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If you are looking for a definition of Christmas tree, follow @jgarner05
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[[File:Johansen Viggo - Radosne Boże Narodzenie.jpg|thumb|330px|''Glade jul'' by [[Viggo Johansen]] (1891)]]
[[File:Christmas tree for sale.jpg|thumb|300px|Christmas trees for sale]]


A '''Christmas tree''' is a decorated tree, usually an [[evergreen]] [[pinophyta|conifer]] such as [[spruce]], or [[pine]] or [[fir]], traditionally associated with the celebration of [[Christmas]]. An [[artificial Christmas tree]] is an object made to resemble such a tree, usually made from [[polyvinyl chloride]] (PVC).

The tree was traditionally decorated with edibles such as apples, nuts or dates. In the 18th century, it began to be illuminated by [[candle]]s, which with [[electrification]] could also be replaced by [[Christmas lights]]. Today, there are a wide variety of [[Christmas ornament|traditional ornaments]], such as [[garland]], [[tinsel]], and [[candy cane]]s. An angel or star may be placed at the top of the tree to represent the host of angels or the [[Star of Bethlehem]] from the [[Nativity of Jesus|Nativity]].


The custom of the Christmas tree developed in [[early Modern history of Germany|early modern Germany]] with predecessors that can be traced to the 16th and possibly the 15th century, in which "devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes".<ref name="History.com">{{cite web |title=History of Christmas Trees |url=http://www.history.com/topics/history-of-christmas-trees |publisher=[[History (TV channel)|History]] |accessdate=15 December 2012 }}</ref> It acquired popularity beyond [[Germany]] during the second half of the 19th century.<ref name="Weber-Kellermann">{{cite book |author=Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann |title=Das Weihnachtsfest. Eine Kultur- und Sozialgeschichte der Weihnachtszeit |language=German|trans_title=Christmas: A cultural and social history of Christmastide |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=D1jgAAAAMAAJ&q=%22aus+Deutschland%22 |publisher=Bucher |year=1978 |isbn=3-7658-0273-5 |page=22 |quote={{lang|de|Man kann als sicher annehmen daß die Luzienbräuche gemeinsam mit dem Weinachtsbaum in Laufe des 19. Jahrhunderts aus Deutschland über die gesellschaftliche Oberschicht der Herrenhöfe nach Schweden gekommen sind.}} ({{lang-en|One can assume with certainty that traditions of lighting, together with the Christmas tree, crossed from the upper classes to the manor houses, from Germany to Sweden in the 19th century.}}) }}</ref> The Christmas tree has also been known as the "[[Yule]]-tree", especially in discussions of its folkloristic origins.<ref>{{cite book |author=Daniel J. Foley |title=The Christmas Tree |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TJTWAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Christmas+tree+is+sometimes+linked%22|publisher=Omnigraphics |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-55888-286-7 |page=45 }}</ref><ref name="Dues">{{cite book |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=daAXccS5DVgC&pg=PA13 |author=Greg Dues |title=Advent and Christmas |publisher=Bayard |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-58595-722-4 |pages=13–15 }}</ref><ref name="Karas">{{cite book |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=B1ngAAAAMAAJ&q=Karas+%22paradise+tree%22 |author=Sheryl Karas |title=The Solstice Evergreen: history, folklore, and origins of the Christmas tree |publisher=Aslan |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-944031-75-9 |pages=103–04 }}</ref>
The custom of the Christmas tree developed in [[early Modern history of Germany|early modern Germany]] with predecessors that can be traced to the 16th and possibly the 15th century, in which "devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes".<ref name="History.com">{{cite web |title=History of Christmas Trees |url=http://www.history.com/topics/history-of-christmas-trees |publisher=[[History (TV channel)|History]] |accessdate=15 December 2012 }}</ref> It acquired popularity beyond [[Germany]] during the second half of the 19th century.<ref name="Weber-Kellermann">{{cite book |author=Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann |title=Das Weihnachtsfest. Eine Kultur- und Sozialgeschichte der Weihnachtszeit |language=German|trans_title=Christmas: A cultural and social history of Christmastide |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=D1jgAAAAMAAJ&q=%22aus+Deutschland%22 |publisher=Bucher |year=1978 |isbn=3-7658-0273-5 |page=22 |quote={{lang|de|Man kann als sicher annehmen daß die Luzienbräuche gemeinsam mit dem Weinachtsbaum in Laufe des 19. Jahrhunderts aus Deutschland über die gesellschaftliche Oberschicht der Herrenhöfe nach Schweden gekommen sind.}} ({{lang-en|One can assume with certainty that traditions of lighting, together with the Christmas tree, crossed from the upper classes to the manor houses, from Germany to Sweden in the 19th century.}}) }}</ref> The Christmas tree has also been known as the "[[Yule]]-tree", especially in discussions of its folkloristic origins.<ref>{{cite book |author=Daniel J. Foley |title=The Christmas Tree |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TJTWAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Christmas+tree+is+sometimes+linked%22|publisher=Omnigraphics |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-55888-286-7 |page=45 }}</ref><ref name="Dues">{{cite book |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=daAXccS5DVgC&pg=PA13 |author=Greg Dues |title=Advent and Christmas |publisher=Bayard |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-58595-722-4 |pages=13–15 }}</ref><ref name="Karas">{{cite book |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=B1ngAAAAMAAJ&q=Karas+%22paradise+tree%22 |author=Sheryl Karas |title=The Solstice Evergreen: history, folklore, and origins of the Christmas tree |publisher=Aslan |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-944031-75-9 |pages=103–04 }}</ref>

