According to Dr. J.F. del Giorgio, every Christmas Tree is conmemorating certain Ice-Age cultures, where women had found ways to restrict male power---the roots of democracy. During one of the coldest episodes of the Ice Age, European people suffered a near extinction event. Only a few female-centered families survived in the Pyrenees and in the Northern Balkans. They repopulated Europe, leaving a DNA trail that Dr. J.F. del Giorgio describes in ?The Oldest Europeans: Who are we? Where do we come from? What made European women different?? (A.J. Place, $18.95). They spoke tongues akin to present Basque. Women had an extraordinary status in these tribes. They kept male leaders? power under tight control. A Roman writer that met some of their descendants qualified them as matriarchal. They were plainly matrilineal, matrilocal and matrifocal. Their religion styled sacred trees. It was an olive for Athenians, an oak in Chartress. The famous Guernica Oak still symbolizes traditional freedom for Bicayan people and the rest of the Basques. For some Nordic tribes certain pines were sacred. From there came the Christmas tree tradition, marking the winter solstice. About eight thousand years ago, patriarchal tribes that spoke Indo-European languages started pouring into Europe. They brought with them farming techniques, state-of-the-art warfare and total contempt for females. At first, being a minority, they compromised, adopting the religious, political and social systems they met. New waves of invaders kept coming, adopting each time harsher policies. They finally deprived women of their roles and rights, usually killing, maiming or burning priestesses. Greek women were confined inside gynoecia. In Rome, any husband could kill his wife. Women managed to keep some rights only in the western fringe of Europe. From there, feminist movements sprang up. They rekindled an old, old struggle. This time, at last, females regained terrain. The Christmas tree is acknowledging them. Del Giorgio points that present freedom and democratic traditions in Europe (and their offshoots in other continents) are a legacy from those ancient females. Children raised in families where women were respected tended to abhor authoritarian leaders.
