History of the Christmas Tree

The Christmas tree and its leaves have been traditional for many years, even dating back to the ancient Egyptians. There are many stories of how it was started, also explaining our traditional Christmas colors: red and green.

The ancient Egyptians are said to have brought evergreen leaves on the night of December 21st to the sun god. It was the shortest day of the year which brought less sunshine, so they would bring the leaves to their sun god hoping to make him well. They believed that the evergreen had small powers that would help in certain situations, they would even hang the leaves on their doors thinking that it would keep demons and other spirits away from their home.

In Germany it was started in the mid 700's. At that time the Evergreen trees represented life, preferably the life of Jesus Christ. This helped in the naming of the tree. The tree was first known as the "Christ Tree", that name transferred into Christmas tree and from that the holiday itself was called Christmas.

It was also in Germany that a middle aged monk named Martin Luther, in the year of 1510, was walking in a forests on his way home when he stopped to look up and see the stars twinkling through the branches of a Fir tree. Amazed by what he saw Martin cut down a small Fir tree and set it up in a room at his house. He then fixed some candles to the branches and lit them to show his family what he had seen in the forest. It is said that he used the triangular shape of the Fir tree to represent the Holy Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The Christmas tree was introduced in England around 1841 when Queen Victoria married Prince Albert who was a German. After this many Germans moved to England and with them carried the decorating tradition of Christmas. The English became influenced by this and slowly began to celebrate it themselves. Prince Albert also set up a Christmas tree to remind him of his homeland. That was the first time a Christmas tree was recorded in England.

The colors of Christmas are a very different story, however. In the fourteenth century on December 24th plays would be put on at churches all over about Adam and Eve. Unfortunately, there was a problem for every director that existed. It was very hard to find a green tree that was growing during the winter. The problem was solved when they decided to start using Fir trees and tie red apples to them, the colors of the tree being red (the apples) and green (the leaves of the tree). Thus this is where we get our traditional Christmas colors from.

Another tradition, one that is over a thousand years old, is the tradition of "Bringing the Yule Log in". When you or another family bring home a Christmas tree from a lot you are following this tradition. The tradition that started in Great Britain and, after spreading throughout Europe, reached North America. On the Eve of Christmas the entire family would pull in a large central trunk of a tree into the house. There it was burned for the 12 days of Christmas. As the Yule log spread it developed many names and customs. In Ireland, it was called "bloc na Nodleg", or Christmas block. In Spain children ran around and followed it as it was being carried into the village, beating it with sticks to drive out the evil spirits. In the Balkan areas of Europe, women decorated the log with red silk, gold wire, needles, and flowers before putting it in the fire.

Candles or electric lights are used to decorate our trees today, they are also an ancient symbol. They represent the light of spring triumphing over the darkness of winter. There are many more Christmas traditions, families of all kinds come up with new ones every year; and so our traditions continue on and are remembered. Some are known and others unknown, but still remembered as a Christmas tradition.