How Did The Christmas Tree Tradition Start
It is claimed that in germany about 723 the english missionary st.
How did the christmas tree tradition start. The victorian tree was decorated with toys and small gifts candles candies popcorn strings and fancy cakes hung from the branches by ribbons and. The copywriter wrote a poem about the reindeer to help lure customers into the montgomery ward. May s imagination in 1939. Introduced into england in the early 19th century the christmas tree was popularized in the mid 19th century by german born prince albert husband of queen victoria.
The custom was widespread among the german lutherans by the 18th century but it was not until the following century that the christmas tree became a deep rooted german tradition. 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 originating in northern europe. An old babylonish fable told of an evergreen tree which sprang out of a dead tree stump. Rudolph the most famous reindeer of all was the product of robert l.
The tradition of christmas trees and thus christmas tree history takes its roots from long before christianity was introduced and is closely connected with the celebration of the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere which usually takes place on the 21st of december. Trees have been used in rituals and as decorations since ancient times thus making the source of the modern christmas tree open to debate. The custom was developed in medieval livonia present day estonia and latvia and in early modern germany where protestant germans brought decorated trees into their homes. The christmas tree tradition was adopted by central european nobility in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
The annual ceremony continues today and the tree a blue spruce grown in virginia is now planted on the north side of the ellipse at the white house. But the germans got it from the romans who got it from the babylonians and the egyptians. The modern christmas tree originated in germany. However many believe that it originated in germany.
While a lot of ancient cultures used evergreens around christmas time historical records suggest that the christmas tree tradition was started in the 16th century by germans who decorated fir. In 1800 george iii s german wife charlotte of mecklenburg strelitz introduced a christmas tree at a party she gave for children.