{"id":32303,"date":"2022-12-17T23:48:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-17T23:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=32303"},"modified":"2022-12-20T16:18:58","modified_gmt":"2022-12-20T16:18:58","slug":"the-christmas-tree-is-a-tradition-older-than-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/the-christmas-tree-is-a-tradition-older-than-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"The Christmas tree is a tradition older than\u00a0Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Troy Bickham<\/a>, Texas A&M University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why, every Christmas, do so many people endure the mess of dried pine needles, the risk of a fire hazard and impossibly tangled strings of lights?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strapping a fir tree to the hood of my car and worrying about the strength of the twine, I sometimes wonder if I should just buy an artificial tree and do away with all the hassle. Then my inner historian<\/a> scolds me \u2013 I have to remind myself that I\u2019m taking part in one of the world\u2019s oldest religious traditions. To give up the tree would be to give up a ritual that predates Christmas itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A symbol of life in a time of darkness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Almost all agrarian societies independently venerated the Sun in their pantheon of gods at one time or another \u2013 there was the Sol of the Norse<\/a>, the Aztec Huitzilopochtli<\/a>, the Greek Helios<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solstices<\/a>, when the Sun is at its highest and lowest points in the sky, were major events. The winter solstice, when the sky is its darkest, has been a notable day of celebration in agrarian societies throughout human history. The Persian Shab-e Yalda<\/a>, Dongzhi in China<\/a> and the North American Hopi Soyal<\/a> all independently mark the occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The favored d\u00e9cor for ancient winter solstices? Evergreen plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether as palm branches gathered in Egypt<\/a> in the celebration of Ra or wreaths for the Roman feast of Saturnalia<\/a>, evergreens have long served as symbols of the perseverance of life during the bleakness of winter, and the promise of the Sun\u2019s return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas slowly emerges<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Christmas came much later. The date was not fixed on liturgical calendars until centuries after Jesus\u2019 birth, and the English word Christmas \u2013 an abbreviation of \u201cChrist\u2019s Mass\u201d \u2013 would not appear<\/a> until over 1,000 years after the original event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Dec. 25 was ostensibly a Christian holiday, many Europeans simply carried over traditions from winter solstice celebrations, which were notoriously raucous affairs. For example, the 12 days of Christmas commemorated in the popular carol actually originated in ancient Germanic Yule celebrations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The continued use of evergreens, most notably the Christmas tree, is the most visible remnant of those ancient solstice celebrations. Although Ernst Ansch\u00fctz\u2019s well-known 1824 carol dedicated to the tree is translated into English as \u201cO Christmas Tree,\u201d the title of the original German tune is simply \u201cTannenbaum,\u201d meaning fir tree. There is no reference to Christmas in the carol, which Ansch\u00fctz based on a much older Silesian folk love song<\/a>. In keeping with old solstice celebrations, the song praises the tree\u2019s faithful hardiness during the dark and cold winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bacchanal backlash<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sixteenth-century German Protestants, eager to remove the iconography and relics of the Roman Catholic Church, gave the Christmas tree a huge boost when they used it to replace Nativity scenes. The religious reformer Martin Luther supposedly adopted the practice and added candles<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Engraving
German Protestants sought to replace ornate Nativity scenes with the simpler tree. Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But a century later, the English Puritans frowned upon the disorderly holiday for lacking biblical legitimacy. They banned it in the 1650s<\/a>, with soldiers patrolling London\u2019s streets looking for anyone daring to celebrate the day. Puritan colonists in Massachusetts did the same<\/a>, fining \u201cwhosoever shall be found observing Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

German immigration to the American colonies ensured that the practice of trees would take root in the New World. Benjamin Franklin estimated that at least one-third<\/a> of Pennsylvania\u2019s white population was German before the American Revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, the German tradition of the Christmas tree blossomed in the United States largely due to Britain\u2019s German royal lineage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking a cue from the queen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since 1701, English kings had been forbidden from becoming or marrying Catholics<\/a>. Germany, which was made up of a patchwork of kingdoms, had eligible Protestant princes and princesses to spare. Many British royals privately maintained the familiar custom of a Christmas tree, but Queen Victoria \u2013 who had a German