Revision as of 20:56, 3 December 2013

If you are looking for a definition of Christmas tree, follow @jgarner05


The custom of the Christmas tree developed in early modern Germany with predecessors that can be traced to the 16th and possibly the 15th century, in which "devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes".[1] It acquired popularity beyond Germany during the second half of the 19th century.[2] The Christmas tree has also been known as the "Yule-tree", especially in discussions of its folkloristic origins.[3][4][5]

History

Possible predecessors

While it is clear that the modern Christmas tree originates in Renaissance and early modern Germany, there are a number of speculative theories as to its ultimate origin. Its 16th-century origins are sometimes associated with Protestant Christian reformer Martin Luther who, according to the TV channel History, "first added lighted candles to a tree."[1][6][7]

It is frequently traced to the symbolism of evergreen trees in pre-Christian winter rites, in particular through the story of Donar's Oak (though the oak tree is obviously not an evergreen) and the popularized story of Saint Boniface and the conversion of the German pagans.[8]

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands to symbolize eternal life was a custom of the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. Tree worship was common among the pagan Europeans and survived their conversion to Christianity in the Scandinavian customs of decorating the house and barn with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the devil and of setting up a tree for the birds during Christmastime."[9]

Alternatively, it is identified with the "tree of paradise" of medieval mystery plays that were given on 24 December, the commemoration and name day of Adam and Eve in various countries. In such plays, a tree decorated with apples (to represent the forbidden fruit) and wafers (to represent the Eucharist and redemption) was used as a setting for the play. Like the Christmas crib, the Paradise tree was later placed in homes. The apples were replaced by round objects such as shiny red balls.[4][5][10][11][12][13]


Poland

There was an old pagan custom of suspending at the ceiling a branch of fir, spruce or pine called Podłaźniczka associated with Koliada. The branches were decorated with apples, nuts, cookies, colored paper, stars made of straw, ribbons and colored wafers. People believed in the tree magical powers linked with harvesting and success in the next year.

Podłaźniczka

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, these traditions were almost completely replaced by the German custom of decorating the Christmas tree.


Customs of erecting decorated trees in wintertime can be traced to Christmas celebrations in Renaissance-era guilds in Northern Germany and Livonia. The first evidence of decorated trees associated with Christmas Day are trees in guildhalls decorated with sweets to be enjoyed by the apprentices and children. In Livonia (present-day Latvia and Estonia), in 1441, 1442, 1510 and 1514, the Brotherhood of Blackheads erected a tree for the holidays in their guild houses in Riga and Reval (now Tallinn). On the last night of the celebrations leading up to the holidays, the tree was taken to the Town Hall Square where the members of the brotherhood danced around it.[14] A Bremen guild chronicle of 1570 reports that a small tree decorated with "apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers" was erected in the guild-house for the benefit of the guild members' children, who collected the dainties on Christmas Day.[2] In 1584, the pastor and chronicler Balthasar Russow in his Chronica der Provinz Lyfflandt (1584) wrote of an established tradition of setting up a decorated spruce at the market square where the young men "went with a flock of maidens and women, first sang and danced there and then set the tree aflame".

After the Protestant Reformation, such trees are seen in the houses of upper-class Protestant families as a counterpart to the Catholic Christmas cribs. This transition from the guild hall to the bourgeois family homes in the Protestant parts of Germany ultimately gives rise to the modern tradition as it developed in the 18th and 19th centuries.

18th to early 20th centuries

Germany

Die Gartenlaube (1871) showing "the German Christmas tree" (Der deutsche Weihnachtsbaum) in a field hospital in Versailles after the Franco-Prussian War.
"A German Christmas" (deutsche Christnacht) in German Cameroon, ca. 1900 (German Federal Archives)

By the early 18th century, the custom had become common in towns of the upper Rhineland, but it had not yet spread to rural areas. Wax candles, expensive items at the time, are found in attestations from the late 18th century.

Along the lower Rhine, an area of Roman Catholic majority, the Christmas tree was largely regarded as a Protestant custom. As a result, it remained confined to the upper Rhineland for a relatively long period of time. The custom did eventually gain wider acceptance, beginning around 1815, by way of Prussian officials who emigrated there following the Congress of Vienna.

