82-574: A Christmas tree is a festive decoration. Christmas tree may also refer to: Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer , such as a spruce , pine or fir , or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas . The custom was developed in Central Europe , particularly Germany and Livonia (now Estonia and Latvia ), where Protestant Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. The tree
164-514: A Christmas party for the officers at Sorel , Quebec, delighting their guests with a fir tree decorated with candles and fruits. The Christmas tree became very common in the United States of America in the early 19th century. Dating from late 1812 or early 1813, the watercolor sketchbooks of John Lewis Krimmel contain perhaps the earliest depictions of a Christmas tree in American art, representing
246-575: A Christmas tree is on the keystone sculpture of a private home in Turckheim , Alsace (then part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation , today part of France), with the date 1576. Modern Christmas trees have been related to the " tree of paradise " of medieval mystery plays that were given on 24 December, the commemoration and name day of Adam and Eve in various countries. In such plays,
328-491: A Christmas tree to Washington, D.C. , as a symbol of friendship between Norway and the US and as an expression of gratitude from Norway for the help received from the US during World War II . Both setting up and taking down a Christmas tree are associated with specific dates; liturgically, this is done through the hanging of the greens ceremony. In many areas, it has become customary to set up one's Christmas tree on Advent Sunday ,
410-533: A German immigrant to Boston, for being the first to introduce to America the custom of decorating a Christmas tree. In 1847, August Imgard, a German immigrant living in Wooster, Ohio cut a blue spruce tree from a woods outside town, had the Wooster village tinsmith construct a star, and placed the tree in his house, decorating it with paper ornaments, gilded nuts and Kuchen . German immigrant Charles Minnigerode accepted
492-576: A Hessian soldier put up a Christmas tree in 1777 while imprisoned at the Noden-Reed House, while the "First Christmas Tree in America" is also claimed by Easton, Pennsylvania , where German settlers purportedly erected a Christmas tree in 1816. In his diary, Matthew Zahm of Lancaster, Pennsylvania , recorded the use of a Christmas tree in 1821, leading Lancaster to also lay claim to the first Christmas tree in America. Other accounts credit Charles Follen ,
574-449: A charity was set up specifically to ensure even poor children in London slums "who had never seen a Christmas tree" would enjoy one that year. Anti-German sentiment after World War I briefly reduced their popularity but the effect was short-lived, and by the mid-1920s the use of Christmas trees had spread to all classes. In 1933, a restriction on the importation of foreign trees led to
656-493: A combination of clerics and amateurs and were written in highly elaborate stanza forms; they were often marked by extravagant sets and special effects, but could also be stark and intimate. There was a wide variety of theatrical and poetic styles, even in a single cycle of plays. There are four complete or nearly complete extant English biblical collections of plays. A collection is the York cycle of forty-eight pageants; there are also
738-457: A fairy tale called The Fir-Tree in 1844, recounting the fate of a fir tree being used as a Christmas tree. By the early 18th century, the custom had become common in towns of the upper Rhineland, but it had not yet spread to rural areas. Wax candles, expensive items at the time, are found in attestations from the late 18th century. Along the Lower Rhine , an area of Roman Catholic majority,
820-502: A family celebrating Christmas Eve in the Moravian tradition. The first published image of a Christmas tree appeared in 1836 as the frontispiece to The Stranger's Gift by Hermann Bokum. The first mention of the Christmas tree in American literature was in a story in the 1836 edition of The Token and Atlantic Souvenir , titled "New Year's Day", by Catherine Maria Sedgwick , where she tells
902-473: A newspaper advertisement for Christmas trees makes clear their smart cachet, German origins and association with children and gift-giving. An illustrated book, The Christmas Tree , describing their use and origins in detail, was on sale in December 1844. On 2 January 1846, Elizabeth Fielding (née Fox Strangways) wrote from Lacock Abbey to William Henry Fox-Talbot : "Constance is extremely busy preparing
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#1732851853605984-633: A position as a professor of humanities at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia , in 1842, where he taught Latin and Greek. Entering into the social life of the Virginia Tidewater , Minnigerode introduced the German custom of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas at the home of law professor St. George Tucker , thereby becoming another of many influences that prompted Americans to adopt
