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Glade jul by Viggo Johansen (1891)

Christmas treeFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer such as spruce,pine, or fir or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration ofChristmas. The custom of the Christmas tree developed in early modern Germany(where it is today called Weihnachtsbaum or Christbaum) with predecessors that canbe traced to the 16th and possibly 15th century, in which devout Christians broughtdecorated trees into their homes.[1][2] It acquired popularity beyond Germany duringthe second half of the 19th century, at first among the upper classes.[3]

The tree was traditionally decorated with edibles such as apples, nuts, or other foods.In the 18th century, it began to be illuminated by candles which were ultimatelyreplaced by Christmas lights after the advent of electrification. Today, there are a widevariety of traditional ornaments, such as garland, tinsel, and candy canes. An angel orstar might be placed at the top of the tree to represent the archangel Gabriel or the Starof Bethlehem from the Nativity.[4][5]

The Christmas tree has also been known as the "Yule­tree", especially in discussionsof its folkloric origins.[6][7][8]

Contents

1 History

1.1 Possible predecessors

1.1.1 Georgia

1.1.2 Poland

1.1.3 Scandinavia and Germany

1.1.4 Estonia and Latvia

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1.1.4 Estonia and Latvia1.2 18th to early 20th centuries

1.2.1 Germany

1.2.2 Adoption by European nobility

1.2.3 Britain

1.2.4 North America1.3 1935 to present

1.3.1 Public Christmas trees2 Customs and traditions

2.1 Setting up and taking down

2.2 Decoration3 Production

3.1 Natural trees

3.2 Artificial trees

4 Environmental issues

5 Religious issues

6 See also

7 References

8 External links

History

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Young woman decorates the Christmas tree, painting byMarcel Rieder (1862­1942) from 1898

From Northern Antiquities,an English translation of theProse Edda from 1847.Painted by Oluf OlufsenBagge.

Possible predecessors

While it is clear that the modern Christmas tree originated during the Renaissance ofearly modern Germany, there are a number of speculative theories as to its ultimateorigin. Its 16th­century origins are sometimes associated with Protestant Christian reformer Martin Luther whois said to have first added lighted candles to an evergreen tree.[1][9][10]

It is frequently traced to the symbolism of trees in pre­Christian winter rites, in particular through the story ofDonar's Oak and the popularized story of Saint Boniface and the conversion of the German pagans, in whichSaint Boniface cuts down an oak tree that the German pagans worshipped, and replaces it with an evergreentree, telling them about how its triangular shape reminds humanity of the Trinity and how it points toheaven.[11][12]

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands to symbolizeeternal life was a custom of the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. Tree worship was common amongthe pagan Europeans and survived their conversion to Christianity in the Scandinavian customs of decoratingthe house and barn with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the devil and of setting up a tree for thebirds during Christmastime."[13]

Alternatively, it is identified with the "tree of paradise" of medieval mystery plays that were given on 24December, the commemoration and name day of Adam and Eve in various countries. In such plays, a treedecorated with apples (to represent the forbidden fruit) and wafers (to represent the Eucharist and redemption)was used as a setting for the play. Like the Christmas crib, the Paradise tree was later placed in homes. The apples were replaced by roundobjects such as shiny red balls.[7][8][14][15][16][17]

Georgia

The Georgians have their own traditional Christmas tree called Chichilaki, made from dried up hazelnut or walnut branches that are shaped toform a small coniferous tree. These pale­colored ornaments differ in height from 20 cm (7.9 in) to 3 meters (9.8 feet). Chichilakis are mostcommon in the Guria and Samegrelo regions of Georgia near the Black Sea, but they can also be found in some stores around the capital ofTbilisi. Georgians believe that Chichilaki resembles the famous beard of St. Basil the Great, who is thought to visit people during Christmassimilar to the Santa Claus tradition.

Poland

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Chichilaki, a GeorgianChristmas tree variety.

There was an old pagan custom of suspending at the ceiling a branch of fir, spruce or pine called Podłaźniczka associated with Koliada. Thebranches were decorated with apples, nuts, cookies, colored paper, stars made of straw, ribbons and colored wafers. Some people believed thatthe tree had magical powers that were linked with harvesting and success in the next year.

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, these traditions were almost completely replaced by the German custom of decorating theChristmas tree.

Scandinavia and Germany

In Norse mythology, the oak was sacred to the thunder god, Thor. Thor's Oak was a sacred tree of theGermanic Chatti tribe. According to legend, the Christianisation of the heathen tribes by Saint Boniface wasmarked by the oak's being replaced by the fir (whose triangular shape symbolizes the Trinity) as a "sacred"tree.[18]

Estonia and Latvia

Customs of erecting decorated trees in wintertime can be traced to Christmas celebrations in Renaissance­eraguilds in Northern Germany and Livonia. The first evidence of decorated trees associated with Christmas Dayare trees in guildhalls decorated with sweets to be enjoyed by the apprentices and children. In Livonia (present­day Latvia and Estonia), in 1441, 1442, 1510 and 1514, the Brotherhood of Blackheads erected a tree for theholidays in their guild houses in Riga and Reval (now Tallinn). On the last night of the celebrations leading upto the holidays, the tree was taken to the Town Hall Square where the members of the brotherhood dancedaround it.[19] A Bremen guild chronicle of 1570 reports that a small tree decorated with "apples, nuts, dates,pretzels and paper flowers" was erected in the guild­house for the benefit of the guild members' children, whocollected the dainties on Christmas Day.[3] In 1584, the pastor and chronicler Balthasar Russow in his Chronicader Provinz Lyfflandt (1584) wrote of an established tradition of setting up a decorated spruce at the market square where the young men "wentwith a flock of maidens and women, first sang and danced there and then set the tree aflame".