In the 19th century, the Christmas tree was taken to be an expression of German culture and of Gemütlichkeit, especially among emigrants overseas.[15]

A decisive factor in winning general popularity was the German army's decision to place Christmas trees in its barracks and military hospitals during the Franco-Prussian War. Only at the start of the 20th century did Christmas trees appear inside churches, this time in a new brightly lit form.[16]

Adoption by European nobility

The Queen's Christmas tree at Windsor Castle published in The Illustrated London News, 1848, and republished in Godey's Lady's Book, Philadelphia in December 1850.

In the early 19th century, the custom became popular among the nobility and spread to royal courts as far as Russia. Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg introduced the Christmas tree to Vienna in 1816, and the custom spread across Austria in the following years. In France, the first Christmas tree was introduced in 1840 by the duchesse d'Orléans. In Denmark a Danish newspaper claims that the first attested Christmas tree was lit in 1808 by countess Wilhemine of Holsteinborg. It was the aging countess who told the story of the first Danish Christmas tree to the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen in 1865. He had published a fairy-tale called The Fir-Tree in 1844, recounting the fate of a fir-tree being used as a Christmas tree.[17]

Britain

Although the tradition of decorating the home with evergreens was long established, the custom of decorating an entire small tree was unknown in Britain until some two centuries ago. At the time of the personal union with Hanover, George III's German-born queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, introduced a Christmas tree at a party she gave for children in 1800.[18] The custom did not at first spread much beyond the royal family.[19] Queen Victoria as a child was familiar with it and a tree was placed in her room every Christmas. In her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, the delighted 13-year-old princess wrote, "After dinner... we then went into the drawing-room near the dining-room... There were two large round tables on which were placed two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments. All the presents being placed round the trees..."[20] After her marriage to her German cousin Prince Albert, by 1841 the custom became even more widespread throughout Britain.[21] In 1842 a newspaper advert for Christmas trees makes clear their fashionable cachet, German origins and association with children and gift-giving.[22] An illustrated book, The Christmas Tree, describing their use and origins in detail, was on sale in December 1844.[23] In 1847, Prince Albert wrote: "I must now seek in the children an echo of what Ernest [his brother] and I were in the old time, of what we felt and thought; and their delight in the Christmas-trees is not less than ours used to be".[24] In 1848[25] The Illustrated London News,[26] in a report picked up by other papers,[27] described the trees in Windsor Castle in detail and showed the main tree, surrounded by the royal family, on its cover. In fewer than ten years their use in better-off homes was widespread. By 1856 a northern provincial newspaper contained an advert alluding casually to them,[28] as well as reporting the accidental death of a woman in Somerset, whose dress caught fire as she lit the tapers on a Christmas tree.[29] They had not yet spread down the social scale however, as a report from Berlin in 1858 contrasts the situation there where "Every family has its own" with that of Britain, where Christmas trees were still the preserve of the wealthy or the "romantic".[30]They were increasingly provided at public entertainments and in hospitals however, and in 1906 a distinct charity was set up to ensure even poor children in London slums 'who had never seen a Christmas tree' would enjoy one that year.[31] Anti-German sentiment after World War I briefly reduced their popularity, [32] but the effect was short-lived.[33] In 1933 a restriction on the importation of foreign trees led to the 'rapid growth of a new industry' as the growing of Christmas trees within Britain became commercially viable due to the size of demand.[34] By 2013 the number of trees grown in Britain for the Christmas market was approximately 8 million.[35]

North America

Illustration for Harper's Bazaar, published 1 January 1870.

The tradition was introduced to Canada in the winter of 1781 by Brunswick soldiers stationed in the Province of Quebec to garrison the colony against American attack. General Friedrich Adolf Riedesel and his wife, the Baroness von Riedesel, held a Christmas party at Sorel, delighting their guests with a fir tree decorated with candles and fruits.[36]

A woodcut of the British Royal family with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, initially published in The Illustrated London News December 1848, was copied in the United States at Christmas 1850, in Godey's Lady's Book. Godey's copied it exactly, except for the removal of the Queen's tiara and Prince Albert's moustache, to remake the engraving into an American scene.[37] The republished Godey's image became the first widely circulated picture of a decorated evergreen Christmas tree in America. Art historian Karal Ann Marling called Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, shorn of their royal trappings, "the first influential American Christmas tree".[38] Folk-culture historian Alfred Lewis Shoemaker states, "In all of America there was no more important medium in spreading the Christmas tree in the decade 1850–60 than Godey's Lady's Book". The image was reprinted in 1860, and by the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had become common in America.[37]

Several cities in the United States with German connections lay claim to that country's first Christmas tree: Windsor Locks, Connecticut, claims that a Hessian soldier put up a Christmas tree in 1777 while imprisoned at the Noden-Reed House, while the "First Christmas Tree in America" is also claimed by Easton, Pennsylvania, where German settlers purportedly erected a Christmas tree in 1816. In his diary, Matthew Zahm of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, recorded the use of a Christmas tree in 1821, leading Lancaster to also lay claim to the first Christmas tree in America.[39] Other accounts credit Charles Follen, a German immigrant to Boston, for being the first to introduce to America the custom of decorating a Christmas tree.[40] August Imgard, a German immigrant living in Wooster, Ohio, is the first to popularise the practice of decorating a tree with candy canes. In 1847, Imgard cut a blue spruce tree from a woods outside town, had the Wooster village tinsmith construct a star, and placed the tree in his house, decorating it with paper ornaments and candy canes. German immigrant Charles Minnegerode accepted a position as a professor of humanities at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1842, where he taught Latin and Greek. Entering into the social life of the Virginia Tidewater, Minnigerode introduced the German custom of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas at the home of law professor St. George Tucker, thereby becoming another of many influences that prompted Americans to adopt the practice at about that time.[41]

