbol of honor, victory or as a badge of high office”. “Wreath, crown. To describe a wreath merely as a circle of leaves would be hardly would hardly be sufficient to indicate its cultural significance”. And then here is your BDAG entry for Stephanos. And I’m sure you can read that or go to our notes if you aren’t able to read that for the full entry from the BDAG.
But what I’m getting from the lexicons and the dictionary and stuff like that for stephanos is meaning what I would understand to be a crown. Something that is smaller in origin than what I would think a wreath would be. Smaller in origin and worn upon the head.
And finally here is your—I’m sorry. Yeah, sorry. This is your last one, but this comes from the LSJ lexicon and the middle Liddell lexicon. Very similar concepts, but that’s another subject. Yeah, this word stephanos I would normally take it to be something like a crown, something wear up on your head, headgear, things like that. And it’s usually something that is given. It’s something that is awarded and earned a lot of times. So take that kind of meaning behind stephanos. So you got the crown, the headwear aspect, and something that is awarded, it’s a given as a symbol of accomplishment, something that is earned, things like that.
For a better understanding or definition of stephanos, this comes from the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. And this is the entry for stephanos. And there’s a whole big entry that we’ve got on our notes, but this is the abridged version that we’ve provided here for these slides. But here it has defined for stephanos meaning “the crown or wreath in the ancient world, to encircle”. Stephanos means crown. “The crown as a wreath placed upon the head is a sign of life and fertility”. “In nature’s the simplest crown, sorry, the simplest crown consists of a bent twig or two twigs tied together, weave of grass, leaves or flowers”.
And cultic usage also—this gets used a lot in cultic or pagan concepts —but the cultists and cultic acts, priests wear various forms of crowns. Obviously, there’s headwear just about all over the place and the Hebrews were no different. In the Tanakh, you look back at the requirements and the description of the Levitical priesthood. The priest, especially the high priest, had a turban or had some kind of headwear that he would wear. And the priests that were under him and just the everyday regular priests, the Levites, they would wear a head covering as well , which really gets into the whole First Corinthians and what did Paul mean by head covering thing, but we’ve already got into that. Go back, see that other episode. Yeah, let’s not get too far down the rabbit trail.
Yeah, the use of headwear in religious matters is nothing new and it’s nothing that is specific only to the Hebrews and it’s nothing specific that only to the pagans, not like Christmas trees. So yeah, headwear was worn by everyone and in the pagan religions, it was no different. They wore headwear as well, including stephanos or crowns or that kind of headwear.
In the army, the people in the army also wore these stephanos or these crowns. The Spartans would put on crowns before doing battle as well as other particular or other armies as well. In the ancient days, in private life and just regular everyday citizen’s life, it’s something that you wouldn’t wear every day and just common going about your day, doing your errands, stuff like that. But a regular citizen could wear one if they were given one as a symbol of honor, as an award, as a symbol of pride and stuff like that. But it wasn’t an everyday thing. It was a very special thing, especially for a regular everyday civilian.
But again, from the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament getting into the Old Testament, it’s a word used in the Septuagint back in the Old Testament or the Tanakh. And it’s used in 2 Samuel when David takes the golden Stephanos from the king of Rabba and puts it on his own head. Esther. In the book of Esther, the word Stephanos is used to describe the crown and the mantle that is given to Mordecai at the end of the Purim story. So the Hebrews employed and used this concept, the stephanos, this crown imagery a lot even in the Old Testament. Judaism uses it as well.
So stephanos or crown is not really what we’re looking at, but I wanted to make that distinction and put it out there for you because as you saw in some translations, it does translate this word as wreath, but I, in my opinion, it’s done incorrectly. So I think—and tell me if I’m wrong, put down in the comments and say you disagree or you don’t think like this —but in my opinion, when I think of a wreath, I think of again that big circular greenery thing, not something that’s small and you wear on your head. Something that’s small and you wear on your head. I think of like a crown or a hat, something like that, but not a wreath.
