1. Clement A.
Miles, Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan (New York:
Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1912).
2. Such as,
A. Tille, Die Geschichte der deutschen Weihnacht (Leipzig, 1893); A. Tille,
Yule and Christmas: their Place in the Germanic Year (London, 1899); H. F.
Feilberg, Jul (Copenhagen, 1904); E. K. Chambers, The Medieval Stage
(Oxford, 1903).
3. Francis X.
Weiser, Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs (New York: Harcourt,
Brace and Company, 1958).
4. Sheryl Ann
Karas, The Solstice Evergreen: The History, Folklore and Origins of the
Christmas Tree Rev. Ed. (Fairfield: Aslan Publishing, 1998).
5. The story
has appeared in many forms. Here is how it appears in Karas, 111:
"One clear cold Christmas Eve the famous Reformation leader Martin
Luther was walking home through the woods. As it was a beautiful starry
night, he paused for a moment to gaze at the sky in reverent meditation.
He was in a grove of tall pines . . . From where he stood it looked as
though thousands of stars had settled on their branches. He proceeded to
cut a tiny tree and took it home where he decorated it with small candles
in metal holders to recreate his experience for his children. That
glittering tree became a tradition for his family in the many Christmases
to come just as it has for many other families around the world."
6. Another
pure legend that is sometimes passed off as historical fact is the story
of St. Boniface. As one web page puts it: "The first Christmas tree
is said to have originated in 8th century Germany when a British
missionary, St. Boniface, cut down a giant oak that crushed every tree in
its path except a small fir sapling. Considering this a miracle, St.
Boniface called it "the tree of the Christ child."
7. J. Lefftz
and A. Pfleger, eds., Elsässische Weihnacht, hereafter EW (Kolmar, 1941),
cited in Weiser, 100.
8. Quoted in
Miles, 265. The manuscript can be found in EW, 53.
9. Miles, 265, quoting from Tille, Deutschen
Weihnachten, 259.
10. Weiser, 101, citing EW 55. A later explicit mention of candles on a
Christmas tree occurred in a Latin work on Christmas presents by Karl
Gottfried Kissling of the University of Wittenberg, written in 1737. See
Miles, 266.
The Christmas tree is one of the most popular and cherished Christmas
customs. Each year, 35-40 million live trees are purchased and
decorated in the United States alone. But when, where, and how did
this custom begin? What is the origin of the Christmas tree? What
does it mean?
Many answers to these questions have been offered on the Internet. Some
are completely erroneous. Some make no distinction between history
and legend. Unfortunately, none of them give sources for their
assertions about the Christmas tree (a problem with most web
articles!). Given that dependable scholarly sources about the
history of the Christmas tree are hard to come by, citation-less
Christmas tree web pages are understandable.
In doing the research for this article, I found three works especially
helpful. The first is Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian
and Pagan by Clement A. Miles.1
Though now a bit dated, Miles's work made use of the best scholarship of
the time, much of which has not been improved upon,2
and therefore is still a valuable resource. Of equal value is
Francis X. Weiser's Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs.3
Weiser's work only devotes several chapters to the customs of Christmas, but these are well researched
and articulated. I also found The Solstice Evergreen by Sheryl Ann
Karas to be helpful. Karas has done an admirable job researching the
various ways that the evergreen has been used in various cultures
over the centuries and this is the book's strength.4
What was the origin of the Christmas tree? As much as I would like to
embrace as fact the oft-quoted story that Martin Luther was the
first to set up a Christmas tree (or at least a lighted one), I
cannot -- for the story is pure legend.5
Many years of intensive Luther scholarship has turned up nothing to
support it.6
There is scholarly consensus, however, that the Christmas tree originated
in Germany. Indeed, the earliest record of an evergreen tree being
used and decorated (but without lights) for Christmas is 1521 in the
German region of Alsace.7Another useful description has been found among the notes of an
unknown resident of Strasbourg in 1605, who writes that "At
Christmas they set up fir trees in the parlors at Strasburg and hang
thereon roses cut of many- coloured paper, apples, wafers,
gold-foil, sweets . . ."8
Some fifty years later (about 1650) the great Lutheran theologian
Johann Dannhauer wrote in his The Milk of the Catechism that
"the Christmas or fir tree, which people set up in their
houses, hang with dolls and sweets, and afterwards shake and
deflower. . . Whence comes this custom I know not; it is child's
play . . . Far better were it to point the children to the spiritual
cedar-tree, Jesus Christ."9
Several
conclusions can be gleaned from these quotations. First, we are told
some of the items with which the first Christmas trees were
decorated: paper roses, apples, Communion wafers, gold, foil,
sweets, and dolls. Second, even in 1650 a noted scholar like
Dannhauer did not know the origin of Christmas trees. Third, not all
Christians approved of these trees, even in the beginning. Fourth,
the first Christmas trees, as far as we know, did not have lights.