1066-494: A report picked up by other papers, described the trees in Windsor Castle in detail and showed the main tree, surrounded by the royal family, on its cover. In fewer than ten years, the adoption of the tradition in middle and upper-class homes was widespread. By 1856, a northern provincial newspaper contained an advert alluding casually to them, as well as reporting the accidental death of a woman whose dress caught fire as she lit
1148-761: A small coniferous tree. These pale-colored ornaments differ in height from 20 cm (7.9 in) to 3 meters (9.8 ft). Chichilakis are most common in the Guria and Samegrelo regions of Georgia near the Black Sea , but they can also be found in some stores around the capital of Tbilisi . Georgians believe that Chichilaki resembles the famous beard of St. Basil the Great , because Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates St. Basil on 1 January. The earliest reference of Christmas trees being used in The Bahamas dates to January 1864 and
1230-404: A small tree decorated with "apples, nuts, dates, pretzels, and paper flowers" was erected in the guild-house for the benefit of the guild members' children, who collected the dainties on Christmas Day. In 1584, the pastor and chronicler Balthasar Russow in his Chronica der Provinz Lyfflandt (1584) wrote of an established tradition of setting up a decorated spruce at the market square, where
1312-523: A symbol of socialism and Slavic mythology , strongly associated with loyalty, courage, and dignity. However, spruce retained its popularity in Slovenian homes during those years and came back to public places after independence. Although the tradition of decorating churches and homes with evergreens at Christmas was long established, the custom of decorating an entire small tree was unknown in Britain until
1394-494: A synopsis of the events. The writers and directors of the earliest plays were probably monks or clerics. In 1210, suspicious of the growing popularity of miracle plays, Pope Innocent III issued a papal edict forbidding clergy from acting on a public stage. This had the effect of transferring the organization of the dramas to town guilds, after which several changes followed. Vernacular texts replaced Latin, and non-Biblical passages were added along with comic scenes, for example in
1476-602: A tree decorated with apples (representing fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and thus to the original sin that Christ took away) and round white wafers (to represent the Eucharist and redemption) was used as a setting for the play. Like the Christmas crib , the Paradise tree was later placed in homes. The apples were replaced by round objects such as shiny red baubles . Fir trees decorated with apples served as
1558-486: Is a gift from the province of Nova Scotia , in thanks for rapid deployment of supplies and rescuers to the 1917 ammunition ship explosion that leveled the city of Halifax ; and in Newcastle upon Tyne , England, where the main civic Christmas tree is an annual gift from the city of Bergen , Norway, in thanks for the part played by soldiers from Newcastle in liberating Bergen from Nazi occupation. Norway also annually gifts
1640-626: Is associated with the Anglican Sunday Schools in Nassau , New Providence: "After prayers and a sermon from the Rev. R. Swann, the teachers and children of St. Agnes', accompanied by those of St. Mary's, marched to the Parsonage of Rev. J. H. Fisher, in front of which a large Christmas tree had been planted for their gratification. The delighted little ones formed a circle around it singing 'Come follow me to
1722-557: Is from ministerium , meaning craft , and so the 'mysteries' or plays performed by the craft guilds . As early as the fifth century, living tableaux were introduced into sacred services. The plays originated as simple tropes , verbal embellishments of liturgical texts, and slowly became more elaborate. At an early period chants from the service of the day were added to the prose dialogue. As these liturgical plays increased in popularity, vernacular forms emerged, and travelling companies of actors and theatrical productions became common in
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#17328518536051804-867: Is from the 12th century and kept today in Toledo Cathedral . It is a play about the Biblical Magi , three wise men from the East who followed a star and visited the baby Jesus in Bethlehem . It is believed to have been based on an earlier play written in France. The Misteri d'Elx (in English, the Elx Mystery Play or Mystery Play of Elx ) is a liturgical drama dating from the 13th century which has been enacted and celebrated every year without any known interruptions. Commemorating
1886-659: Is not much celebrated", whereas in Pennsylvania and New York it is. When Edward H. Johnson was vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company , a predecessor of Con Edison , he created the first known electrically illuminated Christmas tree at his home in New York City in 1882. Johnson became the "Father of Electric Christmas Tree Lights". The lyrics sung in the United States to the German tune O Tannenbaum begin "O Christmas tree...", giving rise to