However, some translations translate this word stephanos, which is commonly understood to be like headwear or crown. These translations translate it as wreath. So, I wanted you to know this because it can get confusing depending on what translation that you are using or looking at at the time, which is something another reason why I always advise people to use more than just one translation. You might have a favorite translation. I do. I do. I love The Scriptures 2009, but that’s not the only one that I use. It’s my daily reader. It’s the thing I use the most, but it’s not the only one I use because I understand that even my favorite translation has flaws. It’s got things wrong. I understand this. So, I do word studies like this and I look at different translations to see how they translated it and see why they would translate it differently. And I encourage you to do the same thing. And this here is a prime poster boy example of why we should use different translations in our studies and why we should do word studies so we can better understand what they were actually trying to tell us and not what we now get in the translations because it could be lost in translation as they say.
diadema
But going on, looking at another word that is relevant to our study tonight and that is Strong’s G1238. That’s Strong’s G1238 and that is the Greek word diadema. Now here this is what you actually think of and know of as a crown.
From the outline of biblical usage, it has it defined as or in scripture used as “a diadem, a blue band marked with a white which is Persian kings used to bind on their turban or tiara, the kingly ornament for the head,” meaning the crown, what you would normally think of as a crown from just about every single Hollywood creation of medieval England. You know that kind of crown. From Strong’s definition, “a diadem or a crown as bound about the head”.
Here’s Greek lexicon. “A diadem, to bind round”. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. “A type of crown employed as a symbol of the highest ruling power in a particular area, associated with kingship”. The BDAG entry defines it as “to bind around, band, fillet, properly: sign of royalty”. From the LSJ , “a bander fillet band around the tiara worn by the Persian king”. In the middle Liddell, again, pretty much the same thing as the LSJ, “a bander fillet especially the band around the tiara of the Persian king”.
And this is a word you can find in the B’rit Chadashah as well. You can find it in several different places, especially in Revelation. And the notes on that once again are on the notes file. You can find all the verses that this word is used in in our notes file. So go check that out on godhonesttruth.com. Simply click on the link down below in the description.
stemma / Wreaths / Garlands
But finally, the last word I would like to bring up for your consideration and for your notes is the word—I’m sorry, the Strong’s entry G4725. And the only place I’ve been able to find this in scripture, and this plays a critical point, this is like a pivot point for our study and understanding tonight. The only place I’ve been able to find this in scripture is in Acts 14. This is Acts 14:11-18.
“And when the crowd saw that Sha’ul had what Sha’ul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying, ‘The mighty ones or gods have become like men and come down to us'”. “And they called Barnaba Zeus and Sha’ul Hermes”. “And the priest of Zeus brought oxen and wreaths and wished to offer with the crowds”. “And when the emissaries Barnaba and Sha’ul heard this, they tore their garments, crying out and saying, ‘Men, why are you doing this? We also are men with the same nature as you, bringing to you the good news to turn from these worthless matters to the living Elohim‘”. “Even with these words, they still had difficulty in stopping the crowds from offering to them”.
Now, I put all that in there just so you got the context behind what is going on here. You got Paul and Barnabas and they’re doing great and wonderful things and they’re doing miraculous things in front of the crowds, in front of the people. They’re going out and they are being the apostles they’re supposed to be and they are amazing the people because the people have not seen anything like this. And the people are so amazed they think that Paul and Barnabas are gods come down from the heavens to be among them. And what do they do? The chief priest there, the priest of Zeus, comes and wants to make an offering along with the people because the people want to make an offering too to these gods or at the very least what they consider to be demigods, the part god, part man legends of Greek antiquity, right? So, the priest of Zeus and these people want to make offerings to Paul and Barnabas because they think they’re gods.
And what do they bring? They bring the oxen which is to be fairly familiar with as part of the sacrifices. But they also bring something else. They bring wreaths. And these are the wreaths that we or what I would normally think of as a wreath. It’s not the strands and stuff like that. It’s these circular ornaments, decorative greenery things. And they want to make this as part of the sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas since they think they are gods.
Now, what I read to you was The Scriptures 2009 translation. In other translations like the ESV, the King James, the LSB, and the Tree of Life version, they all translate this word as garlands instead of wreaths. So you see what I was talking about there earlier how the—I guess the more antiquated understanding is that garland is the circular big circular decorative thing, but wreath is just anything in general that is circular in design. So take you how you would here.
Now, one thing that I found very interesting is the Wycliffe translation. For the most part, I think it makes better sense and reads better the way they have it structured in this particular sentence, but they do translate this word as crowns, not wreaths or garland, which is fairly odd. So, this is going to be—which is very, very odd.
