The idea of Christmas trees goes way back in time. Before the first Christmas, people in the Northern Hemisphere associated evergreen trees with perpetual life. They knew that the winter solstice was the shortest day of the year and from that point on you could look forward to spring and the renewal of greenery. Pine, spruce, and fir boughs were put above doorways and windows to remind you that spring was coming back. As a bonus, it was believed by some that this kept evil spirits and illness out of the house. The Ancient Romans celebrated Saturnalia around Christmas time. Homes and temples were decorated with green plants. In Northern Europe, the Druids considered evergreens to be symbols of everlasting life and decorated their temples with them. Most historians credit the Germans with making the leap to bring evergreen trees into homes. There is a record of a tree being placed in the Strasbourg Cathedral in 1539. In 1570, a guild house had a tree decorated with “apples, nuts, dates, pretzels, and paper flowers”. Not long after, people brought trees into their homes. Some hung them upside down. Believe it or not, Martin Luther is credited with adding candles to the trees. According to the legend, he was returning home one starlit night and the twinkling amongst the evergreens inspired him. At first, the tree topper was usually the baby Jesus. German immigrants brought the tradition to colonial America. It took a while to catch on in Protestant America. Protestants were big on treating Christmas as a sacred holiday and frowned upon “frivolity”. How much did they frown? In 1659, Puritan Massachusetts passed a law calling for execution for decorations. The idea of Christmas trees did not really catch on in Great Britain (and then in America) until popularized by Queen Victoria in 1846. In that year, she and here family appeared with a decorated tree in an illustration that was seen by many British and Americans. By the 1890’s decorations were common. Apples, nuts, cookies, and of course, popcorn. On Dec. 22, 1882, Edison put up the first Christmas lights in his laboratory. In 1895, Pres. Cleveland juiced the tradition by putting up a Christmas tree in the White House with lights because his children liked it. In 1917, teenager Albert Sadacca got the idea of painting the bulbs. He and his brothers created the NOMA Electric Company which became the big Christmas light company. The first White House lawn tree was put up by Pres. Coolidge in 1923.
https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas-trees
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/2020/12/christmas-tree-customs/
https://www.whychristmas.com/customs/trees.shtml
Queen Victoria and her Christmas tree
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