History of Christmas Trees

Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce and fir trees, many ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries, they believed evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits and illness.

Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak. They celebrated the winter solstice—the shortest day and longest night of the year (falling on December 21 or December 22 in the Northern hemisphere)—because it meant that, at last, the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen boughs reminded them of 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 winter solstice, when Ra began to recover from his illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palms and papyrus reeds to symbolize the triumph of life over death.

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 be green and fruitful soon. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs.

In Northern Europe, the Druids, the priests of the ancient Celts, also decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life. The Vikings in Scandinavia honored mistletoe, another type of evergreen, for its role in the death of Balder, a god of light.

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it. By the 16th century, sources record devout Christians bringing decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if resources were scarce.

It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. According to a common version of the story, walking home one winter evening, Luther was awed by the stars twinkling amidst evergreens. To recapture the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lit candles.

Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first records of Christmas trees being cut for display come from the 1820s in Pennsylvania’s German community, though trees might have been a tradition there even earlier. As early as 1747, Moravian Germans in eastern Pennsylvania had a community tree in the form of a wooden pyramid decorated with candles. But, as late as the 1840s, most Americans viewed Christmas trees as pagan symbols and shunned them.

It is not surprising that, like many other festive Christmas customs, the tree was adopted so late in America. New England’s first Puritan leaders viewed Christmas celebrations as unholy. The Pilgrims’ second governor, William Bradford, wrote that he tried hard to stamp out “pagan mockery” of the observance, penalizing any frivolity. In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 a penal offense; 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.

Queen Victoria helped change American attitudes toward Christmas trees. In 1846, the popular British royal and her German-born husband, Prince Albert, were sketched in the Illustrated London News standing with their children around a Christmas tree. Unlike the previous royal family, Victoria was beloved by her subjects; what was done at court immediately became fashionable—not only in Britain, but also with fashion-conscious East Coast American society. The Christmas tree had arrived.

By the 1890s, Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany, and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise throughout the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about 4 feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to extend from floor to ceiling.

The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments, while many German Americans continued to use apples, nuts and marzipan cookies. Stringed popcorn—dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts—became another popular tree decoration. Electricity brought about Christmas lights, making 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.

As many as 30 million real Christmas trees are sold in the United States today. Among the most iconic is the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, which is installed annually outside Rockefeller Center in New York City.

The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree dates back to the Depression era. The first tree, placed in 1931, was a small unadorned tree set up by construction workers at the center of the construction site. Two years later, another tree was placed there, this time with lights.

These days, the giant Rockefeller Center tree is laden with over 50,000 Christmas lights and topped by 70-point LED star studded with 3 million Swarovski crystals. The tallest tree displayed at Rockefeller Center arrived in 1999. It was a Norway Spruce that measured 100 feet tall and hailed from Killingworth, Connecticut.

Christmas Trees in Canada German settlers began migrating to Canada from the United States in the 1700s. They brought Canada’s first Christmas trees and, in later generations, gingerbread houses and Advent calendars. When Queen Victoria and Prince Albert put up a Christmas tree at Windsor Castle in 1848, Christmas trees became a widely popular tradition throughout England, the United States and Canada.

Christmas Trees in Mexico In most Mexican homes, the principal holiday adornment is “el Nacimiento,” the Nativity scene. However, a decorated Christmas tree might be incorporated in the Nacimiento or set up elsewhere in the home. As purchase of a natural pine represents a luxury commodity to most Mexican families, the typical “arbolito,” or “little tree,” is often an artificial one, a bare branch cut from a copal tree (Bursera microphylla) or some type of shrub collected from the countryside.

Christmas Trees in Great Britain The Norway spruce is the traditional species used to decorate homes in Britain. This tree type was a native species in the British Isles before the last Ice Age and was reintroduced to the region before the 1500s.

Christmas Trees in Greenland Since icy Greenland lacks large native forests, most Christmas trees are imported. They are decorated with candles and bright ornaments.

Christmas Trees in Guatemala The Christmas tree has joined the Nacimiento as a popular ornament because of the large German population in Guatemala.

Christmas Trees in Brazil Although Christmas falls during the summer in most of Brazil, sometimes pine trees are decorated with little pieces of cotton that represent falling snow.

Christmas Trees in Ireland Christmas trees are bought anytime in December and decorated with colored lights, tinsel and baubles. Some people favor an angel on top of the tree; others opt for a star. Homes are decorated with garlands, candles, holly and ivy. Wreaths and mistletoe are hung on the door.

