Are Wreaths Only a Holiday Thing?

A short, real history of the wreath.

What you’ll learn: where wreaths started, how different cultures used them, how the Advent and Christmas versions appeared, and why wreaths make sense year round.

The Ancient Circle

Long before door decor, wreaths were worn. In ancient Greece, rings of plant material signaled honor and joy. Athletes were crowned with specific plants by place, like olive at Olympia and laurel at Delphi. In daily life, wreaths showed up at feasts, weddings, and rites.

Rome absorbed and expanded the idea. Laurel crowned triumphing generals, while other plant crowns marked different roles and occasions. You see wreaths throughout Roman art and ceremony.

Archaeology even preserves the look. Alongside leaf wreaths made from real plants, elites commissioned delicate gold versions for burials and offerings.

From Victory to Remembrance

A wreath did not only mean triumph. Funerary portraits from Roman Egypt show the dead wearing wreaths, linking the circle to honor, passage, and memory. That echo remains today when wreaths appear at memorials and moments of public remembrance.

Winter Greenery Before “Christmas Decor”

Bringing evergreens indoors in midwinter predates today’s holidays. Medieval churches and homes in Europe dressed spaces with holly and ivy. Evergreen signaled endurance and the promise of life returning in spring.

The round shape picked up layered meanings. A circle is unbroken, so it became a visual for eternity or the turning year. Over time those ideas fused with winter greens, setting the stage for holiday wreaths.

The Advent Wreath, Then The Door Wreath

The specific Advent wreath with candles is a 19th century German innovation. In 1839, pastor Johann Hinrich Wichern hung a large ring with candles so children could mark the days to Christmas. The practice spread and condensed into the four candle wreath many know today.

The evergreen Christmas wreath, as a stand-alone decoration, grew alongside the Christmas tree tradition that moved from German-speaking Europe into Britain and North America in the 1800s. Popular images and shared customs helped normalize greenery on doors as well as trees.

Not Just Winter, Harvest, and Midsummer Too

Across Central and Eastern Europe, harvest festivals weave grain into crowns and round wreaths to celebrate a successful season and bless the year ahead. In Scandinavia, floral wreaths are worn for Midsummer, tied to folk celebrations of the solstice.

Year-Round Meanings, Same Simple Form

Whether laurel for a poet, olive for an athlete, straw for a harvest, evergreens for winter, or poppies for remembrance, the common thread is the circle. It marks honor, season, promise, or memory, depending on context and materials. That is why wreaths feel at home beyond December.

Evergreen Grandeur gathers many winter greens into one timeless circle.

 

Winter vs Harvest vs Midsummer

A quick chooser to turn history into practice:

Winter

• Materials: evergreen conifers like fir and cedar, juniper, huckleberry stems, cones, ribbon if you like
• Meaning: endurance, welcome, turning of the year
• Where it lives best: front doors, gates, mantels in cool rooms
  

Harvest

• Materials: grains and grasses, straw bases, seed heads, dried leaves, late garden herbs
• Meaning: gratitude, plenty, closing the growing season
• Where it lives best: kitchen walls, barn doors, covered porches
  

Midsummer

• Materials: fresh flowers and flexible greens, floral crowns, light vines
• Meaning: joy, peak season, light at its longest
• Where it lives best: gatherings, garden parties, picnic tables, not for long term display
  

Close-up of silver fir, western red cedar, red huckleberry, and mahonia from Silver Bells.

What This Means For You

Three simple ways to use wreaths beyond December

• Match the season, keep it natural. Winter loves fir and cedar with a hint of juniper. Spring and summer lean toward flexible greens and floral moments for short events. Fall welcomes grain, grasses, and seed heads.
• Place with purpose. Outdoors in cool air lasts longer. For short indoor moments, treat a wreath like cut flowers and give it a rest in a cool place between uses.
  

Tell a small story. Choose materials that fit the moment. A cedar rich winter wreath says welcome. A grain wreath says harvest. A simple green circle at midsummer says joy.