mother as well as a German grandmother on her father\u2019s side<\/a> \u2013 made the practice public and fashionable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victoria\u2019s style of rule both reflected and shaped the outwardly stern, family-centered morality that dominated middle-class life during the era<\/a>. In the 1840s, Christmas became the target of reformers like novelist Charles Dickens, who sought to transform<\/a> the raucous celebrations of the largely sidelined holiday into a family day in which the people of the rapidly industrialized nation could relax, rejoice and give thanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His 1843 novella, \u201cA Christmas Carol<\/a>,\u201d in which the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge found redemption by embracing Dickens\u2019 prescriptions for the holiday, was a hit with the public. While the evergreen d\u00e9cor is evident in the hand-colored illustrations Dickens specially commissioned for the book, there are no Christmas trees in those pictures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Drawing<\/a>
After the London Illustrated News published an image of Queen Victoria\u2019s tree, the public eagerly sought to mimic the tradition. Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Victoria added the fir tree to family celebrations five years later. Although Christmas trees had been part of private royal celebrations for decades, an 1848 issue of the London Illustrated News depicted Victoria<\/a> with her German husband and children decorating one as a family at Windsor Castle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cultural impact was almost instantaneous. Christmas trees started appearing in homes throughout England, its colonies and the rest of the English-speaking world. Dickens followed with his short story \u201cA Christmas Tree<\/a>\u201d two years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adopting the tradition in America<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During this period, America\u2019s middle classes generally embraced all things Victorian, from architecture to moral reform societies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Hale<\/a>, the author most famous for her children\u2019s poem \u201cMary had a Little Lamb,\u201d used her position as editor of the best-selling magazine Godey\u2019s Ladies Book<\/a> to advance a reformist agenda that included the abolition of slavery and the creation of holidays that promoted pious family values. The adoption of Thanksgiving as a national holiday in 1863 was perhaps her most lasting achievement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Drawing<\/a>
An engraving of Queen Victoria\u2019s tree in Godey\u2019s Ladies Book popularized Christmas trees in the U.S. Godey’s Lady’s Book<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is closely followed by the Christmas tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While trees sporadically adorned the homes of German immigrants in the U.S., it became a mainstream middle-class practice when, in 1850, Godey\u2019s published an engraving of Victoria and her Christmas tree<\/a>. A supporter of Dickens and the movement to reinvent Christmas, Hale helped to popularize the family Christmas tree across the pond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only in 1870 did the United States recognize Christmas as a federal holiday<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The practice of erecting public Christmas trees emerged in the U.S. in the 20th century. In 1923, the first one appeared on the White House\u2019s South Lawn<\/a>. During the Great Depression, famous sites such as New York\u2019s Rockefeller Center began erecting increasingly larger trees<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Black
A Christmas tree was erected on the White House South Lawn for the first time in 1923. Library of Congress<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Christmas trees go global<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As both American and British cultures extended their influence around the world, Christmas trees started to appear in communal spaces even in countries that are not predominately Christian. Shopping districts in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Tokyo now regularly erect trees<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The modern Christmas tree is a universal symbol that carries meanings both religious and secular. Adorned with lights, they promote hope and offer brightness in literally the darkest time of year for half of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that sense, the modern Christmas tree has come full circle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Troy Bickham<\/a>, Professor of History, Texas A&M University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Troy Bickham, Texas A&M University Why, every Christmas, do so many people endure the mess of dried pine needles, the risk of a fire hazard and impossibly tangled strings of lights? Strapping a fir tree to the hood of my car and worrying about the strength of the twine, I sometimes wonder if I should […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":32304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293,8025],"tags":[2620,387,1718,13087,11036,3553,9149],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32303"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32303"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32328,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32303\/revisions\/32328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}