A brief history of the Christmas tree

Tips on a safe Christmas tree

Evergreen decorations and Christmas trees have been part of our winter celebrations since long before the advent of Christianity. Just as people today decorate their homes at Christmas with pine, spruce, and fir boughs, ancient people hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. Many believed this would protect their family against witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.

The modern Christmas tree has its roots in the Fourteenth Century. Churches at that time held "miracle plays" to tell Bible stories to people in the villages and towns, since few could read. One special play performed each year on December 24 (Adam and Eve's Day) was, naturally enough, about the Garden of Eden.

The time of year presented a problem for the play's producers, however. Where do you find an apple tree with leaves in the middle of the winter? An innovative organizer in Germany solved the problem by cutting down an evergreen tree and tying apples to it. The tree was also hung with round white wafers to remind the audience that, even though Adam and Eve were expelled from Paradise, the birth of Jesus would bring redemption.

The novel idea caught on, and before long people in Germany were setting up their own Paradeisbaum (or Paradise trees) in their own homes. Since then, red and green--the colors of apples hanging on an evergreen--have been the official colors of Christmas.

Over time, the trees were loaded with many more things to eat. Gilded nuts and gingerbread cookies were hidden in the tree, and marzipan candies shaped like fruits and vegetables were hung from the boughs. Brightly decorated eggshells, cut in half and filled with tiny candies, were set in the tree like bird's nests. The white wafers were replaced with cookies shaped like hearts, bells, angels, and stars.

So many sweets were hung from the tree that some people called it the "sugar tree". On the Twelfth Night of Christmas (January 6), when it was believed the Magi arrived in Bethlehem bearing gifts, the tree was shaken and the children finally were allowed to eat the sweets that fell.

Eventually, perhaps because so many decorations were eaten before the tree was taken down, the cookies were replaced with decorations made from thin, painted metal. When families combined the decorations of the Paradeisbaum with the candles of Martin Luther's Tannenbaum, they created the Christmas tree that is still found in homes today.

Tips on a safe Christmas tree