The story of the “exciting” Christmas tree… and the role of...

According to the “History” website, which specializes in the history of customs and traditions, the history of trees dates back to christmas To the symbolic use of evergreen trees in ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire, the tradition continues in Christmas trees Lit candles, which were first brought to America in the 19th century.

The beginning of the tradition of the Christmas tree from the Pharaohs

Long before the advent of Christianity, the plants and trees that remained green all year round had a special meaning for the inhabitants in the winter. Just as people decorate their homes today during the festive season with pine trees, ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs on their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that greenery would drive away witches, ghosts, evil spirits and disease.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21 or December 22 and is called the “winter solstice.”

Many ancients believed that winter came every year because the “sun god” had become sick and weak. And they celebrated the solstice because it meant that the sun god would finally begin to recover. The evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer returned.

As for PharaohsThey followed a deity named Ra, who had the head of a falcon and wore a burning disc representing the sun in his crown.

At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from his illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palm trees, which for them represented the victory of life over death.

The early Romans celebrated the solstice because they knew that soon farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To celebrate the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs.

And in Northern Europe, the ancient priests decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of eternal life.

Germany’s role

Thanks to Germany The tradition of the Christmas tree as we know it now began in the sixteenth century, when Christians brought decorative trees into their homes.

It is widely believed that Martin Luther, a 16th century Protestant reformer, was the first to add lit candles to a tree. He was heading home one winter evening, and was amazed at the brilliance of the stars in the green. To restore the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lit candles.

After that, evergreen trees became part of Christian rituals in Germany, and in the Middle Ages, “Christmas trees” began to appear there.

With the idea of ​​decoration invented by Martin Luther, trees began to be decorated in their modern form in all Germany, until it became a tradition associated with Christmas.

Britain and America

When the Germans immigrated, they took the Christmas trees to other countries, particularly England. There, in the 1770s, Charlotte, the German-born wife of King George III, decorated trees for the holiday.

However, it was German-born Prince Albert and his wife, Britain’s Queen Victoria, who spread the tradition among the British, as the couple made Christmas trees a prominent part of their Christmas celebrations, and in 1848 an illustration of the royal family around a decorated tree appeared in a London newspaper. Christmas trees quickly became popular in English homes.

Later German settlers also introduced Christmas trees into the United States, although this custom was not initially embraced.

Many Puritans opposed the idea because of its pagan roots, and Massachusetts Bay Colony officials banned the celebration of Christmas.

It was only in the 1820s that Christmas began to gain popularity in America, and the country’s first Christmas tree is said to have been introduced in the 1830s.

The popularity of the Christmas tree was spread with the help of the influential “Goodies Ladies Book” which published in 1850 the illustration of the British royal family in 1848, but with the change of the image of the family to appear American. These and other efforts helped make Christmas trees popular in the United States by the 1870s.

And then Christmas trees spread around the world, and varied between real pine trees, and fake trees that are less expensive and less harmful to the environment.