O Tannenbaum!

Most people think that the tradition of decorating evergreen trees to celebrate Christmas originated in Germany. Many of you will be surprised to find out that in fact, the first tree decorated specifically for Christmas was in Riga, Latvia!

Throughout history, many different cultures and civilizations have used trees (or their boughs) in celebration rituals. In pre-Christian times, evergreens were considered to be a symbol of long life and immortality, because unlike deciduous trees, they seemed to defy death and look alive during the cold dark winter. As such, evergreens were often used in winter celebrations.

The Egyptians for example, brought green palm branches into their homes in celebration of life’s triumph over death during the winter solstice. This event occurs on December 21^st on our calendar, but occurred on December 25th on the Ancient Roman Calendar, co-inciting with the date, on which we now celebrate Christmas. In a similar fashion, the Romans celebrated “Saturnalia” (the birthday of the unconquered sun) on December 25^th. They decorated trees with candles and trinkets and engaged in feasting, singing, and gift giving, which, is not unlike what we do today at Christmas.

Evergreens were also extremely important in Northern Europe. To the Vikings, the evergreen tree represented the rebirth or return of spring, much like the Christmas tree represents the birth of Christ. In their celebrations, the Norse people burned Yule logs and evergreens, to encourage the return of the Sun on the darkest nights of the year. They were also known to decorate their houses and barns with evergreen boughs during the winter, resembling the way we decorate our homes at Christmas.

When Christianity was in its infancy, reformists sought ways to convert Pagans into Christians. Believing that the incorporation of ancient customs would lead more individuals to Christianity, old practices were not eliminated, they were simply adopted as their own. Even the birth of Jesus Christ was not celebrated by the early Christians. Later, it was celebrated on January 6^th, which, corresponds to the modern day of Epiphany or “Heilige Drei Könige” in German. In many parts of Europe today, the Christmas celebration does not end until this date. It is also still customary to inscribe the initials of the Three Kings C+M+B (Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar) and the year over doorways on the eve of January 6^th. In reality, however, the letters actually mean “Christus Mansionem Benedicat” meaning "Christ bless this house” in Latin.

It was not until the 4^th century, that the Roman church (in an effort to stamp out the pagan festival of Saturnalia), decided to celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25^th. The date was chosen by Pope Julius I and the practice quickly spread across the ancient lands. Later, the celebration became known as Christ Mass or Christmas. Many other ancient customs and celebrations were eventually transformed into Christmas traditions by replacing their original meaning. Instead of a homage to the sun gods, firelight represented the light of Christ. Gift giving was linked to the presents of the wise men and evergreen trees were connected to the story of the tree of life from the book of Genesis.

At the end of the 7^th century, the pagan Druids in northern Germany, were still worshipping oak trees, performing sacrifices at their base and decorating them with fruit in honour of the gods of harvest. In 722 AD Saint Boniface, a British monk came to the area of Thuringia, in what is now Germany, to teach Christianity. He used the triangular shape of the fir tree to describe the Holy Trinity and taught the Pagans to revere it as the tree of God. With its branches pointing to heaven, the fir tree soon became symbolic of Christ’s promise of eternal life. By the 12^th century, it was common for Europeans to hang a fir tree upside down from their ceilings at Christmas time as a symbol of their Christian faith. Saint Boniface later became the patron saint of Germany and the Netherlands.

During the middle ages, December 24th was often celebrated as Adam and Eve's Day. The religious “paradise play” depicting the story of the creation of Adam and Eve, their sin and banishment from the Garden of Eden became popular in Christmas celebrations. Trees were decorated with apples to symbolize the forbidden fruit. The play ended with the promise of the coming of the Saviour and gradually flat wafers symbolizing the forgiveness of sins in communion were added to the paradise tree. These wafers were later replaced by little pieces of pastry cut in the shapes of stars, angels, hearts, flowers, and bells. Some regions of Germany still refer to a Christmas tree as a “Paradeisbaum”.

In addition to the paradise tree, many German Christians set up a Christmas Pyramid called a “Lichtstock”, which was an open wooden frame with shelves for figurines of the Nativity covered with evergreen branches and decorated with candy, pastry, candles, and a star. The star of course was the star of Bethlehem, the candles represented the light of Christ coming into the world, the evergreens were the symbol of eternal life, and the candy, fruits, and pastries, the goodness of our life in Christ, the fruits of the spirit, etc.

The tradition of decorating trees specifically for Christmas, however, was not documented until 1510. In this first recorded event, black hatted men belonging to the merchant guild in the city of Riga first enjoyed a Christmas Eve feast before carrying a fir tree to the market square. The tree was decorated with paper roses and the men danced around the tree before setting it ablaze. The idea of using flower decorations may well have been borrowed from the Paradise Tree, on which red flowers represented knowledge and white flowers innocence. The feasting, dancing and lighting the tree on fire on the other hand, seems to have more Pagan origins. Thus, the event can be considered as a melding of Pagan and Christian practices and although it is the first known decorated Christmas tree, many still credit Martin Luther with the honour of its introduction to the world.

A more familiar story to most is that of Martin Luther, who while walking through the forest one night, was touched by the beauty of the moonlight glistening on the branches of a fir tree. He decided to chop one down and bring it home to his family. By attaching candles to the branches he was able to re-create the moonlight and the twinkling stars effect for his children. Although Luther's candle-lit tree story cannot be verified, he was certainly a great advocate of Christmas celebrations, even writing several Christmas hymns. At the time of his death, in 1546, the first "Tannenbaum" ballads appeared in print.

A few years later, many German towns were celebrating Christmas with elaborately decorated trees. Christmas markets were set up to provide everything from gifts, food and more practical things such as a knife grinder to sharpen the knife to carve the Christmas Goose! Gingerbreads, wafers, sugar twists, and wax ornaments were added to their trees, along with fruits and garlands of nuts to spruce up the home.

By the 19th century this custom had spread across most of Germany and beyond. Several royal Germans are credited with helping extend the tree decorating custom beyond Germany's borders. The Duchess of Orleans (from Mecklenburg) brought it to Paris, while other Germanic royals brought the Christmas tree to England and other European countries. But it was most likely the early emigrants from Germany, who brought the Christmas tree to America.

Regardless of how the Christmas tree evolved over the centuries, or who was responsible for having decorated it, most people would agree that it was the Germans who really popularized the practice. Later, it was also they, who invented the Christmas tree’s crowning glory – tinsel.