The Christmas Tree – history and tradition

There are many customs associated with Christmas, but maybe none is more widely enjoyed than a decked tree. Christmas trees, genuine or fake, are a universal symbol of the season. However, how did trees come to symbolise Christmas?

How Did The Christmas Tree Tradition Start?

The origin of the modern Christmas tree is uncertain. Trees have been utilised in rituals and as decorations since antiquity however, a lot of people think it came from Germany. According to legend, in 723, the English missionary St. Boniface came across pagans in Germany who were arranging a sacrifice at an oak tree in honour of the deity Thor. Boniface took an axe to the oak and, when their god did not strike him down, the awestruck pagans declared that a nearby evergreen was their “holy tree.” According to other versions, a fir tree grew in the location of the downed oak.

Saint Boniface felling Donar's Oak in Hessen, engraving by Bernhard Rode, 1781 — Saint Boniface felling Donar’s Oak in Hessen, engraving by Bernhard Rode, 1781

Paradise Trees

Tree decorations symbolising apples and wafers

Whether or not the story is genuine, evergreen trees were included into Christian rituals in Germany, and “paradise trees” started to show up there in the Middle Ages. On December 24, the religious celebration day of Adam and Eve, these evergreen trees were put on display in homes as a representation of the Garden of Eden. These trees, or sometimes branches, were adorned with red decorations for apples and white decorations to symbolise wafers. Paradise trees changed into Christmas trees as additional ornaments were added; Martin Luther is said to have put lit candles on a tree for the first time in the 16th century. Christmas trees had become a firmly established custom in Germany by the 19th century.

Tree Imports

Some Germans sent Christmas trees to other nations, particularly England. There, in the 1790s, Charlotte, King George III’s wife of German descent, had Christmas trees adorned and decorated. However, the ritual was made famous among the British by the German-born Prince Albert and his wife, Queen Victoria of Britain. The couple made Christmas trees a big feature of their celebrations. In 1848, a London newspaper published an illustration of the royal family gathered around a festive tree. Christmas trees quickly spread throughout English homes.

An illustration from a December 1848 edition of the Illustrated London News shows Queen Victoria and her family surrounding a Christmas tree.

An influential American magazine, called Godey’s Lady’s Book, published the 1848 illustration of the British royal family in 1850 but changed it to make the family appear American. This was achieved by removing the Queen’s crown and the Prince’s moustache. The picture greatly contributed to the growth of the Christmas tree’s appeal. By the 1870s, Christmas trees were widely used in the United States thanks to efforts like these.

Christmas Trees In America

Christmas trees were also brought to America by German immigrants, though the tradition took some time to catch on. Due to the holiday’s paganism, many Puritans disapproved of it, and the Massachusetts Bay Colony actually forbade the celebration of Christmas. They felt so strongly against the holiday that they even chose to close their churches on December 25th. Christmas didn’t start to become popular in America until the 1820s, and the first Christmas tree is said to have been put up in the 1830s.

An artificial Christmas tree in a home setting

Artificial Christmas trees

Real Christmas trees became popular all over the world, but the custom started to harm forests, particularly in Germany. Germans started producing fake goose-feather trees as a result in the 1880s. The feathers were eventually swapped for other materials when the tree ideas travelled to various nations.

A significant advance happened in the 1930s. It was claimed that a maker of toilet bowl brushes utilised leftover product to make an artificial tree. Despite growing in popularity, these bristle trees were eventually replaced by aluminium and subsequently plastic variants. 84 percent of Christmas trees displayed by families in the United States in 2021 were artificial, while only 16 percent were live trees, according to data from the American Christmas Tree Association.