Can anything put us more in the Christmas spirit than looking at a beautifully decorated Christmas tree? I love them so much that I have an eight-foot tall one in my house. Yes, I know: It may be excessive, but it makes me happy.
But how much of the history of the Christmas tree do you know? I have to admit that some of these facts really caught me by surprise. Hope you enjoy them.
Early church officials condemned the use of Christmas trees
As far back as the 1600s, the Catholic Church condemned the use of trees in connection with Christmas, because they were worried that the trees themselves were getting more attention than “the holy word.”
Christmas trees were sometimes hung upside down
The upside-down tree held a spiritual meaning: pointing the root towards heaven was supposed to imbue the tree with divine powers.
The first Christmas tree market was founded in 1851
An enterprising logger from the Catskill Mountains loaded a ton of trees from his land and transported them down to NYC’s famous holiday market. Thus was born the market for Christmas trees. Before that, you had to cut your own.
Christmas trees were brought to America by a European prince
The Christmas tree was originally popularized by England’s Prince Albert, wbo brought it from his native Germany.
Gifts once went inside the Christmas tree, not underneath it
Some of the earliest American Christmas trees were very very large. In fact, The New York Times describes a “monster Christmas tree despoiled of its pendent treasures of candy, dolls, and toys of all descriptions.”
During the late 1800s, popular gifts often included fruit, cakes, and candy that children would pluck directly from the tree and pop into their mouths.
The ‘perfect’ Christmas tree is considered to be a Fraser fir
There are evergreen trees and pines, but the Fraser fir is widely considered to be the most gorgeous Christmas tree. The majority of those are grown in North Carolina and Oregon.
Happy Holidays to all!