Anyways, this word G4725, that’s G4725 in the Strong’s , that is the Greek word stemma. Stemma in the outline of biblical usage has it defined as “a fillet, a garland or something that’s put upon victims”. Strong’s definition has it as “a wreath for show or a garland”. Thayer’s Greek lexicon has it defined as “a fillet, a garland put upon victims”. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Stemma, “a wreath of wool to which leaves and flowers might be added and either wound around a staff or woven into a garland to be worn on the head, garland, or wreath”. “Garlands were an important part of the ritual involved in the worship of pagan gods in the ancient world”. “Such a garland may be described as a circle of leaves or a ring of flowers or a wreath of flowers”. From the BDAG entry, it means for stemma as “wreath or garland of flowers”. “But wool was also necessary for religious purposes”.
From the LSJ lexicon : “A wreath, garland, chaplet especially of the priest, laurel wreath round a staff, worn on the head”. And from the middle Liddell, pretty much the same thing, but anyways, I got to stop doing that. Like I said, I could only find it in one place in scripture and that’s in the book of Acts chapter 14, verse 13. If you found something else, then by all means, let me know so I can add it to the notes and have a better understanding.
But yeah, so far what we—what I’ve been able to discern is that this whole concept of stephanos is something a headwear that’s worn by just about everyone, whether it’s kings, royalty, or regular everyday citizens. The diadem is something that’s usually metal in nature that’s circular worn upon the head, headgear, and has sometimes could be precious jewels, stuff like that, but usually only ever worn by royalty, by leadership, by the governing body, right? That’s not usually worn by regular everyday people. So that would be diadem or diadema in the Greek.
The word that you really need to focus on here and think about is the word stemma. And from what I can gather, stemma is meaning garland, but what we would normally think of as a wreath nowadays, a large decorative thing that was usually used in the worship or the honor or the veneration of a particular pagan god. And this is something that is really comparable to our episode that we did on dendrites. When you think about it, a wreath like that is going to be composed of usually some kind of greenery like leaves or branches and things like that. It’s not going to be composed of rocks or, you know, sand or anything else. It will be composed of these things that can actually be wound around and styled like that. So yeah, take it as you will, but usually these things are used in pagan rituals and should not be used by us. So understand the difference between stephanos, diadema, and stemma. Stemma is definitely the one we should definitely stay away from.
Comparison Chart
But just a quick comparison real quick between diadema and stephanos and the modern wreath which we will associate with the word stemma and still proven otherwise as much as we can discern at this moment. If you have a different understanding and you have evidence to back it up, by all means, let us know.
Anyways, the primary meaning of a biblical or, I’m sorry, of a crown, the Greek word diadema, meaning royal sovereignty, something like kingship, rulership, authority, dominion, things like that. The stephanos on the other hand could mean something like victory, honor, achievement, something that is also, like diadema, something as given or awarded. However, the modern wreath or the stemma, I mean, is like a decoration. It’s a memorial, a festive garland or what they used to refer to as a garland. Maybe I’ve got this whole concept wrong and I should be calling it a garland instead of a wreath. But it’s what normally think of as this large decorative wreath nowadays.
The material is different in each of these or usually different in each of these as well. For instance, the diadema is usually made from a metal or something like that or even a fabric. But metal would be something of high value like gold, silver, etc., etc. The stephanos can be made of a variety of things. It can be made from metal also to resemble leaves and branches and whatnot. But more commonly, it would be made from leaves, branches, flowers, stuff like that , and things that will decay and rot and go away. And this is kind of the contrast that Paul brings up in one verse in the Bible as well.
The modern wreath or the stemma that we’ve been talking about is made from flowers. It’s made from evergreens. The wreath that we’re used to now at Christmas. It comes from the evergreens and it comes from the Germans just like the Christmas trees do and it comes from the winter solstice, the Yule tide celebrations just like the Christmas tree does. But these are made from the from flowers, from evergreens, from all kinds of various decorative materials. Once again, that is stemma.
These things are worn by various different people as well. The diadema or what we would understand to be like a crown is usually only ever worn by those in the highest authority, things like kings and queens and rulers and governors and emperors and etc., etc. The stephanos is a symbol of honor, symbol of achievement, stuff like that. It’s something else that is also awarded or given and it’s given to athletes. It’s given to honored citizens who do great and wonderful things and deserve to be honored. It’s given to the faithful believer in scripture. So, it’s something that you achieve. It’s something that you are given.