According to Weiser, the first mention of lights (candles) on a
Christmas tree is in the seventeenth century.10
From the mid-seventeenth century on the Christmas tree slowly grew in
popularity and use. However, it was not until the beginning of the
19th century that the use of the Christmas tree grew into the
general German custom that it is today. Also at this time it spread
to the Slavic people of eastern Europe. The Christmas tree was
probably first used in America about 1700 when the first wave of
German immigration settled in western Pennsylvania. During the War
of Independence, Hessian soldiers supposedly set up Christmas trees.11
It is widely held that the Christmas tree was first introduced into
France in 1837 when Princess Helen of Mecklenburg brought it to
Paris after her marriage to the Duke of Orléans. The Christmas tree
made its royal debut in England when Prince Albert of Saxony, the
husband of Queen Victoria, set up a tree in Windsor Castle in 1841.12
After this it grew in popularity, though in 1850 Charles Dickens was
still referring to it as a "new German toy"13
But from where did Christians get the idea of the Christmas tree? Was it
a new idea or was there a historical custom upon which they were
building?
Karas
has amply demonstrated that evergreens have been a symbol of rebirth
from ancient times. Bringing greenery into one's home, often at the
time of the winter solstice, symbolized life in the midst of death
in many cultures.14
The
Romans decked their homes with evergreens and other greenery during
the Kalends of January.15
Living trees were also brought into homes during the old German
feast of Yule, which originally was a two-month feast beginning in
November. The Yule tree was planted in a tub and brought into the
home.16
However,
the evidence just does not exist which shows that Christians first
used trees at Christmas as a symbol of rebirth, nor that the
Christmas tree was a direct descendent of the Yule tree. On the
contrary, the evidence that we have points in another direction. The
Christmas tree appears to be a descendent of the Paradise tree and
the Christmas light of the late Middle Ages.17
From
the eleventh century, religious plays called "mystery
plays" became quite popular throughout Europe. These plays were
performed outdoors and in churches. One of the most prevalent of
these plays was the "Paradise play." The play depicted the
story of the creation of Adam and Eve, their sin, and their
banishment from Paradise. The play would end with the promise of the
coming Savior and His Incarnation (cf. Gen. 3:15). The Paradise play
was simple by today's standards. The only prop on stage was the
"Paradise tree," a fir tree adorned with apples. From this
tree, at the appropriate time in the play, Eve would take the fruit,
eat it, and give it to Adam.
Because
of abuses that crept into the mystery plays (i.e., immoral
behavior), the Church forbade these plays during the fifteenth
century. The people had grown so accustomed to the Paradise tree,
however, that they began putting their own Paradise tree up in their
homes on Dec. 24. They did so on Dec. 24 because this was the feast
day of Adam and Eve (at least in the Eastern Church). The Paradise
tree, as it had in the Paradise plays, symbolized both a tree of sin
and a tree of life. For this reason, the people would decorate these
trees with apples (representing the fruit of sin) and homemade
wafers (like communion wafers which represented the fruit of life).
Later, candy and sweets were added.
Another
custom was to be found in the homes of Christians on Dec. 24 since
the late Middle Ages. A large candle called the "Christmas
light," symbolizing Christ who is the light of the world, was
lit on Christmas Eve. In western Germany, many smaller candles were
set upon a wooden pyramid and lit. Besides the candles, other
objects such as glass balls, tinsel, and the "star of
Bethlehem" were placed on its top.18
Though
we cannot be certain, it seems highly likely that the first
Christmas trees that appeared in Germany in the early sixteenth
century were descendants of both of these customs: the Paradise tree
and the Christmas pyramids and lights. The Paradise tree became our
Christmas tree. Decorations that had been placed on the pyramids
were transferred to the Christmas tree.
For
many Christians the Christmas tree still retains the symbolism of
the Paradise tree. The tree reminds us of the tree in Eden by which
Adam and Eve were overcome and which thrust them into sin. But more
importantly, the tree reminds us of the tree by which our sin was
overcome, namely the tree upon which Christ Jesus was crucified. Is
it a stretch to refer to the cross as a tree? Hardly, for this is
the language of the New Testament itself! For example, Paul writes
in Galatians 3:13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is
everyone who is hung on a tree" (quoting Deut. 21:23). And
Peter writes, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the
tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by
his wounds you have been healed." Therefore, the Christmas tree
is a wonderful symbol and reminder of our salvation and forgiveness
through Jesus Christ!
Some
other interesting facts about the Christmas tree, some of which I
haven't yet substantiated from the sources (so use at your own
risk!) are:
The
first retail Christmas stand was set up by Mark Carr in New York
City in 1851;
Franklin
Pierce was the first president to introduce the Christmas tree
to the White House in 1856 for a group of Washington Sunday
School children;
The
first lighted Christmas tree in public was in Boston in 1912;19
The
first national Christmas Tree was lighted in the year 1923 on
the White House lawn by President Calvin Coolidge.
In doing the research for this article, I found three works especially
helpful. The first is Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian
and Pagan by Clement A. Miles.