Evergreen fir trees were traditionally used for Christmas trees. They had been used to celebrate Pagan winter festivals for thousands of years, long before the advent of Christianity. Plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people, especially in the winter. In many countries, it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.
During the Middle Ages, the church in Europe observed December 24 as the feast day celebrating the creation of Adam and Eve. “Paradise Plays” were performed to re-enact the creation and fall of mankind. The only prop used for the plays was a fir tree with red apples tied to the limbs that represented the Tree of Knowledge. When the plays were no longer performed the use of the trees in people's homes continued. People either erected them or hung them upside down. According to one source, a Guild in Germany put up a tree decorated with apples, flour-paste wafers, tinsel, and gingerbread as early as 1419.
Sources record devout Christians in Germany bringing decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. According to the writings of Geiler von Kaysersberg in 1521, trees decorated with apples and baked wafers, representing the sign of the redemption, were used in cottages in parts of Germany. Cookies and other baked goods in the form of men, animals, and stars soon replaced the wafers. In 1605 an indoor tree in Strasbourg was recorded, decorated with colorful paper roses, apples, wafers, and other sweets.
Slowly the practice of using the Christ Baum (Christmas tree) spread throughout Germany, then into Austria by 1837, and to other European countries including the British Isles.
New England's first Puritan leaders viewed Christmas celebrations as unholy and strongly discouraged them. The pilgrims' second Governor, William Bradford, wrote that he tried hard to stamp out the “Pagan mockery” of the observance, penalizing any frivolity. In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 a penal offense fining people for hanging decorations. This attitude continued until the influx of German and Irish immigrants in the 1800s undermined the Puritan influence.
The first records of Christmas trees being cut for display come from the 1820s in Pennsylvania’s German community, although trees may have been a tradition there as early as the 1600s. Records show that, while not a cut tree, Moravian Germans in Pennsylvania had a community tree in the form of a wooden pyramid decorated with candles in 1747.
During the 1800s most Americans found Christmas trees an oddity, and as late as the 1840s they were still regarded as pagan symbols by most Americans. In 1846, the popular royals, Queen Victoria and her German Prince Albert were sketched in the Illustrated London News standing with their children around a Christmas tree. Victoria was very popular with her subjects, and what was done at court immediately became fashionable in Britain and with fashion-conscious Americans. The Christmas tree became acceptable and has been sold commercially in the United States since about 1850. Franklin Pierce, the 14th president of the United States, is often credited with bringing the Christmas tree tradition to the White House in the early 1850s. By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the US.
Artificial Christmas trees were introduced in the 1800s. Originally developed in Germany, artificial trees were made from goose feathers which were dyed green. Over the years the trees have evolved and now very realistic-looking trees can be purchased.
Sources: openforchristmas.com; bing.com; Time.com; history. com; “Good Old Day Christmas Annual,” unknown date
