who was the first person to put lights ona christmas tree?

Answer 1

It's believed that it was Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) in the 16th century. He was charmed by the stars twinkling in the sky on a snowy evening, and put candles on the boughs of the tree in his home to recreate the effect for his children. There are variations to this lovely story; I append some sites for you to look at:

http://www.christmasarchives.com/legends.html
http://www.christmasarchives.com/trees.html
http://www.firstchristmastree.com/
http://www.theholidayspot.com/christmas/history/xmas_tree.htm

Answer 2

The first known electrically illuminated Christmas tree was the creation of Edward H. Johnson, an associate of inventor Thomas Edison. While he was vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company, a predecessor of today's Con Edison electric utility, he had Christmas tree light bulbs especially made for him. He proudly displayed his Christmas tree, which was hand-wired with 80 red, white and blue electric incandescent light bulbs the size of walnuts, on December 22, 1882 at his home on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

Answer 3

No one knows for sure--putting candles on Christmas trees was part of a German pagan tradition. It's another one of those traditions that the Catholic church incorporated into the church, like Easter Eggs. The tradition first came to the United States with pictures of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert, a German prince. They were lighting their Christmas tree, in accordance with his country's traditions, and the Americans were mad for anything Victoria did, so it was immediately adopted here.