1968-564: Is said to have first added lighted candles to an evergreen tree. The Christmas tree was first recorded to be used by German Lutherans in the 16th century, with records indicating that a Christmas tree was placed in the Cathedral of Strasbourg in 1539 under the leadership of the Protestant Reformer Martin Bucer . The Moravian Christians put lighted candles on those trees." The earliest known firmly dated representation of
2050-644: The Ordinalia trilogy, the Beunans Meriasek , and the Bewnans Ke , were traditionally performed at the plain-an-gwarrys . To capture the attention of the audience, "the plays were often noisy, bawdy and entertaining." Attention to the Medieval Mystery plays began to grow during the early 1800s, after their reference and publication by William Hone and James Heywood Markland . Notably, poet Lord Byron wrote
2132-564: The Secunda Pastorum of the Wakefield Cycle . Acting and characterization became more elaborate. These vernacular religious performances were, in some of the larger cities in England such as York , performed and produced by guilds , with each guild taking responsibility for a particular piece of scriptural history. From the guild control originated the term mystery play or mysteries, from
2214-576: The Towneley plays of thirty-two pageants, the Ludus Coventriae , and the Chester cycle of twenty-four pageants, now generally agreed to be an Elizabethan reconstruction of older medieval traditions. Also extant are two pageants from a New Testament cycle acted at Coventry . Additionally, a fifteenth-century play of the life of Mary Magdalene , The Brome Abraham and Isaac and a sixteenth-century play of
2296-681: The 1985 Laurence Olivier Awards , the year the three plays first appeared together in performance at the Lyceum Theatre . In 2001, the Isango Ensemble produced an African version of the Chester Cycle at the Garrick Theatre in London as The Mysteries – Yiimimangaliso , performing in a combination of the Xhosa language , Zulu , English, Latin, and Afrikaans . They revived an adapted version of
2378-528: The Bohemian Xmas Tree. It is made from Caroline's description of those she saw in Germany". In 1847, Prince Albert wrote: "I must now seek in the children an echo of what Ernest [his brother] and I were in the old time, of what we felt and thought; and their delight in the Christmas trees is not less than ours used to be". A boost to the trend was given in 1848 when The Illustrated London News , in
2460-509: The Congress of Vienna , and the custom spread across Austria in the following years. In France , the first Christmas tree was introduced in 1840 by the duchesse d'Orléans . In Denmark, a newspaper company claims that the first attested Christmas tree was lit in 1808 by Countess Wilhemine of Holsteinborg. It was the aging countess who told the story of the first Danish Christmas tree to Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen in 1865. He had published
2542-612: The Conversion of Saint Paul exist. Besides the Middle English drama, there are a few surviving plays in Cornish : namely, the Ordinalia (which is a cycle of three plays) and Pascon Agan Aruth which both tell biblical stories, and Bewnans Ke and Bewnans Meriasek , which tell the stories of the lives of saints. These biblical plays differ widely in content. Most contain episodes such as
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2624-1054: The Fall of Lucifer , the Creation and Fall of Man , Cain and Abel , Noah and the Flood , Abraham and Isaac , the Nativity , the Raising of Lazarus , the Passion , and the Resurrection . Other pageants included the story of Moses , the Procession of the Prophets , Christ's Baptism , the Temptation in the Wilderness , and the Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin . In given cycles,
2706-621: The Lichfield Mysteries were revived. In 1977 the National Theatre commissioned Tony Harrison to create The Mysteries , a re-working of the Wakefield Cycle and others. It was again revived in 1985 (the production was filmed for Channel 4 Television ), and as a part of the theatre's millennium celebration in 2000. The productions won Bill Bryden the Best Director title in both the 1985 Evening Standard Theatre Awards and
2788-669: The New Year holiday. It became a fully secular icon of the New Year holiday: for example, the crowning star was regarded not as a symbol of the Bethlehem Star , but as the Red star . Decorations, such as figurines of airplanes, bicycles, space rockets, cosmonauts , and characters of Russian fairy tales, were produced. This tradition persists after the fall of the USSR, with the New Year holiday outweighing
2870-559: The Vatican Christmas Tree . In the Western Christian tradition, Christmas trees are variously erected on days such as the first day of Advent , or even as late as Christmas Eve , depending on the country; customs of the same faith hold that it is unlucky to remove Christmas decorations, such as the Christmas tree, before Twelfth Night and, if they are not taken down on that day, it is appropriate to do so on Candlemas ,
2952-487: The "rapid growth of a new industry" as the growing of Christmas trees within Britain became commercially viable due to the size of demand. By 2013, the number of trees grown in Britain for the Christmas market was approximately eight million and their display in homes, shops and public spaces a normal part of the Christmas season. Georgians have their own traditional Christmas tree called Chichilaki , made from dried up hazelnut or walnut branches that are shaped to form
