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Impress your friends with Christmas tree trivia
In a couple of weeks, if you already haven't done it, or you choose to be one of those plastic lovers, you'll get a Christmas tree for the holidays. Soon your house will smell like an evergreen forest with sparkling lights reflecting the twinkling lights patiently strung on the tree.
Last year's column dealt with selecting a tree and keeping it safe. Not to repeat myself (make sure the needles are flexible, the butt end is sappy, it smells like an evergreen and not a garbage can, and the color is right), I thought I'd hit on the holiday origins.
This way, you can impress all your friends at the holiday parties. You casually throw into the conversation "Hey, Mary. Did you know that Washington crossed the Delaware due to the fact that the Christmas tree wasn't yet an American institution but a European one?" I can guarantee you all ears will be turned your way, especially if you're not talking to someone named Mary.
You can start a holiday tradition by gathering the little ones around and passing along some of the Christmas tree legends. Make sure the baby is well diapered before setting him/her on your knee.
According to legend, to make the tradition a little more impressive, Hessian mercenaries were so reminded of their faraway home by a candlelit evergreen tree, that they abandoned their posts. Of course, they probably were celebrating the holiday spirit with a little of that German holiday spirit. They nodded off, which many do after partaking of the holiday spirits. General G. Washington then took advantage that night, attacked, and defeated them. Then he probably finished off their holiday spirits.
Way, way, way back, Martin Luther supposedly invented the Christmas tree years before Al Gore thought about it. Luther attached lighted candles to a small evergreen tree, simulating the effects of the starlit heaven that looked down over Bethlehem on that first Christmas Eve. I couldn't find records if Luther also was credited with the first Christmas tree fire. Do not put lit candles on your tree to imitate Martin Luther. Just give him the credit.
Until about 1700, the use of Christmas trees appears to have been confined to the Rhine River District. From 1700 on, when lights were accepted as part of the decorations, the Christmas tree was well on its way to becoming a tradition in Germany.
Some people, not to give the Germans all the credit, trace the origin of the Christmas tree to an earlier period. Egyptians, in celebrating the winter solstice, brought green date palms into their homes as a symbol of "life triumphant over death." When the Romans observed the feast of Saturn, part of the ceremony was the raising of an evergreen bough. The early Scandinavians were said to have paid homage to the fir tree, though why cutting a tree to pay homage to it escapes me.
To the Druids, sprigs of evergreen holly in the house meant eternal life; while to the Norsemen, they symbolized the revival of the sun god Balder. To those inclined toward superstition, branches of evergreens placed over the door kept out witches, ghosts, evil spirits and the like. This use does not mean that our Christmas tree custom evolved solely from paganism.
Trees and branches can be made purposeful as well as symbolic. The Christmas tree is a symbol of a living Christmas spirit and brings into our lives a pleasant aroma of the forest. The fact that balsam fir twigs, more than any other evergreen twigs, resemble crosses may have had much to do with the early popularity of balsam fir used as Christmas trees.
Some other tidbits to make your head swim: The first outdoor lighted Christmas tree in the United States was in New York in 1912. It was NOT at the Rockefeller Center.
The first recorded Christmas tree in Illinois was reported at Fort Dearborn (now Chicago) in 1804.
Mark Carr is credited as the first Christmas tree salesman when he took two oxen sleds of the trees to New York City in 1851.
Franklin Pierce was the first President to have a tree in the White House in 1856.
David Robson is an Extension Educator, Horticulture, at
the Springfield Extension Center, University of Illinois Extension. You can write to Robson in care of Illinois Country Living, P.O. Box 3787, Springfield, IL 62708.
16 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING DECEMBER 2000 |
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