The lyrics sung in the United States to the German tune O Tannenbaum begin "O Christmas tree", giving rise to the mistaken idea that the German word Tannenbaum (fir tree) means "Christmas tree", the German word for which is instead Weihnachtsbaum.

Vera Komissarzhevskaya as Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House (c. 1904). Photo by Elena Mrozovskaya.

1918 to present

In Russia, the Christmas tree was banned shortly after the October Revolution but then reinstated as a New-year spruce ([Новогодняя ёлка, Novogodnyaya yolka] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) in 1935. It became a fully secular icon of the New Year holiday, for example, the crowning star was regarded not as a symbol of Bethlehem Star, but as the Red Star. Decorations, such as figurines of airplanes, bicycles, space rockets, cosmonauts, and characters of Russian fairy tales, were produced. This tradition persists after the fall of the USSR, with the New Year holiday outweighing the Christmas (7 January) for a wide majority of Russian people.[42]

The TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) was influential on the pop culture surrounding the Christmas tree. Aluminum Christmas trees were popular during the early 1960s in the US. They were satirized in the Charlie Brown show and came to be seen as symbolizing the commercialization of Christmas. The term Charlie Brown Christmas tree, describing any poor-looking or malformed little tree, also derives from the 1965 TV special, based on the appearance of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.[citation needed]

  • An Italian American family on Christmas 1924
    An Italian American family on Christmas 1924
  • An unsheared Christmas tree from 1951, in a home in New York State.
    An unsheared Christmas tree from 1951, in a home in New York State.
  • A Soviet-era (1960s) New Year tree decoration depicting a cosmonaut
    A Soviet-era (1960s) New Year tree decoration depicting a cosmonaut
  • A makeshift cardboard Christmas tree in Kabul, Afghanistan (2010)
    A makeshift cardboard Christmas tree in Kabul, Afghanistan (2010)
  • A "globalized" Christmas tree in a Hong Kong mall (Kelly Chen 2010)
    A "globalized" Christmas tree in a Hong Kong mall (Kelly Chen 2010)

Public Christmas trees

Since the early 20th century, it has become common in many cities, towns, and department stores to put up public Christmas trees outdoors, such as the Macy's Great Tree in Atlanta (since 1948), the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City, and the large Christmas tree at Victoria Square in Adelaide.

The United States' National Christmas Tree has been lit each year since 1923 on the South Lawn of the White House. Today,[clarification needed] the lighting of the National Christmas Tree is part of what has become a major holiday event at the White House. President Jimmy Carter lit only the crowning star atop the tree in 1979 in honour of the Americans being held hostage in Iran.[43] The same was true in 1980, except that the tree was fully lit for 417 seconds, one second for each day the hostages had been in captivity.[43]

During most of the 1970s and 1980s, the largest decorated Christmas tree in the world was put up every year on the property of the National Enquirer in Lantana, Florida. This tradition grew into one of the most spectacular and celebrated events in the history of southern Florida, but was discontinued on the death of the paper's founder in the late 1980s.[44]

In some cities, a Festival of Trees is organized around the decoration and display of multiple trees as charity events.

The giving of Christmas trees has also often been associated with the end of hostilities. After the signing of the Armistice in 1918 the city of Manchester sent a tree, and £500 to buy chocolate and cakes, for the children of the much-bombarded town of Lille in northern France.[45] In some cases the trees represent special commemorative gifts, such as in Trafalgar Square in London, where the City of Oslo, Norway presents a tree to the people of London as a token of appreciation for the British support of Norwegian resistance during the Second World War; in Boston, where the tree is a gift from the province of Nova Scotia, in thanks for rapid deployment of supplies and rescuers to the 1917 ammunition ship explosion that levelled the city of Halifax; and in Newcastle upon Tyne, where the main civic Christmas tree is an annual gift from the city of Bergen, in thanks for the part played by soldiers from Newcastle in liberating Bergen from Nazi occupation.[46] Norway also annually gifts a Christmas tree to Washington, D.C. as a symbol of friendship between Norway and the US and as an expression of gratitude from Norway for the help received from the US during World War II.[47]

Customs and traditions

Setting up and taking down

A candle on a Christmas tree

Both setting up and taking down a Christmas tree are associated with specific dates. Traditionally, Christmas trees were not brought in and decorated until Christmas Eve (24 December)[citation needed] or, in the traditions celebrating Christmas Eve rather than on the first of day of Christmas, 23 December, and then removed the day after Twelfth Night (5 January); to have a tree up before or after these dates was even considered bad luck.[citation needed]

