Thanksgiving is a forgotten memory and now it is time to start thinking about Christmas. So much to do, so little time to get everything accomplished before December 25.
One of the tasks that await us is putting up the Christmas tree. Whether you have a live tree or artificial, the work is the same. Dig out the boxes that hold all the ornaments, lights, tinsel, etc. Then check the bulbs, dust off the trinkets and get everything organized.
Now comes the fun. If you have little hands helping, the fun increases as you watch icicles flying all over the place in all directions. Is it more trouble than it is worth?
Where did Christmas trees come from in the first place? Who can we blame for this Christmas tradition?
The practice of using evergreens in the home to celebrate Winter Solstice dates back as far as the ancient Egyptians. They loved and treasured evergreens. These people honored their god, Ra on the shortest day of the year by bringing in green date palms to symbolize life’s triumph over death.
The Romans celebrated Winter Solstice with a festival called Saturnalia in honor of Saturnus, god of agriculture. The Romans decorated their houses with greens and lights and exchanged gifts. The gifts had special meaning; coins for prosperity, pastries for happiness, and lights to light the journey through life.
In Great Britain the Druids used evergreens during Winter Solstice rituals as well as mistletoe and holly as symbols of eternal life. The Celtic people placed evergreen branches over doors to keep away evil spirits, witches, ghosts and illness.
The practice of using evergreens, mistletoe, holly, and exchanging gifts has a history that dates back a lot further than you may have realized, but there is a pattern forming here. The early Christians used many of the pagan rituals and festivals and incorporated them with Christian beliefs to help win over more converts.
In the seventh century, St. Boniface went to Germany from England to spread Christianity to those deserving souls. St. Boniface was a very good, kind, loving person who did many good works for the residents of the towns and villages. He wanted to make this new religion easy to understand and used symbology to help explain some of the concepts. Such as using the triangular shape of the fir tree to describe the holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The converts started to revere the fir tree as God’s tree, and by the twelfth century they started hanging the tree upside down in their homes at Christmastime as a symbol of Christianity. This tradition spread throughout all of central Europe.
Legend has it that Martin Luther began the tradition of decorating trees. He was strolling through a wooded area one evening and saw some small evergreens dusted in snow shimmering in the moonlight.
When he returned home, Martin Luther set up a small fir tree and decorated it with candles which he lighted in honor of Christ’s birth. He used this as he preached his Christmas sermon and the tradition of a lighted Christmas tree was born.
We get many customs, songs, images of Santa, etc. from Germany. The Germans were the first to make and hang glass ornaments on Christmas trees, and the custom spread from there.
This practice was based mainly in central Europe up until the time of Queen Victoria. She married Prince Albert, who was German, and he brought the tradition of a Christmas tree decorated with glass ornaments to England. Victoria was a very popular Queen so whatever was done at her Court was copied by her adoring subjects.
Christmas trees came to the United States with the Hessian troops and other German immigrants during the American Revolution. It was very slow to catch on since the Puritan form of Christianity banned the celebration of Christmas. Christmas trees were seen as a pagan symbol and were not accepted.
It was not until the 1830’s that German settlers in Pennsylvania put the first Christmas tree on display. The tradition slowly spread across the country, mainly through the European immigrants populating the land.
The first Christmas tree market was born in 1851 when a Catskill farmer named Mark Carr hauled evergreen trees to New York City and sold them. FW Woolworth started importing the glass ornaments from Germany in 1890 and by 1900, one in five American families had Christmas trees. Twenty years later the custom was universal. Like other festive Christmas customs the decorated tree was finally adopted.
Christmas tree farms sprang up during the Depression. No one was buying the evergreens for landscaping so the trees were cut and sold for the holiday season. During this time the decorations were mostly handmade; strings of brightly colored popcorn, cut out paper ornaments or whatever could be found to put on the tree.
The Depression era did not dampen the Christmas spirit and the tradition continues on until today. During the 1960’s and 70’s aluminum trees were the rage, but luckily that died out and we went back to good old-fashioned green trees.
Now we know who to blame for having to put up a Christmas tree every year. It’s really not all that bad though. The house would look empty without a Christmas tree complete with presents beneath it. We would miss the fresh pine smell that greets us each time we pass by. We would also miss the glimmering lights and the beauty we behold every time we look at it.
Christmas trees are a wonderful tradition that will continue for many more years to come. Let us all enjoy it while we can. Merry Christmas.