The history of the Christmas Tree is surprisingly not as straight forward as I used to believe. Apparently, there are several versions of how the Christmas tree was started and several different people are credited with decorating the first Christmas tree, however, it is generally agreed that Germany is the place where the Christmas tree tradition began.
In this post, I will be focusing on the version of the story that I heard growing up; I will be keeping this post concise so that you may have time to celebrate Christmas with your family.
Martin Luther and the Christmas Tree
According to the version I was taught during my childhood, Martin Luther was the man responsible for decorating the first, official Christmas tree. Though Luther certainly was not the first to decorate a tree, he might have been the first to light an evergreen tree for Christmas, sparking a worldwide tradition.
Sometime in the early 16th century, Martin Luther observed some evergreen trees as he walked by on a dark winter night. Luther witnessed the beauty of the stars twinkling through the evergreens’ boughs. Luther was so impressed that he cut an evergreen down and brought it home to his wife and children, decorating it with lighted candles to replicate the stars that he saw through the trees.
Modern Christmas Trees
If you have ever burned any evergreen needles, you know just how flammable they are when dry. After standing in your home for weeks, a Christmas tree eventually dehydrates, whether or not you water it. I’m sure you can imagine just how dangerous it is to have a candle with an open flame near the dried needles of a Christmas tree.
The candles were eventually replaced with a string of incandescent lightbulbs, however, our modern world offers LED lights which consume far less power and do not heat up nearly as much as incandescent lights. The only real drawbacks of LED lights are that they can be more expensive and they may burn out if they are poorly manufactured.
I wish you a Merry Christmas!
What is the story that you were told about the origin of the Christmas tree?
Onward American 