Christmas trees play a vital role in Christmas celebrations. The history of Christmas trees dates back to 1510 (based on written records), when the first decorated Christmas tree was observed at Riga, Latvia. Though there are several stories as to how Christmas trees came into existence, Germany is largely connected with the origin of Christmas trees.
It is said that when some pagans planned to sacrifice a child below an oak tree, Saint Boniface of Germany prevented the act by cutting down the tree. There grown a Fir tree at the base of that oak tree. Boniface declared it as a holy tree of Christ child, with the branches pointing to heaven.
Another story of the 19th century claims Prince Albert as the man behind the Christmas trees. When Queen Victoria and Prince Albert came to England after their marriage, Christmas celebrations were going on. The prince decorated a Fir tree as a part of the celebration. As the English people adored the Queen a lot, they adopted the couple’s custom of decorating Fir trees for Christmas.
Martin Luther is also known to have introduced the custom of decorating the evergreen trees to celebrate Christmas. During the Christmas Eve of the year 1500, when Martin Luther was relaxing along snow-covered woods, he was awe-stricken by the beauty of a group of small evergreens. The branches of the coniferous Fir trees were dusted with snow and shimmered in the moonlight. Once he got back to his home, he set up a little fir tree indoors so that he could narrate this beautiful story with his children. He decorated the tree with glittering candles that were lit in honor of Christ’s birth.
The Evergreen nature symbolizes life’s triumph over death. Staying green throughout the year is a divine quality that manifests immortality. It is believed that Christmas trees have the power to defeat the evil spirits of winter. Bringing the evergreen to one’s home is linked with many superstitions. The most common belief is that when the evergreen Christmas trees are brought home, they bring luck along with them. Christmas trees are symbols indicating the fact that the light of spring will very soon overcome the darkness of winter.
During Christmas, people place the Christmas trees at prominent locations of their home and make decorations with the use of color papers, toys, food and candles. The credit of decorating a Christmas tree for the first time in history goes to the Romans. They decorated the tree using small metal-bits during the winter solstice to honor the sun God. In 1990s, popcorn strings, greeting cards, pictures, cotton (to give snow-effect), candies and glass balls were used in the decoration. Modern day Christmas trees are decorated by a combination of Halloween decor items and Xmas tree decor items.
The Christmas tree is the most important decoration item in Christmas celebrations. Though the other trees go dry during winter, the Christmas tree stays fresh and green, which is a manifestation of its holiness. Long live the Christmas trees that spread divinity inside the homes.
Source
AllAboutJesusChrist.org. (2002). Origin of the Christmas Tree. Retrieved December 20. 2009.
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