What would you have to put your presents under, without a pine scented tree, lighting up the festivities? This Christmas icon can be found in homes, shopping malls, hospitals and offices, spreading the spirit of Christmas with its feeling of warmth, friendliness, generosity and warm fuzzies. However it hasn’t always been like this so where did the Christmas tree originate?
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The origin of the Christmas tree dates back to Roman times. During the Saturnalia winter festival, in honor of Saturn, the God of Agriculture, they decorated trees with small pieces of metal.
During the Middle Ages the ‘Paradise’ trees were decorated with apples, depicting Man’s ‘fall’ in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve succumbed to temptation.
As time went by, in the 1600s, nuts, red ribbons and colored paper were used to decorate the trees, then tinsel was invented in Germany in 1610. Real silver was used initially but as it tarnished quickly, more developments were needed. A mixture of lead and tin was tried but this proved too heavy so silver continued to be used until the mid 20th century when it was replaced by plastic.
In the 1800s the Christmas tree really caught on and in 1841, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, was the first to bring the Christmas tree inside at Windsor Castle. A Christmas scene, with the royal family gathered around the tree, was published in the London Illustrated News of 1848 and this immediately made the indoor Christmas tree popular throughout Victorian England and even into East Coast American society.
The 1900s brought a wane in the popularity of the Christmas tree in Britain after Queen Victoria’s death in 1901, but the 1930s brought a revival with Christmas trees and Christmas cards becoming popular once again. During this time, in 1923, the first national American Christmas tree was lit on the White House lawn by President Calvin Coolidge and since 1966 a tree from the National Christmas Tree Association has been displayed in the Blue Room in the White House.
However, wartime Britain put a stop to festivities again. Perhaps one of the most famous Christmas trees is the one given to the City of Westminster by the people of Norway as a gift, in recognition of the assistance England gave to Norway during World War II. This 70 foot tree has been on display every year in Trafalgar Square, London since 1947.
The United States also has its own famous Christmas trees. Since 1933, the 90 foot high tree in New York’s Rockefeller Center has been set up yearly and now attracts media attention with its lighting event being televised.
The ‚”Nation’s” Christmas tree in General Grant National Park in Sanger, California was given this honor on Christmas Day, 1925. It towers 267 feet in the air, is 107 feet around and is said to be approximately 3,500 years old.
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