In many areas, it has become customary to set up one's Christmas tree at the beginning of the Advent season.[48] Some families in the U.S. and Canada will put up a Christmas tree soon after American Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday of November), and Christmas decorations can show up even earlier in retail stores, often the day after Halloween (31 October). Some households do not put up the tree until the second week of December, and leave it up until 6 January (Epiphany). In Germany, traditionally the tree is put up on 24 December and taken down on 7 January, though many start one or two weeks earlier, and in Roman Catholic homes the tree may be kept until February 2 (Candlemas).[why?][citation needed]

In Italy and Argentina, along with many countries in Latin America, the Christmas tree is put up on 8 December (Immaculate Conception day) and left up until 6 January. In Australia, the Christmas tree is usually put up on 1 December, which occurs about a week before the school summer holidays; except for South Australia, where most people put up their tree after the Adelaide Christmas Pageant in late November.[49] Some traditions suggest that Christmas trees may be kept up until no later than 2 February, the feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Candlemas), when the Christmas season effectively closes.[50] Superstitions say that it is a bad sign if Christmas greenery is not removed by Candlemas Eve.[51]

Decoration

Main article: Christmas ornament
A bauble decorating a Christmas tree
A toy bear Christmas decoration.

Tinsel and several types of garland or ribbon are commonly used to decorate a Christmas tree. Silvered saran-based tinsel was introduced later. Delicate mold-blown and painted colored glass Christmas ornaments were a speciality of the glass factories in the Thuringian Forest especially in Lauscha in the late 19th century, and have since become a large industry, complete with famous-name designers. Baubles are another common decoration, consisting of small hollow glass or plastic spheres coated with a thin metallic layer to make them reflective, with a further coating of a thin pigmented polymer in order to provide coloration. Lighting with electric lights (fairy lights) is commonly done. A tree topper, traditionally either an angel or a star, completes the ensemble.

Individuals' decorations typically include a mix of family traditions and personal tastes; even a small unattractive ornament, if passed down from a parent or grandparent, may come to carry considerable emotional value and be given a place of pride on the tree. Conversely, trees decorated by professional designers for department stores and other institutions will usually have a "theme"; a set of predominant colours, multiple instances of each type of ornament, and larger decorations that may be more complicated to set up correctly. Some churches decorate with Chrismon trees, which use handmade ornaments depicting various Chrismon symbols.

Many people also decorate outdoor trees with food that birds and other wildlife will enjoy, such as garlands made from unsalted popcorn or cranberries, orange halves, and seed-covered suet cakes.

Because candles were used to light trees until electric bulbs came about, a mat (UK) or skirt (US) was often placed on the floor below the tree to protect it by catching the dripping candle wax, and also to collect any needles that fell. Even when dripless candles, electric lights and artificial trees have been used, a skirt is still usually used as a decorative feature: among other things, it hides the Christmas tree stand, which may be unsightly but which is an important safety feature of home trees.[52] What began as ordinary cloth has now often become much more ornate, some having embroidery or being put together like a quilt.

A nativity scene, model train, or Christmas village may be placed on the mat or skirt. As Christmas presents arrive, they are generally placed underneath the tree on the tree skirt (depending on tradition, all Christmas gifts, or those too large to be hung on the tree, as in "presents on the tree" of the song "I'll Be Home for Christmas").

Generally, the difference between a mat and skirt is simply that a mat is placed under the Christmas tree stand, while a skirt is placed over it, having a hole in the middle for the trunk, with a slot cut to the outside edge so that it can be placed around the tree (beneath the branches) easily. A plain mat of fabric or plastic may also be placed under the stand and skirt to protect the floor from scratches or water.

A Christmas tree stand is an object designed to support a cut, natural Christmas tree or an artificial Christmas tree. Christmas tree stands appeared as early as 1876 and have had various designs over the years. Those stands designed for natural trees have a water reservoir to hydrate the live tree. Artificial Christmas trees usually have a plastic or metal stand, with three legs shaping like a Y.

In the 1940s and 1950s flocking was very popular on the West Coast of the United States. There were home flocking kits that could be used with vacuum cleaners. In the 1980s some trees were sprayed with fluffy white flocking to simulate snow. Typically it would be sprayed all over the tree from the sides, which produced a look different from real snow, which settles in clumps atop branches. Flocking can be done with a professional sprayer at a tree lot (or an artificial tree's manufacturer), or at home from a spray can. This tradition seems to be most popular on the west coast and southern parts of the United States. Because flock contains flame retardants, a flocked tree can be placed in a public building in accordance with local fire safety codes.

In the late 1800s and, most probably, long before, home-made white Christmas trees were made by wrapping strips of cotton batting around leafless branches creating the appearance of a snow-laden tree. This family tradition eliminated killing and care of a live tree and needle drop in the house while providing a beautiful way of displaying ornaments. After Christmas, the cotton batting was unwrapped and stored with the Christmas presents and the branches were burnt or discarded. It is thought these home-made white trees at least, in part, inspired flocking popularized by Hollywood films in the late 1930s.

