Where did we get the tradition of the Christmas tree?

Question

....at christmas. what does it really symbolize aside from incurring expenses for the tree and the decorations not to mention the gifts you put under the tree.............?

Answer 1

The Christmas tree is often explained as a Christianization of the ancient pagan idea that the evergreen tree represents a celebration of the renewal of life. The phrase "Christmas tree" is first recorded in 1835 and represents the importation of a tradition from Germany, where such trees became popular in the late 18th century.[28] Christmas trees may be decorated with lights and ornaments. Since the 19th century, the poinsettia has been associated with Christmas. Other popular holiday plants include holly, mistletoe, red amaryllis, and Christmas cactus.

Along with a Christmas Tree, the interior of a home may be decorated with garlands and evergreen foliage, particularly holly and mistletoe. In Australia, North and South America, and to a lesser extent Europe, it is traditional to decorate the outside of houses with lights and sometimes with illuminated sleighs, snowmen, and other Christmas figures.

Municipalities often sponsor decorations as well. Christmas banners may be hung from street lights and Christmas trees placed in the town square.

In the Western world, rolls of brightly-colored paper with secular or religious Christmas motifs are manufactured for the purpose of wrapping gifts.

Although Christmas decorations, such as a tree, are considered secular in many parts of the world, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia bans such displays as symbols of Christianity.

Some Christians also reject the christmas tree as a Christian symbol, seeing it as an "idol" that distracts a person from the true worship of God.

Answer 2

In the Uk the decorated christmas tree tradition was said to be started by Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert who bought the idea over from Germany

Answer 3

the Christmas tree was originally a pagan tradition . all the traditions that don't seem to fit the Christian holidays r typically pagan oriented. easter bunny, yule log, Christmas tree, easter eggs, etc...

Answer 4

It was a throwback of the "Yggdrasil."
Germany
In 1776 - 1800 Americans came into using the indoor tree.

Answer 5

it originally came from pagan beliefs. They would find the biggest tree and light it on fire so it would keep them warm through the winter(Yule log). Christians adopted the tradition to help convert the pagans to Christianity.

Answer 6

Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.

In the Northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21 or December 22 and is called the winter solstice. Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak. They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return.

The ancient Egyptians worshipped a god called Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown. At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from the illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palm rushes which symbolized for them the triumph of life over death.

Early Romans marked the solstice with a feast called the Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the solstice meant that soon farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs.In Northern Europe the mysterious Druids, the priests of the ancient Celts, also decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life. The fierce Vikings in Scandinavia thought that evergreens were the special plant of the sun god, Balder.

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. Walking toward his home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens. To recapture the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lighted candles.

Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier. The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.

It is not surprising that, like many other festive Christmas customs, the tree was adopted so late in America. To the New England Puritans, Christmas was sacred. The pilgrims's second governor, William Bradford, wrote that he tried hard to stamp out "pagan mockery" of the observance, penalizing any frivolity. The influential Oliver Cromwell preached against "the heathen traditions" of Christmas carols, decorated trees, and any joyful expression that desecrated "that sacred event." In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 (other than a church service) a penal offense; people were fined for hanging decorations. That stern solemnity continued until the 19th century, when the influx of German and Irish immigrants undermined the Puritan legacy.

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. Unlike the previous royal family, Victoria was very popular with her subjects, and what was done at court immediately became fashionable—not only in Britain, but with fashion-conscious East Coast American Society. The Christmas tree had arrived.

By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to reach from floor to ceiling.

The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments, while the German-American sect continued to use apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies. Popcorn joined in after being dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts. Electricity brought about Christmas lights, making it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days on end. With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country and having a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.

Answer 7

"There are numerous quaint and charming tales regarding the origin of the Christmas tree tradition but in actuality, this custom has nothing at all to do with the birth or life of Jesus Christ. Since ancient times, evergreen trees have been revered as a representation of fertility, sexual potency and reproduction. For centuries, evergreens have played an important role in Winter celebrations. Carried into homes and adorned with apples and other fruits, they were set up as symbolic idols. Such decorations were intended as food offerings to the tree and may be where the modern custom of placing gifts beneath the Christmas tree originated. According to some sources, the Christmas tree is actually a throwback to "Yggdrasil," the Great Tree of Life mentioned in Norse mythology.
Many pagan festivals used trees to honor their gods and spirits. In Northern Europe the Vikings considered the evergreen as symbol and a reminder that the darkness and cold of Winter would end and the green of Spring would return. The Druids of ancient England and France decorated oak trees with fruit and candles in honor of their gods at harvest time. For the Saturnalia ceremonies, Romans would decorate their trees with trinkets, candles and small pieces of metal.

The modern custom of an indoor Christmas tree is thought to have originated in Germany. German Christians would bring trees into their homes to decorate. In some areas where evergreen trees were scarce, the families would build a Christmas pyramid...a simple wooden structure which would then be adorned with branches and candles.

It is difficult to pinpoint the date that Christmas trees were first decorated in America. Some believe the tradition may have begun with the Moravians of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, who decorated trees in the very early 1800s. Another theory is that the first American Christmas tree was set up by Hessian soldiers at Trenton, New Jersey, in 1776. Certainly by the early 1800s, there were many decorated trees to be found throughout the United States but the term "Christmas tree" did come into common use until 1830.

The tradition of a Christmas tree spread across America during the 1800s with the arrival of German immigrants. One of the first public displays of a Christmas tree was set up by German settlers in Pennsylvania at a time when many people still considered the tree to be a symbol of pagans. The Germans would bake fancy ornaments for their trees and then consume the decorations when the trees were taken down. After Christmas, these frugal people wouls strip the needles and then wrap the branches in cotton to extend the life of the tree for several Christmases to come. Fruits, nuts, flowers and lighted candles also adorned the first American Christmas trees, but only the strongest could support such a weight without drooping. Thus, German glassblowers began producing lightweight glass balls to replace heavier, natural decorations. These lights and decorations were representations of the joy and light of Christmas, with the star atop the tree symbolic of the "Star in the East."

In England, royalty helped to popularize the notion of a Christmas tree by decorating the first at Windsor Castle in 1841. Prince Albert, husband and Consort of Queen Victoria, adorned this first English Christmas tree with candles, candies, fruits and gingerbread. Already a popular tradition in Germany...the country of Albert's birth...the Prince Consort suggested the idea as a reminder of his homeland. Ever ready to comply with her beloved husband's desires, Queen Victoria readily agreed. Although generally adverse to anything German in origin, the public held their Queen in such high regard that they had soon adopted the custom for themselves.

The first written record of a Christmas tree is that of an anonymous Frenchman who was a visitor to Strasbourg, Germany, in 1601. He describes a Fir tree he had seen in a home upon which had been hung: "wafers and golden sugar-twists (Barley sugar), roses cut out of many-colored paper, apples, gold foil and sweets."

Answer 8

i know! I mean Jesus wasn't born under a tree! Y don't we have like little sheds with presents instead of trees?