Christmas Trees in Sweden Most people buy Christmas trees well before Christmas Eve, but it is not common to take the tree inside and decorate it until just a few days before. Evergreen trees are trimmed with stars, sunbursts and snowflakes made from straw. Other decorations include colorful wooden animals and straw centerpieces.

Christmas Trees in Norway Norwegians often take a trip to the woods to select a Christmas tree, an outing that their grandparents probably did not make. The Christmas tree was not introduced into Norway from Germany until the latter half of the 19th century; to the country districts, it came even later. Many families decorate their trees on December 23, which is known as “Little Christmas Eve.” A Norwegian ritual known as “circling the Christmas tree” follows, where everyone joins hands to form a ring around the tree and then walks around it singing carols.

Christmas Trees in Ukraine Celebrated on December 25 by Catholics and on January 7 by Orthodox Christians, Christmas is the most popular holiday in Ukraine. During the Christmas season, which also includes New Year’s Day, people decorate fir trees and have parties.

Christmas Trees in Spain A popular Christmas custom in Catalonia is the “Caga Tió,” a decorated log that children “feed” scraps of food during the days before Christmas. On the holiday, the log is covered with a blanket and the children hit it with a stick. Then the blanket is removed to reveal the treats like toffee and hazelnuts that Caga Tió had “consumed.”

Christmas Trees in Italy In one Italian tradition, the “presepio” is a miniature representation of the Holy Family in the stable. The display, which translates to “manger” or “crib,” is the center of Christmas for families. Guests kneel before it, and musicians sing before it. The presepio figures are usually hand-carved and very detailed in features and dress. The scene is often set out in the shape of a triangle. It provides the base of a pyramid-like structure called the “ceppo.” This is a wooden frame arranged to make a pyramid several feet high. Several tiers of thin shelves are supported by this frame. It is entirely decorated with colored paper, gilt pine cones and miniature colored pennants. Small candles are fastened to the tapering sides. A star or small doll is hung at the apex of the triangular sides. The shelves above the manger scene have small gifts of fruit, candy and presents. The ceppo is likely related to older “tree of light” traditions linked to Christmas trees in other countries. Some houses even have a ceppo for each child in the family.

Christmas Trees in Germany Many Christmas traditions practiced around the world today started in Germany.

As mentioned above, some Lutheran traditions credit Martin Luther with placing the first lighted candles on a Christmas tree.

Another legend says that in the early 16th century, people in Germany combined two customs that had been practiced in different countries around the globe to create the modern tree tradition. The first was the Paradise tree, a fir tree decorated with apples that represented the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. The second—a small pyramid-like frame known as the Christmas Light and usually decorated with glass balls, tinsel and a candle on top—was a symbol of the birth of Christ as the Light of the World. Germans changed the tree’s apples to tinsel balls and cookies and placed a light on top to mirror today’s Christmas tree decorations.

One modern custom is for parents to decorate the “Tannenbaum,” German for “Christmas tree,” in secret with lights, tinsel and ornaments. The tree is then lit and revealed on Christmas Eve with cookies, nuts and gifts under its branches.

Christmas Trees in South Africa Christmas is a summer holiday in South Africa. Although Christmas trees are not common, windows are often draped with sparkling cotton wool and tinsel.

Christmas Trees in Saudi Arabia  Christian Americans, Europeans, Indians, Filipinos and others living in Saudia Arabia have to celebrate Christmas privately in their homes. Christmas lights are generally not tolerated. Most families place their Christmas trees somewhere inconspicuous.

Christmas Trees in the Philippines Fresh pine trees are too expensive for many Filipinos, so handmade trees in an array of colors and sizes are often used. Star lanterns, or “parol”, appear everywhere in December. They are made from bamboo sticks, covered with brightly colored rice paper or cellophane, and usually feature a tassel on each point. There is usually one in every window, each representing the Star of Bethlehem.

Christmas Trees in China More than 80 percent of the world’s artificial Christmas trees are made in China, but a much smaller portion of Chinese people celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday. Those who do often put up artificial trees: “trees of light” decorated with paper chains and lanterns.

Christmas Trees in Japan For most of the Japanese who celebrate Christmas, it’s purely a secular holiday devoted to the love of their children. Christmas trees are decorated with small toys, dolls, paper ornaments, gold paper fans and lanterns as well as wind chimes. Miniature candles are also placed among the tree branches. One of the most popular ornaments is the origami crane. Japanese children have exchanged thousands of folded paper “birds of peace” with young people all over the world as a pledge that war must not happen again.