Christmas Trees,
Before There Was A Christmas

What today we call Christmas trees, have a history that go back to well before the birth of Christ. Pre-Christian pagans revered evergreens, and believed that they represented deity and were therefore magical.

Evergreens, because they are still vibrant and green, when all other vegetation has turned brown and withered away, represented everlasting life and hope for the return of Spring.

Later, Romans celebrating Saturnalia, brought evergreens indoors and decorated them in honor of their god Saturn - the deity of agriculture. This Roman celebration also featured the exchange of gifts, and the lighting and giving of lamps to symbolize prosperity and triumph of life over death.

Celtic pagans revered the holly and the mistletoe for similar reasons. Mistletoe also was symbolic of healing and health as well as eternal life. Evergreen boughs were believed to keep out evil spirits, and so were hung in windows and over doors during the dark days of winter.

The First Real Christmas Tree

When he returned home, he brought in a small fir tree, placed candles on its branches, and thus the first Christmas tree was born. He explained that its triangular shape represented the members of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. The candles represented not only the beauty of the stars in the heavens, which God had made, but also Christ as Bringer of Light to the world.

This custom spread throughout Germany, and from there to the rest of Europe, Britain, and eventually to the new world.

By the middle of the 16th century, Christmas markets had sprung up all over Germany, selling Christmas trees, decorations, foods and other goodies to celebrate the holiday season. These markets were called "Christkindlemarkts" - Christ Child Markets.

Christmas Banned, Then Reinstated

By the early part of the 18th century, these laws had been overturned in England, but in the United States they were still in effect in Ohio and the New England states until the 1850's.

Though it is commonly believed that Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert introduced the first Christmas tree to England, this is a fallacy. In truth, the first decorated Christmas tree in England was the creation of Queen Consort Charlotte, wife of King George III, in 1761.

The custom did not take on, however, until the Illustrated London News published its famous illustration of Albert, Victoria and their children around their Christmas tree in 1846. After this, the idea of a holiday tree became wide-spread throughout Britain in a very short time.

The first Christmas tree market in the US was opened in December of 1851, in New York. In 1860, the popular Godey's Lady's Book published the Victoria-Albert illustration in the United States, and the custom of a decorated holiday tree spread across America as well.

The Christmas tree idea had seemed to spread slowly in the States prior to Godey's publication of the Queen and Prince, though. In 1880, Frank Woolworth reluctantly had purchased a case of Christmas ornaments, and was surprised when they all sold within the first day.

Also developed in 1880, and again in Germany, were the first feather trees. These were made of dyed goose feathers inserted into sticks, which were in turn attached to a central dowel. They were wonderful for showing off the expensive German glass ornaments, and became very popular in Europe and Britain. It was not long before the Americans had them as well.

The first commercial sale of feather trees in the United States was through the 1913 Sears & Roebuck catalog. By now, feather trees could also be found in white, with glitter added to the edges of the feathers to simulate sparkling snow. By then one in every five American families erected a Christmas tree of one sort or another for the holidays.

20th Century Christmas Trees

The farmed trees were in many ways preferable to wild ones. They were more uniform in appearance, and often more healthy, meaning they would keep their needles longer than wild trees would. They often had better color than wild trees would as well, because they could be cared for and did not depend on nature to keep them watered and fertilized.

During the 1930's, the Addis Brush Company developed the first of what were called 'Bottle Brush Trees'. They used the machinery with which they made toilet brushes. The individual brushes were dyed green and wired around a central pole to create the trees. They came in many sizes, from tiny table-top trees, to full sized.

Many Christmas ornaments were now coming from Japan and being manufactured in the United States. German exports had been all but stopped after World War I, and someone had to fill the gap. Occupied Japan sent many many decorations over to the United States and Britain during these years. They were relatively inexpensive compared to European imports, and they were just as beautiful.

During World War II, it was forbidden to cut trees in Britain. Also, most families preferred to safely stow away their precious Christmas decorations because of all the bombing. Public trees were still erected, though, as a way to bolster the morale of the British people during this dangerous and frightening time.

After the war, the Christmas season was celebrated with as much if not more exuberance than ever before. A nostalgic return to Victorian style decoration, as well as an interest in fantasy developed. Fairies, elves and Santas were in, as were reproductions of the old German and Victorian era ornaments.

In the 1950's, "Silver Pine" trees, made of aluminum-coated paper were marketed. Unfortunately, these trees readily caught fire if string lights were added - candles were a definite "no go!" These trees were made to be lit by a spot-light, placed away from the tree. These had rotating color wheels to cast a colored glow on the shining branches.

Between the 1960's and the turn of the 21st century, artificial Christmas trees became more and more popular. They began as simple wooden and plastic creations, and have evolved over the past few decades into some wonderful holiday decorations.

21st Century Christmas Trees

In America, the balsam fir is by far the most popular. It has a wonderful scent, stronger than in most other species of cut trees. The short needles and dark green color are perfect for the holidays. The branches are well-spaced, and it is a small to medium sized tree, perfect for most homes.

The Fraser fir, native to the Appalachian mountain area of the United States, is the next most popular for Christmas trees in the states. It is closely related to the balsam fir, though less scented. It is very dense when young, but as it gets older, the branches tend to open up more.

Several types of trees command a much smaller share of the commercial Christmas tree market in the US. Among these are the Stone Pine, a small, round-topped tree sold primarily for display on a table. The Blue Spruce is of typical Christmas tree shape, and has a good scent, but its needles are very sharp, and thus not many people use them. Eastern white, Norfolk, and Virginia pines are quite popular in their native areas.

In Europe, the preferred species is the Silver Fir (reportedly the species brought home by Martin Luther). The Nordmann Fir, with its flat and usually blunt needles is also quite popular. It has a brilliant green color, with streaks of blue on the needles. Finally, the Norway Spruce is a very open tree, with elegantly drooping branches and short needles. It is very tall, but due to the abundance of this species, it is also among the least expensive.

Each year, for various reasons, artificial Christmas trees become more popular. They are great for people who are allergic to trees, and they rarely lose needles! These trees can look as real as the ones cut and taken off the lot, and the never need to be watered. Artificial Christmas trees are the most convenient, especially for people who have little time to actually take care of a living tree.

There are many sizes and styles of artificial trees, and they are made now to resemble many different 'species' as well. In the United States, we tend to have our Christmas trees up much longer than our European counterparts, and real trees could hardly be expected to survive being up from Thanksgiving weekend through at least January 6. With an artificial tree, this isn't even a consideration.

The new artificial Christmas trees, even the 'silver' ones, are much less fire prone, and can now be used safely with strings of lights. They are also built better, to withstand a little more abuse than older artificial trees were, and don't mind being jostled a bit as the holiday progresses.

Nowadays, one can even find pre-lit Christmas trees in the stores, as well as pre-decorated ones. Of the pre-lit variety, there are two kinds. Some of them have strings of lights wound round the branches, and the branches simply fold down and get fluffed a little - and voila! - they are done!! The other type of pre-lit artificial Christmas tree is fiber-optic. The light is in the base. A color wheel rotates above it, and the tree sparkles in different color lights.

These are all great benefits now that most people have more than one Christmas tree in their homes during the holidays. With little care needed once they are up and decorated, one could have a tree in every room, and still have time to sit back and enjoy the season! And, for those who wish to do this but are too pressed for time, there are even pre-decorated trees which can be purchased. Simply take out of the box, unfold and you're done! What could be better than that?!

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