Christmas Tree Traditions
The decorated Christmas tree can be traced back to the ancient
Romans who during their winter festival decorated trees with small
pieces of metal during Saturnalia, a winter festival in honor
of Saturnus, the god of agriculture.
An evergreen, the Paradise tree, was decorated with apples as
a symbol of the feast of Adam and Eve held on December 24th during
the middle ages.
Christmas trees were sold in Alsace in 1531. Alsace was at that
time a part of Germany. Today it is part of France. The trees
were sold at local markets and set up in homes undecorated.
In the Ammerschweier in Alsace there was an ordinance that stated
no person "shall have for Christmas more than one bush of
more than eight shoe lengths."
Sixteenth century folklore credited Martin Luther as being the
first to decorate an indoor tree. After a walk through a forest
of evergreens with shining stars overhead, Luther tried to describe
the experience to his family and showed them by bringing a tree
into their home and decorating it with candles. Some historians
state that the first evidence of a lighted tree appeared more
than a century after Martin Luther's death in 1546.
The oldest record of a decorated Christmas tree came from a
1605 diary found in Strasburg, France (Germany in 1605). The tree
was decorated with paper roses, apples and candies.
In Austria & Germany during the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, the tops of evergreens were cut and hung upside down
in a living room corner. They were decorated with apples, nuts
and strips of red paper.
The first record of Christmas trees in America was for children
in the German Moravian Church's settlement in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,
Christmas 1747. Actual trees were not decorated, but wooden pyramids
covered with evergreen branches were decorated with candles.
The custom of the Christmas tree was introduced in the United
States during the War of Independence by Hessian troops. An early
account tells of a Christmas tree set up by American soldiers
at Fort Dearborn, Illinois, the site of Chicago, in 1804. Most
other early accounts in the United States were among the German
settlers in eastern Pennsylvania.
In 1834, Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, was credited
with bringing the first Christmas tree to Windsor Castle for the
Royal Family. Some historians state that in actuality Queen Charlotte,
Victoria's grandmother, recalled that a Christmas tree was in
the Queen's lodge at Windsor on Christmas Day in 1800.
Charles Minnegrode introduced the custom of decorating trees
in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1842.
By 1850, the Christmas tree had become fashionable in the eastern
states. Until this time, it had been considered a quaint foreign
custom.
Mark Carr brought trees from the Catskills to the streets of
New York in 1851, and opened the first retail Christmas tree lot
in the United States.
Franklin Pierce was the first president to introduce the Christmas
tree to the White House in 1856 for a group of Washington Sunday
School children. The first national Christmas Tree was lighted
in the year 1923 on the White House lawn by President Calvin Coolidge.
Christmas
Trees at the White House
A tree from the National Christmas Tree Association has been displayed
in the Blue Room of the White House since 1966.
Christmas Tree Traditions
Around the World
Learn about Christmas tree traditions outside the United States.
An
American Christmas Decade by Decade
Follow the story of how we came to celebrate Christmas as a National
Holiday.
Legends
of Christmas
Stories of how caroling, candy canes, gift giving, poinsettias
and other customs became part of Christmas traditions.
Origins
of Other Christmas Traditions
Check out the origins of other Christmas traditions.
The
Chronological History of the Christmas Tree
Follow the history of the Christmas tree through the centuries.
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