Production

See also: Christmas tree production

Each year, 33 to 36 million Christmas trees are produced in America, and 50 to 60 million are produced in Europe. In 1998, there were about 15,000 growers in America (a third of them "choose and cut" farms). In that same year, it was estimated that Americans spent $1.5 billion on Christmas trees.[53]

Father and son with their dog collecting a tree in the forest, painting by Franz Krüger (1797–1857)
Trees on sale at a Christmas market in Vienna, painting by Carl Wenzel Zajicek (1908)
A grower in Waterloo, Nova Scotia, prunes Balsam Fir trees in October. The tree must experience three frosts to stabilize the needles before cutting.

Natural trees

See also: Christmas tree cultivation

The most commonly used species are fir (Abies), which have the benefit of not shedding their needles when they dry out, as well as retaining good foliage colour and scent; but species in other genera are also used.

In northern Europe most commonly used are:

In North America, Central America and South America most commonly used are:

Several other species are used to a lesser extent. Less-traditional conifers are sometimes used, such as Giant Sequoia, Leyland Cypress, Monterey Cypress and Eastern Juniper. Various types of spruce tree are also used for Christmas trees (including the Blue Spruce and, less commonly, the White Spruce); but spruces (unlike firs) begin to lose their needles rapidly upon being cut, and spruce needles are often sharp, making decorating uncomfortable. Virginia Pine is still available on some tree farms in the southeastern United States, however its winter colour is faded. The long-needled Eastern White Pine is also used there, though it is an unpopular Christmas tree in most parts of the country, owing also to its faded winter coloration and limp branches, making decorating difficult with all but the lightest ornaments. Norfolk Island Pine is sometimes used, particularly in Oceania, and in Australia, some species of the genera Casuarina and Allocasuarina are also occasionally used as Christmas trees. But, by far, the most common tree is the Monterey Pine. Adenanthos sericeus or Albany Woolly Bush is commonly sold in southern Australia as a potted living Christmas tree. Hemlock species are generally considered unsuitable as Christmas trees due to their poor needle retention and inability to support the weight of lights and ornaments.

Some trees, frequently referred to as "living Christmas trees", are sold live with roots and soil, often from a plant nursery, to be stored at nurseries in planters or planted later outdoors and enjoyed (and often decorated) for years or decades. Others are produced in a container and sometimes as topiary for a porch or patio. However, when done improperly, the combination of root loss caused by digging, and the indoor environment of high temperature and low humidity is very detrimental to the tree's health; additionally, the warmth of an indoor climate will bring the tree out of its natural winter dormancy, leaving it little protection when put back outside into a cold outdoor climate. Often Christmas trees are a large attraction for living animals, including mice and spiders. Thus, the survival rate of these trees is low.[54] However when done properly, replanting provides higher survival rates.[55]

European tradition prefers the open aspect of naturally grown, unsheared trees, while in North America (outside western areas where trees are often wild-harvested on public lands)[56] there is a preference for close-sheared trees with denser foliage, but less space to hang decorations.

In the past, Christmas trees were often harvested from wild forests, but now almost all are commercially grown on tree farms. Almost all Christmas trees in the United States are grown on Christmas tree farms where they are cut after about ten years of growth and new trees planted. According to the United States Department of Agriculture's agriculture census for 2007, 21,537 farms were producing conifers for the cut Christmas tree market in America, 5,717.09 square kilometres (1,412,724 acres) were planted in Christmas trees.[57]

The life cycle of a Christmas tree from the seed to a 2-metre (7 ft) tree takes, depending on species and treatment in cultivation, between 8 and 12 years. First, the seed is extracted from cones harvested from older trees. These seeds are then usually grown in nurseries and then sold to Christmas tree farms at an age of 3–4 years. The remaining development of the tree greatly depends on the climate, soil quality, as well as the cultivation and how the trees are tended by the Christmas tree farmer.[58]

Artificial trees

Main article: Artificial Christmas tree
Christmas Tree
A lighted artificial Christmas tree with ornaments

The first artificial Christmas trees were developed in Germany during the 19th century,[59][60] though earlier examples exist.[61] These "trees" were made using goose feathers that were dyed green.[59] The German feather trees were one response by Germans to continued deforestation in Germany.[60] Feather Christmas trees ranged widely in size, from a small 2-inch (51 mm) tree to a large 98-inch (2,500 mm) tree sold in department stores during the 1920s.[62] Often, the tree branches were tipped with artificial red berries which acted as candle holders.[63]

Over the years, other styles of artificial Christmas trees have evolved and become popular. In 1930, the U.S.-based Addis Brush Company created the first artificial Christmas tree made from brush bristles.[64] Another type of artificial tree is the aluminum Christmas tree.[60] The trees were manufactured in the United States, first in Chicago in 1958,[65] and later in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where the majority of the trees were produced.[66] Most modern artificial Christmas trees are made from plastic recycled from used packaging materials, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or other plastics.[60] Approximately 10% of artificial Christmas trees are using virgin suspension PVC resin; despite being plastic most artificial trees are not recyclable or biodegradable.[67]