3034-555: The 18th and 19th centuries. In the present-day, the churches and homes of Protestants and Catholics feature both Christmas cribs and Christmas trees. In Poland , there is a folk tradition dating back to an old Slavic pre-Christian custom of suspending a branch of fir , spruce , or pine from the ceiling rafters , called podłaźniczka , during the time of the Koliada winter festival. The branches were decorated with apples, nuts, acorns, and stars made of straw. In more recent times,
3116-786: The 1965 TV special, based on the appearance of Charlie Brown 's Christmas tree. Since the early 20th century, it has become common in many cities, towns, and department stores to put up public Christmas trees outdoors, such as the Macy's Great Tree in Atlanta (since 1948), the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City, and the large Christmas tree at Victoria Square in Adelaide . The use of fire retardant allows many indoor public areas to place real trees and be compliant with code. Licensed applicants of fire retardant solution spray
3198-418: The 19th century. The German-born Queen Charlotte introduced a Christmas tree at a party she gave for children in 1800. The custom did not at first spread much beyond the royal family. Queen Victoria , as a child, was familiar with it and a tree was placed in her room every Christmas. In her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, the delighted 13-year-old princess wrote: After dinner [...] we then went into
3280-676: The Assumption of Mary, it is played on every 14 and 15 August in the Basilica de Santa María in the city of Elx (also known as Elche ). The prohibition of theatrical plays in churches by the Council of Trent eventually threatened to interrupt the yearly performance of the Misteri, but in 1632 Pope Urban VIII issued a special permit for its continuation. In 2001, UNESCO declared it one of the Masterpieces of
3362-416: The Branch by a rope in the pole, which shall be by the candle of the high altar." Other sources have offered a connection between the symbolism of the first documented Christmas trees in Germany around 1600 and the trees of pre-Christian traditions, though this claim has been disputed. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica , "The use of evergreen trees , wreaths, and garlands to symbolize eternal life
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3444-493: The Catholic majority rejected this custom because they considered it a typical Protestant tradition. However, this tradition was almost unknown to the rural population until World War I , after which the decorating of trees became common. The first decorated Christmas market was organized in Ljubljana in 1859. After World War II , during the Yugoslavia period, spruce trees set in the public places (towns, squares, and markets) were, for political reasons, replaced with fir trees,
3526-494: The Christmas (7 January) for a wide majority of Russian people. The Peanuts TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) was influential on the pop culture surrounding the Christmas tree. Aluminum Christmas trees were popular during the early 1960s in the US. They were satirized in the TV special and came to be seen as symbolizing the commercialization of Christmas. The term "Charlie Brown Christmas tree," describing any poor-looking or malformed little tree, also derives from
3608-524: The Christmas tree was largely regarded as a Protestant custom. As a result, it remained confined to the upper Rhineland for a relatively long period of time. The custom did eventually gain wider acceptance beginning around 1815 by way of Prussian officials who emigrated there following the Congress of Vienna . In the 19th century, the Christmas tree was taken to be an expression of German culture and of Gemütlichkeit , especially among emigrants overseas. A decisive factor in winning general popularity
3690-414: The Christmas tree.'" The gifts decorated the trees as ornaments and the children were given tickets with numbers that matched the gifts. This appears to be the typical way of decorating the trees in 1860s Bahamas. In the Christmas of 1864, there was a Christmas tree put up in the Ladies Saloon in the Royal Victoria Hotel for the respectable children of the neighbourhood. The tree was ornamented with gifts for
3772-403: The Cistercian Order refers to what may be considered the oldest references to the Christmas tree: "Note on how to put the Christmas branch, scilicet : On the Christmas eve, you will look for a large Branch of green laurel, and you shall reap many red oranges, and place them on the branches that come of the laurel, specifically as you have seen, and in every orange you shall put a candle, and hang
3854-516: The Germans. A later folk version of the story adds the detail that an evergreen tree grew in place of the felled oak, telling them about how its triangular shape reminds humanity of the Trinity and how it points to heaven. Customs of erecting decorated trees in winter time can be traced to Christmas celebrations in Renaissance-era guilds in Northern Germany and Livonia . The first evidence of decorated trees associated with Christmas Day are trees in guildhalls decorated with sweets to be enjoyed by
