Where did the Christmas Tree come from?

In the 7th century a monk from Crediton, Devonshire, went to Germany to teach Christianity. While in Germnay, the monk did many good works and spent a lot of time in Thuringia; an area in Germany that would become the birth place for the modern concepts of Christmas as we know it today.

The Christmas tree got it start from pagan origins. The word pagan actually means "one who dwells upon the land" and so, in those days poor farmers were often referred to as pagans. Pagan peoples around the world revered trees that were evergreen because they held their leaves and needles through winter. They felt these trees were somehow holy because they never died back like other trees did. So, the Fir tree was viewed as a special tree by these peoples.

Legend has it that the monk from Devonshire used the triangular shape of the Fir tree to preach his teachings about the Christian holy trinity of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Because the pagan people already believed in the magick of the trees, they accepted the monks teachings and thus, the Christmas tree became part of the Christmas celebrations.

By the 12th century, the Christmas tree was being hung, upside-down, from the rafters of ceilings at Christmas throughout much of Central Europe. These trees served a symbol for the now combined celebration of the Yule Solstice and Christian Birth of Jesus.

The pagan celebration of Candlemas or the Feast of Lights, which was traditionally celebrated as the weather was turning warmer, now found it's self incoprorated into the Christmas celebration as well when people began decorating their trees with lit candles and decorations.

1510 marks the first recorded decorated tree at Riga, Latvia. In the early 16th century, Martin Luther is said to have decorated a small Christmas tree with candles, to show his children how the stars twinkled through the dark night.

The mid 16th century brought the advent of the Christmas markets in towns throughout Germany. These Christmas markets provided everything from gifts, food and more practical things such as a knife grinder to sharpen the knife to carve the Christmas goose. At these markets, bakers made shaped gingerbreads and wax ornaments for people to buy as souvenirs of the fair to take home and hang on their Christmas tree.

A visitor to Strasbourg in 1601, tells of a tree decorated with "wafers and golden (barleysugar) sugar-twists and paper flowers of all colours." The early trees were iblically symbolic of the paradise tree in the Garden of Eden. The many food items were symbols of "plenty," while red flowers were for "knowledge" and white for "innocence."

Tinsel was added in Germany about 1610. At that time real silver was used, and machines were invented which pulled the silver out into the wafer thin strips for tinsel. Silver was durable, but tarnished quickly, especially with candlelight. Attempts were made to use a mixture of lead and tin, but this was heavy and tended to break under its own weight so was not so practical. So silver was used for tinsel right up to the mid-20th century.

Christmas Trees in England

The Christmas tree was brought to England by the Georgian Kings from Germany. While German Merchants living in England decorated their homes with a Christmas tree, the British people were not fond of the German Monarchy and chose not to adopt the Christmas tree customs at Court. Eventually, the custom of bringing a cut evergreen into the house for Christmas time did catch on at Court and so, the custom was adopted by the British.

The English decorated their trees with silver wire tinsels, ornaments, candles and small beads. All these had been manufactured in Germany and East Europe since the 17th century. By this time, the Christmas tree found itself on the ground instead of hung from the rafters. The English custom was to have several small trees on tables, one for each member of the family, with that persons gifts stacked on the table under the tree.

Early Victorian Christmas Trees

In 1850's, Lauscha began to produce fancy shaped glass bead garlands for the trees and short garlands made from necklace bugle and beads. These were readily available in Germany, but not produced in sufficient quantities to export to Britain. The Rauschgoldengel was a common sight. Literally, 'tingled-angel', bought from the Thuringian Christmas markets and dressed in pure gilded tin.

By the 1860's, English trees had become more ornate than the trees of earlier decades. Small toys were hung on the branches, while most gifts were placed on the table under the tree.

Just as the first trees introduced into Britain did not immediately take off, the early Christmas trees introduced into American culture by the Hessian soldiers were not immediately popular. The Pennsylvanian German settlements had community trees as early as 1747.

It wasn't until the American's means of communicating with each other improved in the 19th century, that the Christmas customs began to spread in the United States. References to decorated trees in America before the middle of the 19th century are very rare.

By the 1870's, glass ornaments were being imported into Britain from Lauscha, Thuringia. It became a status symbol to have glass ornaments on your Christmas tree. The more you had, the better your status was. Still many homemade things were still used.

Glass ornaments were imported into America around 1880, where they were sold through stores such as FW Woolworth. They were quickly followed by American patents for electric lights in 1882, and metal hooks for safer hanging of decorations onto the trees in 1892.

Late Victorian Christmas Trees

In the 1880's, the Christmas tree became a hotchpotch of everything one could cram on. Then came a new trend which was complete contrast. These trees were now delicately balanced trees with delicate colours, shapes and style. The limited availability of decorations in earlier decades had kept trees to being table trees, now trees were moving to the floor which meant they could be larger.

The High Victorian of the 1890's brought Christmas trees as tall as the room and crammed with glitter, tinsel and toys. Even the middle class Americans managed to over-decorate their trees. Everything that could possibly go on a tree went onto it.

By the 1900's, themed Chrustmas trees were popular. A colour theme set in ribbons or balls, a topical idea such as an Oriental tree, or an Egyptian tree. They were to be the last of the great Christmas trees for some time.

In America, the Addis Brush Company created the first brush trees, using the same machinery which made their toilet brushes! These had an advantage over the feather tree in that they would take heavier decorations.

After 1918, because of licensing and export problems, Germany was not able to export its decorations easily. The market was quickly taken up by Japan and America, especially in the market of Christmas tree lights.

Britain's Tom Smith Cracker Company, which has exported Christmas goods for over three decades, began to manufacture trees as well for a short while.

In the 1930's, there was a revival of Dickensian nostalgia, particularly in Britain. Christmas cards all sported Crinoline ladies with muffs and bonnets popular in the 1840's. Christmas trees became large and real again, and were decorated with many bells, balls and tinsels with a beautiful golden haired angel at the top.

Then came the World Wars and wartime England forbid the cutting of trees for decoration. Most people decorated only a small tabletop tree with home-made decorations, which could be taken down into the shelters for a little Christmas cheer when the air-raid sirens went off.

The tradition of the Chrstmas tree returned after the wars ended. People seemed to need the joys of the Christmas season. Trees were as large as people could afford. Many poorer families still used the tabletop goosefeather trees, America's Addis Brush Trees were being imported into Britain and these became immensely popular for a time. But the favourites were still real trees.

The popular decorations were all produced by a British manufacturer, Swanbrand and sold by FW Woolworth in Britain. Translucent plastic lock together shapes, honeycomb paper angels, glow-in the-dark icicles and Polish glass balls and birds.

In South Wales real trees were often difficult to find in the rural areas so Holly bushes were decorated.

America made a return to Victorian nostalgia in the 1970's, and it was a good decade later that Britain followed the fashion. Some American companies specialised in antique replicas, actually finding the original makers in Europe to recreate wonderful glass ornaments, real silver tinsels and pressed foil Dresdens.

Real Christmas trees were popular, but many housewives preferred the convenience of the authentic looking artificial trees which were being manufactured. If your room was big enough, you could have a realistic looking 14 foot artificial Spruce right there in your living room, without a single dropped needle.

So, that's brief history of the Christmas tree and how it came to be a popular tradition in homes around the world.

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