A tree with fibre optic lights

Other gimmicks have developed as well. Optical fiber Christmas trees come in two major varieties; one resembles a traditional Christmas tree.[68] One Dallas-based company offers "holographic mylar" trees in many hues.[61] Tree-shaped objects made from such materials as cardboard,[69] glass,[70] ceramic or other materials can be found in use as tabletop decorations. Upside-down artificial Christmas trees became popular for a short time and were originally introduced as a marketing gimmick; they allowed consumers to get closer to ornaments for sale in retail stores and opened up floor space for more products.[71]

An artificial Christmas tree with toys.

Artificial trees became increasingly popular during the late 20th century.[60] Users of artificial Christmas trees assert that they are more convenient, and, because they are reusable, much cheaper than their natural alternative.[60] They are also considered much safer[72] as natural trees can be a significant fire hazard. Between 2001 and 2007 artificial Christmas tree sales in the U.S. jumped from 7.3 million to 17.4 million.[73]

Environmental issues

The debate about the environmental impact of artificial trees is ongoing. Generally, natural tree growers contend that artificial trees are more environmentally harmful than their natural counterparts.[73] However, trade groups such as the American Christmas Tree Association, continue to refute that artificial trees are more harmful to the environment, and maintain that the PVC used in Christmas trees has excellent recyclable properties.[74]

Christmas tree recycling point (point recyclage de sapins) in Paris, 22 January 2010

Live trees are typically grown as a crop and replanted in rotation after cutting, often providing suitable habitat for wildlife.[citation needed] In some cases management of Christmas tree crops can result in poor habitat since it sometimes involves heavy input of pesticides.[citation needed] Concerns have been raised about people cutting down old and rare conifers, such as the Keteleeria evelyniana, for Christmas trees. Real or cut trees are used only for a short time, but can be recycled and used as mulch or used to prevent erosion.[75] Real trees are carbon-neutral, they emit no more carbon dioxide by being cut down and disposed of than they absorb while growing.[76] An independent life-cycle assessment study, conducted by a firm of experts in sustainable development, states that a natural tree will generate 3.1 kg (6.8 lb) of greenhouse gases every year (based on purchasing 5 km (3.1 miles) from home) whereas the artificial tree will produce 48.3 kg (106 lb) over its lifetime.[77] Some people use living Christmas or potted trees for several seasons, providing a longer life cycle for each tree. Living Christmas trees can be purchased or rented from local market growers. Rentals are picked up after the holidays, while purchased trees can be planted by the owner after use or donated to local tree adoption or urban reforestation services.[78]

Most artificial trees are made of recycled PVC rigid sheets using tin stabilizer in the recent years. In the past, lead was often used as a stabilizer in PVC, but is now banned by Chinese laws.[citation needed] The use of lead stabilizer in Chinese imported trees has been an issue of concern among politicians and scientists over recent years. A 2004 study found that while in general artificial trees pose little health risk from lead contamination, there do exist "worst-case scenarios" where major health risks to young children exist.[79] A 2008 United States Environmental Protection Agency report found that as the PVC in artificial Christmas trees aged it began to degrade.[80] The report determined that of the 50 million artificial trees in the United States approximately 20 million were 9 or more years old, the point where dangerous lead contamination levels are reached.[80] A professional study on the life-cycle assessment of both real and artificial Christmas trees revealed that one must use an artificial Christmas tree at least during 20 years to leave an environmental footprint as small as the natural Christmas tree.[77]

Secular vs. religious nature

Syncretising traditions in Northern Spain, the Bilbao airport displays a Christmas tree and a Santa Claus and Christmas elf alongside the Basque Olentzero, 6 January 2005

The Christmas tree's origins are uncertain, but it is associated with the celebration of the Christmas holidays, so there has been some amount of debate as to whether it should be considered a secular or a religious custom.[clarification needed]

  • It has been rejected as a "pagan" tradition that should not be associated with the Christian religious celebration of Christmas.
  • It has been rejected as a "Christian" tradition that should not be allowed to be endorsed in secular contexts in countries that have a separation of church and state.
  • As a custom arising in Protestant parts of Germany, it has been rejected as a "Protestant" custom in Catholic countries, detracting from the Mediterranean traditions of the Christmas crib.[81]

Pope John Paul II introduced the Christmas tree custom to the Vatican in 1982. Although at first disapproved of by some as out of place at the centre of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican Christmas Tree has become an integral part of the Vatican Christmas celebrations,[81] and in 2005 Pope Benedict XVI spoke of it as part of the normal Christmas decorations in Catholic homes.[82] In 2004, Pope John Paul called the Christmas tree a symbol of Christ. This very ancient custom, he said, exalts the value of life, as in winter what is evergreen becomes a sign of undying life, and it reminds Christians of the "tree of life" of Genesis 2:9, an image of Christ, the supreme gift of God to humanity.[83] In the previous year he said: "Beside the crib, the Christmas tree, with its twinkling lights, reminds us that with the birth of Jesus the tree of life has blossomed anew in the desert of humanity. The crib and the tree: precious symbols, which hand down in time the true meaning of Christmas."[84] The Catholic Church's official Book of Blessings has a service for the blessing of the Christmas tree in a home.[85]

