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Tree from 1900.]] A Christmas tree, '''Yule tree''' or '''''Tannenbaum''''' (German: ''fir tree'') is one of the most popular Tradition s associated with the celebration of Christmas . It is normally an Evergreen Coniferous Tree that is brought into a home or used in the open, and is decorated with ''' Christmas Lights ''' and colorful Ornaments during the days around Christmas. An angel or star is often placed at the top of the tree, representing the host of angels or the Star of Bethlehem from the Nativity story. HISTORY With likely origins in European pre-Christian cultures, the Christmas tree has gained an extensive history and become a common sight during the winter season in numerous cultures. from the Ockelbo Runestone , Sweden .]] Germanic tribes Patron trees (for example, the Irminsul , Thor's Oak and the figurative Yggdrasil ) held special significance for the ancient Germanic Tribes , appearing throughout historic accounts as sacred symbols and objects. According to Adam Of Bremen , in Scandinavia the Germanic Pagan kings sacrificed nine males (the number nine is a Significant Number In Norse Mythology ) of each species at the Sacred Grove s every ninth year.Tshan, Francis J. Adam of Breman According to Church records, Saint Boniface (who, also according to Church records, had felled he Thor's Oak) attempted to introduce Christianize the indigenous Germanic tribes by introducing the notion of Trinity by using the cone-shaped evergreen trees because of their triangular appearance.1 in his Triumphant Return; behind the god, Victoria holds an evergreen.]] Rome Roman Mosaic s from what is today Tunisia , showing the mythic triumphant return from India of the Greek god of Wine and male Fertility , Dionysus (dubbed by some modern scholars as a Life-death-rebirth Deity ), the god carries a tapering coniferous tree. Medieval Medieval legends tended to concentrate more on the miraculous "flowering" of trees at Christmas time. A branch of flowering Glastonbury Thorn is still sent annually for the Queen's Christmas table in the United Kingdom . Modern The modern custom cannot be proved to be directly descended from pagan tradition. It can, however, be traced to 16th century Germany ; Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann ( Marburg professor of European Ethnology ) identified as the earliest reference 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. Another early reference is from Basel , where the tailor apprentices carried around town a tree decorated with apples and cheese in 1597. The city of Riga, Latvia , claims to be home of the first holiday tree; an octagonal plaque in the town square reads "The First New Year's Tree in Riga in 1510", in eight languages. Around this same time period, and subject to much debate as to whether the event occurred before the Riga holiday tree, Martin Luther is said to have decorated a small tree in house to symbolize the way the stars shined at night. During the 17th century, the custom entered family homes. One Strasbourg priest, Johann Konrad Dannerhauer, complains about the custom as distracting from the Word Of God . By the early 18th century, the custom had become common in towns of the upper Rhineland , but it had not yet spread to rural areas. Wax candles are attested from the late 18th century. The Christmas tree remained confined to the upper Rhineland for a relatively long time. It was regarded as a Protestant custom by the Catholic majority along the lower Rhine and was spread there only by Prussian officials who were moved there in the wake of the Congress Of Vienna in 1815. In the early 19th century, the custom became popular among the nobility and spread to royal courts as far as Russia. Princess Henrietta Von Nassau-Weilburg introduced the Christmas tree to Vienna in 1816, and the custom spread across Austria in the following years. In France , the first Christmas tree was introduced in 1840 by the duchess of Orleans. . The engraving republished in '' Godey's Lady's Book '', Philadelphia, December 1850]] In Britain, the Christmas tree was introduced by King George III's German Queen were illustrated in English magazines, initially as a Woodcut in the Illustrated London News of December 1848, and copied in the United States at Christmas 1850 (''illustration, left''). Such patriotic prints of the British royal family at Christmas celebrations helped popularise the Christmas tree in Britain and among the Anglophile American upper class. Several cities in the United States lay claim to that country's first Christmas tree. , is the first to popularize the practice of decorating a tree. In 1847, Imgard cut a blue spruce tree from a woods outside town, had the Wooster village tinsmith construct a star, and placed the tree in his house, decorating it with paper ornaments and candy canes. The National Confectioners' Association http://www.candyusa.org/Candy/candycanes.asp officially recognizes Imgard as the first ever to put candy canes on a Christmas tree; the canes were all-white, with no red stripes. Imgard is buried in the Wooster Cemetery, and every year, a large pine tree above his grave is lit with Christmas lights. Many Cities , Town s, and Department Store s put up public Christmas trees outdoors for everyone to enjoy, such as the Rich's Great Tree in Atlanta , the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City and the large Christmas tree at Victoria Square in Adelaide . During most of the 1970s and 1980s , the largest Christmas tree in the world was put up every year on the property of The National Enquirer in Lantana, Florida . This tradition grew into one of the most spectacular and celebrated events in the history of southern Florida , but was discontinued on the death of the paper's founder in the late 1980s. , tutored by Christian missionaries, celebrate with trees ( ''Cunninghamia Lanceolata'' ) outside their homes.]] In some cities Festivals are organized around the decoration and display of multiple trees as charity events. In some cases the trees represent special commemorative gifts, such as in Trafalgar Square in London , where the City of Oslo , Norway presents a tree to the people of London as a token of appreciation for the British support of Norwegian resistance during the Second World War ; in Boston , where the tree is a gift from the province of Nova Scotia , in thanks for rapid deployment of supplies and rescuers to the 1917 Ammunition Ship Explosion that leveled the city of Halifax ; and in Newcastle Upon Tyne , where the 15 M -tall main civic Christmas tree is an annual gift from the city of Bergen , Norway , in thanks for the part played by soldiers from Newcastle in liberating Bergen from Nazi occupation. The United States ' National Christmas Tree is lit each year south of the White House in Washington, D.C. Today, the lighting of the National Tree is part of what has become a major holiday event at the White House. President Jimmy Carter lit only the crowning star atop the Tree in 1979 in honor of the Americans being Held Hostage In Iran ; in 1980, the tree was fully lit for only 417 seconds, one second for each day the hostages had been in captivity. The term ''Charlie Brown Christmas tree'' is used in the USA to describe any sad-looking, malformed little tree. Some tree buyers intentionally adopt such trees, feeling sympathetic to their plights. The term comes from the appearance of '' A Charlie Brown Christmas ''. In New Zealand , Pōhutukawa trees are described as 'natural Christmas trees', as they bloom at Christmas time, and they look like Christmas trees with their red flowers and green foliage. DATES It is generally thought that Christmas trees were established in Britain after Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, brought the custom over from Germany. However, there are records of small fir trees being used to decorate houses before this and sailors used to affix one to the top of the mainmast of their ships. In Germany and northern Europe, the practice of decorating coniferous trees originated in pagan times, when the trees were seen as phallic symbols representing the fertility of the nature gods. The practice was associated with the Winter Solstice (around December 21) which was seen as the date of the rebirth of the Sun God. Tree decoration was later adopted into Christian practice after the Church set December 25th as the birth of Christ, thereby supplanting the pagan celebration of the solstice. tree.]] |
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