Who Started The Tradition Of The Christmas Tree

She was born in germany and after coming to england started to decorate yew branches for every christmas so her family could enjoy this tradition too.

Who started the tradition of the christmas tree. Trees have been used in rituals and as decorations since ancient times thus making the source of the modern christmas tree open to debate. Boniface took an ax to the tree and when not struck down by their god he proclaimed to. Sales of the conifers started in the 1850s the same decade the german cultural tradition of yuletide pines soared in popularity in the u s. One of the best examples could be a story of queen charlotte who was the wife of king george iii and the grandmother of queen victoria.

However many believe that it originated in germany. One inspiration was a lithograph depicting queen victoria s tree published in godey s lady s book. 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 1923 president calvin coolidge started the white house s national christmas tree lighting tradition with a 48 foot balsam fir brought to washington d c from vermont.

Taft s children in 1912. 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. It s believed that the first christmas tree in the blue room was put up by president william h. Let s look at the meaning behind the evergreen christmas tree.

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. It wasn t always so easy to procure a tree in new york city. Their parents were in panama at the time so they tucked it away there as a surprise for their seven young cousins who were visiting for the holiday. When queen victoria of england married prince albert of germany he brought the tradition of the christmas tree to england and americans copied the tradition because at the time they were fascinated.

It is claimed that in germany about 723 the english missionary st. Boniface encountered pagans preparing a sacrifice at an oak tree dedicated to the god thor donar. 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.