In 2006, the Seattle–Tacoma International Airport removed all of its Christmas trees in the middle of the night rather than allow a rabbi to put up a menorah near the largest tree display.[86] Officials feared that one display would open the door for other religious displays,[86] and, in 2007, they opted to display a grove of birches in polyethylene terephthalate snow rather than religious symbols or Christmas trees.[86] In 2005, the city of Boston renamed the spruce tree used to decorate the Boston Common a "Holiday Tree" rather than a "Christmas Tree".[87] The name change drew a poor response from the public and it was reversed after the city was threatened with several lawsuits.[88]

A Chrismon tree (St. Alban's Anglican Cathedral, Oviedo, Florida)
A Chrismon tree (St. Alban's Anglican Cathedral, Oviedo, Florida)

Chrismon trees are a varition developed in 1957 by a Lutheran laywoman in Virginia, as a specifically religious version appropriate for a church's Christmas celebrations.[89] They are typically decorated with items made from recycled materials.

See also

References

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  2. ^ a b Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann (1978). Das Weihnachtsfest. Eine Kultur- und Sozialgeschichte der Weihnachtszeit (in German). Bucher. p. 22. ISBN 3-7658-0273-5. Man kann als sicher annehmen daß die Luzienbräuche gemeinsam mit dem Weinachtsbaum in Laufe des 19. Jahrhunderts aus Deutschland über die gesellschaftliche Oberschicht der Herrenhöfe nach Schweden gekommen sind. (Template:Lang-en) {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Daniel J. Foley (1999). The Christmas Tree. Omnigraphics. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-55888-286-7.
  4. ^ a b Greg Dues (2008). Advent and Christmas. Bayard. pp. 13–15. ISBN 978-1-58595-722-4.
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  8. ^ The story, not recounted in the vitae written in his time, appears in a BBC Devon website, "Devon Myths and Legends", and in a number of educational storybooks, including St. Boniface and the Little Fir Tree: A Story to Color by Jenny Melmoth and Val Hayward (Warrington: Alfresco Books 1999 ISBN 1-873727-15-1), The Brightest Star of All: Christmas Stories for the Family by Carrie Papa (Abingdon Press 1999 ISBN 978-0-687-64813-9) and "How Saint Boniface Kept Christmas Eve" by Mary Louise Harvey in The American Normal Readers: Fifth Book, 207-22. Silver, Burdett and Co. 1912.
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  13. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica. 2003. The modern Christmas tree ... originated in western Germany. The main prop of a popular medieval play about Adam and Eve was a fir tree hung with apples (paradise tree) representing the Garden of Eden. The Germans set up a paradise tree in their homes on December 24, the religious feast day of Adam and Eve. They hung wafers on it (symbolizing the host, the Christian sign of redemption); in a later tradition, the wafers were replaced by cookies of various shapes. Candles, too, were often added as the symbol of Christ. In the same room, during the Christmas season, was the Christmas pyramid, a triangular construction of wood, with shelves to hold Christmas figurines, decorated with evergreens, candles, and a star. By the 16th century, the Christmas pyramid and paradise tree had merged, becoming the Christmas tree. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. ^ Friedrich Amelung (1885). Geschichte der Revaler Schwarzenhäupter: von ihrem Ursprung an bis auf die Gegenwart: nach den urkundenmäßigen Quellen des Revaler Schwarzenhäupter-Archivs 1, Die erste Blütezeit von 1399–1557. Reval: Wassermann. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ Johannes Marbach (1859). Die heilige Weihnachtszeit nach Bedeutung, Geschichte, Sitten und Symbolen (in German). p. 416. Was ist auch eine deutsche Christenfamilie am Christabend ohne Christbäumchen? Zumal in der Fremde, unter kaltherzigen Engländern und frivolen Franzosen, unter den amerikanischen Indianern und den Papuas von Australien. Entbehren doch die nichtdeutschen Christen neben dem Christbäumchen noch so viele Züge deutscher Gemüthlichkeit. (Template:Lang-en) {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
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  17. ^ At Queen's Lodge, Windsor
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  25. ^ Special Christmas supplement edition, published 23 December 1848
  26. ^ The Times (London, England), 27 December 1848. p. 7
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  28. ^ Manchester Guardian, 24 January 1856, p.3: the death of Caroline Luttrell of Kilve Court, Somerset.
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  32. ^ The next year a charity fair in aid of injured soldiers featured 'a huge Christmas-tree'. 'St. Dunstan's Christmas Fair.' The Times (London, England),20 December 1919, p.9
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