Merry Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, Diwali, solstice, and winter! Since my post falls on Christmas day, I thought I’d take a peek at the history of Christmas trees.
Here’s ours. At one point it seemed like we were done decorating, as every branch was already weighted by three ornaments, but we persevered and added more—because we are not quitters.
Somewhere on there is Ol’ Peg Leg, a gingerbread man who looks like his leg has been bitten off. (Why does it look like that? I try not to think about it.) Every year I suggest that maybe that little guy should hobble his way to that big cookie jar in the sky, but every year he hobbles onto the tree instead. This is in the spirit of our Christmas tree tradition of Never Throwing Anything Away–and now for a peek into the origins of the tree tradition itself.
How the Christmas Tree Tradition Started
The Christmas tree tradition started in Germany in the 1500s, when Christians started to decorate trees in their homes. Others created wooden pyramids decorated with evergreen branches as a less expensive version. According to legend, the idea to add candles came from Martin Luther, the father of Protestantism, who was inspired by the beauty of the nighttime stars. Soon people followed his lead, and Luther’s candle idea spread faster than a flame to dead pine needles.
The Tradition Spreads to the U.S.
This site is ending, so I moved this post. Read the rest here & learn about when Christmas was illegal in Massachusetts.
11 responses to “How the Christmas Tree Tradition Took Root”
Great work, Kirstin, and Happy Christmas to you and yours!! (when I emigrated to the UK in the 80s I was shocked to learn that it was almost never ‘Merry’ but ‘Happy’ Christmas here… someone might know the reason why, b/c I don’t!!!) XXAlice
According to all sources (i.e., an internet search), it is believed to be because “happy” took on a higher class connotation than “merry,” which was associated with the rowdiness of the lower class.
I read the same things as Regina! I guess Americans are a rowdy bunch. You are much higher class now, Alice, living in the UK and having a happy Christmas (I say as my five year runs growling like a monster out of the room). Happy Christmas to you! And probably merry Christmas to me.
I so love your tree! Ours looked like that when my children were little, they used to pull up chairs and play with the ornaments! I don’t have a big tree now, just two small ones on the hearth. My daughter and her family live in Sydney so we only see them in calls at Christmas, in fact with Covid and the cost of flights (and living) they haven’t visited since 2018. Maybe next year! Luckily me son and family aren’t too far away so I saw them yesterday when their 7 year old twin boys found that Santa had left a few gifts early! Loved it! Have a lovely Christmas and a happy New Year.
Oh, that sounds very fun! Your grandsons must have been happy. We open presents on Christmas Eve in our family, so there were presents yesterday, and Santa gifts today! Merry Christmas to your family here and in Sidney!
Some ten years back, I abandoned by Christmas tree and boxes of decorations for a pop-up Christmas tree. I customarily have Christmas with my son a few days before Christmas because he, my DIL, and the grandkids pack up to go to Ohio, where the rest of the family resides. No sense in having a big tree just for me. It is about 6 feet tall and has the lights, ribbons, and bulbs already on it. I can put my train beneath it. I add my Austen ornaments, and I am ready to go. After Christmas, I have pack it all up in about 30-40 minutes to place back in the attic. Bah-Humbug, but it works for me.
That sounds lovely, and your grandkids must love the Christmas train. (My children have long said that we NEED a Christmas train, but there is already a lot of Christmas spilling everywhere around the house.) That’s nice that you’re flexible about your day of celebration so that your son can celebrate in Ohio too–and the grandkids must love having two Christmases. Merry Christmas, Regina.
I love seeing how people decorate their trees. Some are quite plain with a definite aesthetic (blue and gold ONLY, for example), while others are exuberant and eclectic. All are wonderful and cheerful, especially in a dark Canadian winter. Happy / Merry Christmas.
I do secretly like those classy, color themed trees, and before we had kids, I made a bit of a stab at it. But maybe classy is never going to happen. I’ll go with your adjectives of “exuberant” and “eclectic.” I like that more than “Dollar Tree” and “I made it myself.”
Merry Christmas, Riana! Hope you and your family are having a happy celebration.
Your tree is beautiful! We have lots of ornaments on our tree too, we just have so many favorites it’s hard to choose!lol We got some British Christmas crackers one year for something different and my nieces and nephews loved them so now we do it every year! They always ask if we got “the crackers”!lol
The crackers sound really fun! What a great idea. Your nieces and nephews must love coming to your place.