Europe (Commonwealth Union)_ The history of Christmas trees has many roots, ranging from the use of evergreens in ancient Egypt and Rome to the German traditions of candlelit trees that made its way to America in the 1800s. From the earliest winter solstice celebrations to Queen Victoria’s decorating habits and the annual lighting of the Rockefeller Center tree in New York City, discover the history of the Christmas tree.
How Did Christmas Trees Start?
Plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter long before the advent of Christianity. Just as people decorate their homes today, during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, many ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In several countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.
The shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern hemisphere, falls on 21st December or 22nd December and is called the winter solstice. Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become weak and sick. They celebrated the solstice as it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen boughs reminded them that all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return.
The ancient Egyptians worshipped a god called Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown. At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from his illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with papyrus reeds and green palms which symbolized for them the triumph of life over death.
Did you know? Christmas trees are grown in all fifty states including Alaska and Hawaii.
Early Romans marked the solstice with a feast called Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the solstice meant that farms and orchards would soon be green and fruitful and they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs to mark the occasion.
In Northern Europe the priests of the ancient Celts, the Druids, also decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life. The Vikings in Scandinavia honored the evergreen mistletoe for its role in the death of a god of light, the Balder.
Christmas Trees from Germany
Germany is credited with starting the tradition of the Christmas tree as we now know it by the 16th century when sources record devout Christians bringing decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with candles and evergreens if wood was scarce.
It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, initially added lighted candles to a tree. According to a common version of the story, Luther was awed by the stars twinkling amidst evergreens, walking home one winter evening. He erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lighted candles, to recapture the scene for his famil,
Who Brought Christmas Trees to America?
Most Americans in the 19th century found Christmas trees an oddity. The first records of Christmas trees being cut for display is taken from the 1820s in Pennsylvania’s German community, although trees may have been a tradition there even earlier. Moravian Germans in Pennsylvania had a community tree in the form of a wooden pyramid that was decorated with candles as early as 1747. But, as late as the 1840s, Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.
It is not surprising that, the tree was adopted so late in America like many other festive Christmas customs. New England’s first Puritan leaders viewed Christmas celebrations as unholy.
In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 a penal offense; and people were fined for hanging decorations. That stern solemnity continued until the influx of German and Irish immigrants in the 19th century undermined the Puritan legacy.
The popular royals, Queen Victoria and her German Prince, Albert, were sketched in the Illustrated London News standing with their children around a Christmas tree in 1846. Victoria, unlike the previous royal family, was very popular with her subjects, and what was done at court immediately became fashionable not only in Britain, but with fashion-conscious East Coast American Society. The Christmas tree had arrived.
Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany by the 1890s and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to extend from floor to ceiling.
The early 20th century saw that many German continued to use apples, nuts and marzipan cookies while Americans decorated their trees mainly with homemade ornaments. After being dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts Stringed popcorn was added to trees’ decoration. Electricity lit Christmas lights, and made it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days on end. With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country and having a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.
