The Battalion
LIFESTYLES
Thursday, December 7,1989
Mary-Lynne Rice
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(Eljrtstttms
tHree,. ♦
History of Christmas tree
rooted in Christian legend
By Chuck Lovejoy
Of The Battalion Staff
T,
he Christmas tree, perhaps
the most beloved of
Christmas traditions, is recog
nized throughout the world as
a symbol of peace and human
kindness.
Although Christmas trees
now often are used to commer
cialize the holiday season, the
Christmas tree originated as a
representation of the peace and
good will the holiday season
brings.
As with any long-recog
nized tradition, several leg
ends surround the origin of the
Christmas tree.
One 18th-century legend
credits St. Boniface with start
ing the tradition.
In “The Book of Religious
Holidays and Celebrations,”
Marguerite Ickis describes
how St. Boniface “persuaded
the Teutons to give up their
cruel practice of sacrificing a
child before a great oak tree
during their midwinter festi
val.”
According to the book, Bo
niface told the Teutons instead
to cut down a fir tree, take it
home and celebrate around it
with their children. He chose
the fir tree because it was re
garded as a symbol of immor
tality: “Its leaves were ever
green and its top branches
pointed straight to the heav
ens.”
Another legend of the origin
of the Christmas tree is con
nected with St. Winfred, an
8th-century missionary who
served in Scandinavia.
Ickis’ book tells the tale of
how Winfred cut down a large
oak tree, only to see a young
evergreen tree “miraculously
spring up in its place.”
Winfred declared the tree
holy and directed the chieftan
of the area to take the tree into
his hall and rejoice on the
night of Jesus’ birth.
In “The Christmas Tree,”
Daniel J. Foley says folklorists
have associated the origins of
the Christmas tree with the
German and Scandinavian
practice of bringing an ever
green indoors during the win
ter months “to dispel the
gloom of the long, dark cold
days of winter.”
Yule trees, as they are
called, are not decorated like
Christmas trees, serving a pur
pose closer to that of house-
plants. Yule trees still stand
beside Christmas trees in
many European households.
The real beginnings of the
Christmas tree as we know it
today seem to lie partly in the
miracle plays of the Middle
Ages, which told biblical sto
ries, especially the story of
Christ’s life.
These plays were performed
without costumes or sets. One
particular play performed near
Christmas was called the Par
adise play. It told the story of
Adam and Eve and used a sin
gle prop — an evergreen tree
on which apples were hung,
representing the Garden of
Eden.
The paradise tree, as it was
called, endured long after the
miracle plays were banished in
the late 1400s. Foley writes
that the trees were the subject
of many religious paintings
and were included in chil
dren’s stories of Adam and
Eve’s fall from grace.
Parents also began to deco
rate the trees with commu
nion-type wafers, which later
were replaced with pastries,
cookies and other confections
of various shapes and colors.
Another ancestor of the
Christmas tree of today is the
German Lichtstock and the
Italian ceppo, a pyramid
shaped set of shelves deco
rated with tinsel and candles.
Nativity scenes, religious figu
rines and other heirlooms
suited to the occasion of
Christmas also were placed
upon the shelves.
The shelves varied in shape
from triangular to octagonal.
Some were mechanically ro
tated so all sides of the lighted
pyramid could be displayed.
How the paradise tree and
the Lichtstock came to be
combined is not known pre
cisely, but it was common in
Germany to display the two
side by side during the
Christmas season.
Eventually, the two were in
corporated into a close version
of the modem Christmas tree.
The pyramid’s crowning star
was placed atop the paradise
tree, the nativity scenes were
set below and the tinsel and
baubles were draped across the
evergreen’s branches.
The lights of the Christmas
tree are entirely another mat
ter. Even though each Lichts
tock shelf generally displayed
several candles, the practice
did not spread to the paradise
tree.
Ickis tells a popular story
about German theologian Mar
tin Luther, who is credited
with first adding candles to the
Christmas tree.
While walking home one
night shortly before
Christmas, Luther noticed the
stars shining through the
branches of the evergreen trees
in the forest. He was so moved
by the sight that when he ar
rived home, he cut a fir tree
and placed candles on its
branches to show his children
what he had seen.
The principally German
practice of decorating a
Christmas tree spread rapidly
through Europe.
Christmas trees never really
caught on in England, how
ever, until 1848. That
Christmas, the Illustrated Lon
don News published an etch
ing of Prince Albert, Queen
Victoria and the royal family
celebrating around a
Christmas tree, and the tradi
tion took off.
Never mind that the royal
family had decorated
Christmas trees since 1841, af
ter the birth of Albert and Vic
toria’s first son. Foley writes,
“The fact that a new fashion
had a royal flourish gave it the
prestige so necesary in those
days to its success and popu
larity.”
The same reaction to the
etching occurred in the United
States, when it was printed in
Godey’s “Lady’s Book” in
1850. German immigrants
the United States had ^
putting up Christmas t#j
since the early 1800s,
etching of British ro|i
made the practice an ifl|
tradition (possibly becai
many Americans still
to mother England).
Since then, the Christ
tree has continued to evolvt
Now, department stores^
play modern Christmas ti
with colored electrical !$
aluminum tinsel and even®
tori zed bases that rotate
tree to the tune of elects
cally-produced Christmas ct
ols.
And Martin Luther oa
used candles.