But the stemma or the wreath is something that’s not given. It’s something you just make for decorative purposes. And back in the day it was made for saw from scripture as a part of an offering to a pagan god. And the modern wreath or the stemma is for anyone—highborn, lowborn, rulers, everyday people, etc., etc. It’s for anyone and it’s for decorative or symbolic purposes nowadays, but in the past it was used for religious cultic practices.
The nature of these different things kind of has some nuance as well. The diadema or the crown is an inherent right of office or power. But again, it’s also something that’s given and it’s given either by the people that are electing you. It’s given by your predecessor, usually like your father or someone like that, or like we saw in the case of Saul, it’s given by Yahweh Himself to Saul. But once again, it’s something that is given.
Whereas the nature of a stephanos, something that we would consider like again greenery, headwear, something like that, something small, smaller than what we think of as a wreath. A stephanos is an earned prize, something else that is given like the diadema, but the stephanos is earned before it’s given. And it’s given as a symbol of honor. It’s a reward that you are given as a prize, something to distinguish you above everyone else. Sort of like a trophy almost.
But the wreath is not earned. It’s just again decoration. And like the stephanos, it is also temporary. It will rot and decay and die, but it’s still, you know, not earned. It’s not got the same value behind it as something like a diadema or a stephanos. It’s just out there. And once again, this stemma or what we would think of nowadays as a wreath is something that was used way back in the pagan days to worship their pagan gods.
Now, something I want to bring up to make a clarification real quick. Greenery is not bad in and of itself. Yahweh created everything, that includes the green trees, the green grass, the beautiful flowers, etc., etc. So, they’re not bad in and of themselves, and they’re not bad to use in religious purposes. Now, with that being said, when we use them in the way that the pagans do, that is when it gets bad.
For example, gold is not bad. Gold was used extensively in making the Temple, in making the Ark of the Covenant, in making the utensils, etc., etc., the Menorah, all this other stuff, so gold is not itself bad. But when it’s used in a pagan way, like the pagans did when making idols like golden calves, and the people of Yahweh do that, that is very bad. Likewise, greenery is not bad, but when it’s used in a way like the pagans used to do—they put it in circle and they would use it in honor or reverence of their pagan gods—and we do that in honor of our God. That is when it really gets down to the nitty-gritty and when we are doing wrong.
For instance, if we take these green things that Yahweh created, we arrange them in a circular fashion and then we display in honor and veneration of the birthday of the sun god, but we slap a Christian sticker on it. It doesn’t change anything. Still doing pagan things in pagan ways, but saying that we’re honoring the almighty, one true God of the universe. That’s just something we’re told not to do.
So, understand the difference between these words and understand what scripture is actually talking about and understand where the the rub, as it were, really comes into play here. So, it gets confusing sometimes, as it did with me during the study. It gets confusing sometimes if you don’t know what they’re talking about and it can get conflated. Stick with it. You’ll get there. You’ll eventually sort these things out, but just know the difference between these three words when they come up. So, you’ll know exactly what they mean in the original languages and what the original author meant when he wrote it.
Summary
So, in summary, number one, the wreath, I’m sorry, the word wreath means something that’s intertwined or arranged in a circular shape. Technically and in the old meaning, it’s basically something in a circular shape. Garland means a circular or spiral arrangement of intertwined material. Usually something of a greenery nature such as flowers, leaves or branches or things like that.
There are three different Greek words that we examined during this particular teaching that we have found in the B’rit Chadashah. We didn’t even get into the Tanakh because it’s, well, pretty much the same thing. We just didn’t get into the Hebrew words. But anyways, the three words that we looked at during this teaching is Strong’s G1238 and that’s diadema. Strong’s G4735 and that is stephanos. And Strong’s G4725 and that is the Greek word stemma.
The crowns or the diadema means like a piece of headwear that is worn by the top dog, the emperor, the king, prince, queen, etc., etc. Wreath means something like victory or honor or achievement. Like the diadema, this stephanos is something that is earned or awarded or given to someone.
Then we have the third word, the stemma, which we would nowadays associate with our modern word wreath as we would understand the word wreath. Something large and circular and decorative and used in religious context and religious worship. So that is a quick summary of what we learned tonight. There’s a whole lot more that goes into it.
Like I said, it really comes down to dendrolatry. Once again, when I planned out this whole series, I thought there would be enough information here to have two separate episodes on dendrites. So, talk about wreaths and these wreaths. But it all comes down to pretty much the same concept, the same idea, the same prohibition.
