Where did the traditionn of the christmas tree come from?

Question

i heard that it was a pagan tradition.

i just thought it was interesting when i started to think about it...
who had the grand idea of putting a pine tree in their livingroom and decorating it with strands of popcorn and dried cranberries and multicolored lights, and put a star at the top?

does it symbolize or stand for anything? what's the reason behind it?

Answer 1

Like any age old tradition, it seems that this began as many different traditions. According to wikipedia the traditional of a Christmas tree can be traced back to 16th century Germany. Church records show that Saint Boniface used the tree as a symbol to convert people to Christianity.

Also in wikipedia
Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann (Marburg professor of European ethnology) found a Bremen guild chronicle of 1570 which reports how a small fir was decorated with apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers, and erected in the guild-house, for the benefit of the guild members' children, who collected the dainties on Christmas day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_tree