Yggdrasil My Ash…

Catching up on some reading this morning, I found Stu Savory’s Christmas Eve piece about holiday season beliefs and traditions. Spooky… the picture he paints of the US as a belief oriented society. But I wonder if he isn’t mixing up his pagan traditions a little? I always thought the pine tree traditions were similar but distinct from the Norse “world tree” perspective with Yggdrasil, the sacred ash at the center of all existence. And digging deeper into etymological distinctions, it was my understanding that it’s “in the pines, in the pines where the sun never shines.” So what does this have to do with “hauling ashes?” Just wondering.