3936-447: The Latin ministerium meaning "occupation" (i.e. that of the guilds). The genre was again banned as a result of the Reformation and the establishment of the Church of England in 1534. The mystery play developed, in some places, into a series of plays dealing with major events in the Christian calendar, from the Creation to the Day of Judgment. By the end of the 15th century, the practice of acting these plays in cycles on festival days
4018-457: The Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Miracle plays, or Saint's plays, are now distinguished from mystery plays as they specifically re-enacted miraculous interventions by the saints , particularly St. Nicholas or St. Mary , rather than biblical events. Robert Chambers , writing in the 19th century, notes that "especially in England, miracle [came] to stand for religious play in general". Cornish language miracle plays, particularly
4100-450: The apprentices and children. In Livonia (present-day Estonia and Latvia ), in 1441, 1442, 1510, and 1514, the Brotherhood of Blackheads erected a tree for the holidays in their guild houses in Reval (now Tallinn) and Riga . On the last night of the celebrations leading up to the holidays, the tree was taken to the Town Hall Square , where the members of the brotherhood danced around it. A Bremen guild chronicle of 1570 reports that
4182-481: The backyard, or from the fences, modestly decorated with fruits or not decorated at all. German brewer Peter Luelsdorf brought the first Christmas tree of the current tradition to Slovenia in 1845. He set it up in his small brewery inn in Ljubljana , the Slovenian capital. German officials, craftsmen and merchants quickly spread the tradition among the bourgeois population. The trees were typically decorated with walnuts , golden apples, carobs , and candles. At first,
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#17328518536054264-426: The central prop for the paradise play, a kind of folk religious drama often performed on December 24. These props were called paradise trees, and some researchers believe they were the forerunners of the Christmas tree. At the end of the Middle Ages, an early predecessor appears referred in the 15th century Regiment of the Cistercian Alcobaça Monastery in Portugal . The Regiment of the local high- Sacristans of
4346-399: The children of the much-bombarded town of Lille in northern France. In some cases, the trees represent special commemorative gifts, such as in Trafalgar Square in London , where the City of Oslo , Norway , presents a tree to the people of London as a token of appreciation for the British support of Norwegian resistance during World War II ; in Boston , United States, where the tree
4428-428: The children who formed a circle about it and sung the song "Oats and Beans". The gifts were later given to the children in the name of Santa Claus . The tradition was introduced to North America in the winter of 1781 by Hessian soldiers stationed in the Province of Québec (1763–1791) to garrison the colony against American attack . General Friedrich Adolf Riedesel and his wife, the Baroness von Riedesel , held
4510-450: The conclusion of the extended Christmas-Epiphany season (Epiphanytide). According to the first tradition, those who fail to remember to remove their Christmas decorations on Epiphany Eve must leave them untouched until Candlemas, the second opportunity to remove them; failure to observe this custom is considered inauspicious. Mystery play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although
4592-461: The decorations also included colored paper cutouts ( wycinanki ), wafers , cookies , and Christmas baubles . According to old pagan beliefs, the branch's powers were linked to good harvest and prosperity. The custom was practiced by the peasants until the early 20th century, particularly in the regions of Lesser Poland and Upper Silesia . Most often the branches were hung above the wigilia dinner table on Christmas Eve . Beginning in
4674-408: The drawing room near the dining room [...] There were two large round tables on which were placed two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments. All the presents being placed round the trees [...] In the year following Victoria's marriage to her German cousin Prince Albert , in 1841, the custom became even more widespread as wealthier middle-class families followed the fashion. In 1842,
4756-401: The engraving into an American scene. The republished Godey's image became the first widely circulated picture of a decorated evergreen Christmas tree in America. Art historian Karal Ann Marling called Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, shorn of their royal trappings, "the first influential American Christmas tree". Folk-culture historian Alfred Lewis Shoemaker states, "In all of America there
4838-523: The first day of the Advent season. Traditionally, however, Christmas trees were not brought in and decorated until the evening of Christmas Eve (24 December), the end of the Advent season and the start of the twelve days of Christmastide . It is customary for Christians in many localities to remove their Christmas decorations on the last day of the twelve days of Christmastide that falls on 5 January— Epiphany Eve (Twelfth Night), although those in other Christian countries remove them on Candlemas ,
4920-405: The later Middle Ages. The Quem quaeritis? is the best known early form of the dramas. It is a schematic dialogue between the angel at the tomb of Christ and the women who are seeking his dead body. Early forms of the responsorium were later elaborated with dialogue and dramatic action. Early performances were given in Latin, and were preceded by a vernacular prologue spoken by a herald who gave
5002-507: The latter of which ends the Christmas-Epiphany season in some denominations . The Christmas tree is sometimes compared with the " Yule -tree", especially in discussions of its folkloric origins. Modern Christmas trees originated in Central Europe and the Baltic states , particularly Estonia , Germany and Livonia (now Latvia ) during the Renaissance in early modern Europe. Its 16th-century origins are sometimes associated with Protestant Christian reformer Martin Luther , who
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#17328518536055084-407: The method of production for all towns. While the Chester pageants are associated with guilds, there is no indication that the N-Town plays are either associated with guilds or performed on pageant wagons . Perhaps the most famous of the mystery plays, at least to modern readers and audiences, are those of Wakefield. Unfortunately, we cannot know whether the plays of the Towneley manuscript are actually
5166-413: The mid-19th century, the tradition over time was almost completely replaced by the later German practice of decorating a standing Christmas tree. In the early 19th century, the custom became popular among the nobility and spread to royal courts as far as Russia. Introduced by Fanny von Arnstein and popularized by Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg , the Christmas tree reached Vienna in 1814, during
5248-486: The mistaken idea that the German word Tannenbaum (fir tree) means "Christmas tree", the German word for which is instead Weihnachtsbaum . Under the state atheism of the Soviet Union , the Christmas tree—along with the entire celebration of the Christian holiday—was banned in the country after the October Revolution . However, the government then introduced a New-year spruce ( Russian : Новогодняя ёлка , romanized : Novogodnyaya yolka ) in 1935 for
5330-413: The plays Cain and Heaven and Earth: A Mystery as modern version of medieval dramas on similar subjects. Mystery plays are produced regularly throughout the United Kingdom . The local cycles were revived in both York and Chester in 1951 as part of the Festival of Britain , and are still performed by the local guilds. The N-Town cycle was revived in 1978 as the Lincoln mystery plays , and in 1994
5412-477: The plays came to be sponsored by the newly emerging Medieval craft guilds . The York mercers , for example, sponsored the Doomsday pageant. Other guilds presented scenes appropriate to their trade: the building of the Ark from the carpenters' guild; the five loaves and fishes miracle from the bakers; and the visit of the Magi , with their offerings of gold, frankincense and myrrh, from the goldsmiths. The guild associations are not, however, to be understood as
5494-477: The plays performed at Wakefield but a reference in the Second Shepherds' Play to Horbery Shrogys is strongly suggestive. In "The London Burial Grounds" by Mrs Basil Holmes (1897), the author claims that the Holy Priory Church, next to St Katherine Cree on Leadenhall Street, London was the location of miracle plays from the tenth to the sixteenth century. Edmund Bonner , Bishop of London (c 1500 - 1569) stopped this in 1542. The oldest liturgical drama in Spain
5576-404: The poem Epithalamium by Catullus , he tells of the gods decorating the home of Peleus with trees, including laurel and cypress. Later Libanius , Tertullian , and Chrysostom speak of the use of evergreen trees to adorn Christian houses. The Vikings and Saxons worshiped trees. The story of Saint Boniface cutting down Donar's Oak illustrates the pagan practices in 8th century among
5658-444: The practice at about that time. An 1853 article on Christmas customs in Pennsylvania defines them as mostly "German in origin", including the Christmas tree, which is "planted in a flower pot filled with earth, and its branches are covered with presents, chiefly of confectionary, for the younger members of the family." The article distinguishes between customs in different states, however, claiming that in New England generally "Christmas
5740-412: The story of a German maid decorating her mistress' tree. Also, a woodcut of the British royal family with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, initially published in The Illustrated London News in December 1848, was copied in the United States at Christmas 1850, in Godey's Lady's Book . Godey's copied it exactly, except for the removal of the Queen's tiara and Prince Albert's moustache, to remake
5822-408: The tapers on a Christmas tree. They had not yet spread down the social scale though, as a report from Berlin in 1858 contrasts the situation there where "Every family has its own" with that of Britain, where Christmas trees were still the preserve of the wealthy or the "romantic". Their use at public entertainments, charity bazaars and in hospitals made them increasingly familiar however, and in 1906
5904-643: The terms are often used interchangeably ) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe . Medieval mystery plays focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches as tableaux with accompanying antiphonal song. They told of subjects such as the Creation, Adam and Eve , the murder of Abel, and the Last Judgment . Often they were performed together in cycles which could last for days. The name derives from mystery used in its sense of miracle , but an occasionally quoted derivation
5986-621: The top of the tree to represent the Angel Gabriel or the Star of Bethlehem , respectively, from the Nativity . Edible items such as gingerbread , chocolate , and other sweets are also popular and are tied to or hung from the tree's branches with ribbons. The Christmas tree has been historically regarded as a custom of the Lutheran Churches and only in 1982 did the Catholic Church erect
6068-659: The tree, tag the tree, and provide a certificate for inspection. The United States' National Christmas Tree has been lit each year since 1923 on the South Lawn of the White House , becoming part of what evolved into a major holiday event at the White House. President Jimmy Carter lit only the crowning star atop the tree in 1979 in honor of the Americans being held hostage in Iran . This
6150-612: The young men "went with a flock of maidens and women, first sang and danced there and then set the tree aflame". After the Protestant Reformation , such trees are seen in the houses of upper-class Protestant families as a counterpart to the Catholic Christmas cribs . This transition from the guild hall to bourgeois family homes in the Protestant parts of Germany ultimately gives rise to the modern tradition as it developed in
6232-579: Was a custom of the ancient Egyptians , Chinese , and Hebrews . Tree worship was common among the pagan Europeans and survived their conversion to Christianity in the Scandinavian customs of decorating the house and barn with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the devil and of setting up a tree for the birds during Christmas time." It is commonly believed that ancient Romans used to decorate their houses with evergreen trees to celebrate Saturnalia , although there are no historical records of that. In
6314-532: Was discontinued on the death of the paper's founder in the late 1980s. In some cities, a charity event called the Festival of Trees is organized, in which multiple trees are decorated and displayed. The giving of Christmas trees has also often been associated with the end of hostilities. After the signing of the Armistice in 1918, the city of Manchester , England, sent a tree, and £500 to buy chocolate and cakes, for
6396-498: Was established in several parts of Europe. Sometimes, each play was performed on a decorated pageant cart that moved about the city to allow different crowds to watch each play. The entire cycle could take up to twenty hours to perform and could be spread over a number of days. Taken as a whole, these are referred to as Corpus Christi cycles . These cycles were often performed during the Feast of Corpus Christi . The plays were performed by
6478-548: Was no more important medium in spreading the Christmas tree in the decade 1850–60 than Godey's Lady's Book ". The image was reprinted in 1860, and by the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had become even more common in America. President Benjamin Harrison and his wife Caroline put up the first White House Christmas tree in 1889. Several cities in the United States with German connections lay claim to that country's first Christmas tree. Windsor Locks, Connecticut , claims that
6560-529: Was repeated in 1980, except the tree was fully lit for 417 seconds, one second for each day the hostages had been in captivity. During most of the 1970s and 1980s, the largest decorated Christmas tree in the world was put up every year on the property of the National Enquirer in Lantana, Florida . This tradition grew into one of the most spectacular and celebrated events in the history of southern Florida, but
6642-479: Was the German army's decision to place Christmas trees in its barracks and military hospitals during the Franco-Prussian War . Only at the start of the 20th century did Christmas trees appear inside churches, this time in a new brightly lit form. Early Slovenian custom, dating back to around the 17th century, was to suspend the tree either upright or upside-down above the well, a corner of the dinner table, in
6724-442: Was traditionally decorated with "roses made of colored paper, apples , wafers , tinsel , [and] sweetmeats ". Moravian Christians began to illuminate Christmas trees with candles, which were often replaced by Christmas lights after the advent of electrification . Today, there is a wide variety of traditional and modern ornaments , such as garlands , baubles , tinsel , and candy canes . An angel or star might be placed at
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