After the Protestant Reformation, such trees are seen in the houses of upper­class Protestant families as a counterpart to the Catholic Christmascribs. This transition from the guild hall to the bourgeois family homes in the Protestant parts of Germany ultimately gives rise to the moderntradition as it developed in the 18th and 19th centuries.

18th to early 20th centuries

Germany

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Girl with Christmas tree, painting1892 by Franz Skarbina (1849­1910)

By the early 18th century, the custom had become common in towns of the upper Rhineland, but it had not yet spread to rural areas. Waxcandles, expensive items at the time, are found in attestations from the late 18th century.

Along the lower Rhine, an area of Roman Catholic majority, the Christmas tree was largely regarded as a Protestant custom. As a result, itremained confined to the upper Rhineland for a relatively long period of time. The custom did eventually gain wider acceptance beginningaround 1815 by way of Prussian officials who emigrated there following the Congress of Vienna.

In the 19th century, the Christmas tree was taken to be an expression of German culture and of Gemütlichkeit, especially among emigrantsoverseas.[20]

A decisive factor in winning general popularity was the German army's decision to place Christmas treesin its barracks and military hospitals during the Franco­Prussian War. Only at the start of the 20th centurydid Christmas trees appear inside churches, this time in a new brightly lit form.[21]

Adoption by European nobility

In the early 19th century, the custom became popular among the nobility and spread to royal courts as faras Russia. Princess Henrietta of Nassau­Weilburg introduced the Christmas tree to Vienna in 1816, and thecustom spread across Austria in the following years. In France, the first Christmas tree was introduced in1840 by the duchesse d'Orléans. In Denmark a Danish newspaper claims that the first attested Christmastree was lit in 1808 by countess Wilhemine of Holsteinborg. It was the aging countess who told the storyof the first Danish Christmas tree to the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen in 1865. He had publisheda fairy­tale called The Fir­Tree in 1844, recounting the fate of a fir­tree being used as a Christmas tree.[22]

Britain

Although the tradition of decorating the home with evergreens was long established, the custom ofdecorating an entire small tree was unknown in Britain until some two centuries ago. At the time of thepersonal union with Hanover, George III's German­born wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg­Strelitz,introduced a Christmas tree at a party she gave for children in 1800.[23] The custom did not at first spread much beyond the royal family.[24]Queen Victoria as a child was familiar with it and a tree was placed in her room every Christmas. In her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, thedelighted 13­year­old princess wrote:

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A little Christmas tree on thetable, painting by Ludwig Blume­Siebert in 1888

"After dinner... we then went into the drawing­room near the dining­room... There were two large round tables on which wereplaced two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments. All the presents being placed round the trees..."[25]

After Victoria's marriage to her German cousin Prince Albert, by 1841 the custom became even more widespread[26] as wealthier middle­classfamilies followed the fashion. In 1842 a newspaper advert for Christmas trees makes clear their smart cachet, German origins and associationwith children and gift­giving.[27] An illustrated book, The Christmas Tree, describing their use and originsin detail, was on sale in December 1844.[28] In 1847, Prince Albert wrote: "I must now seek in the childrenan echo of what Ernest [his brother] and I were in the old time, of what we felt and thought; and theirdelight in the Christmas­trees is not less than ours used to be".[29] A boost to the trend was given in1848[30] when The Illustrated London News,[31] in a report picked up by other papers,[32] described thetrees in Windsor Castle in detail and showed the main tree, surrounded by the royal family, on its cover. Infewer than ten years their use in better­off homes was widespread. By 1856 a northern provincialnewspaper contained an advert alluding casually to them,[33] as well as reporting the accidental death of awoman whose dress caught fire as she lit the tapers on a Christmas tree.[34] They had not yet spread downthe social scale though, as a report from Berlin in 1858 contrasts the situation there where "Every familyhas its own" with that of Britain, where Christmas trees were still the preserve of the wealthy or the"romantic".[35]

Their use at public entertainments, charity bazaars and in hospitals made them increasingly familiarhowever, and in 1906 a charity was set up specifically to ensure even poor children in London slums 'whohad never seen a Christmas tree' would enjoy one that year.[36] Anti­German sentiment after World War Ibriefly reduced their popularity[37] but the effect was short­lived[38] and by the mid­1920s the use ofChristmas trees had spread to all classes.[39] In 1933 a restriction on the importation of foreign trees led tothe 'rapid growth of a new industry' as the growing of Christmas trees within Britain became commerciallyviable due to the size of demand.[40] By 2013 the number of trees grown in Britain for the Christmasmarket was approximately 8 million[41] and their display in homes, shops and public spaces a normal part of the Christmas season.

North America

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Christmas tree painting 1877 byH. J. Overbeek

The Christmas Tree 1911 byAlbert Chevallier Tayler

The tradition was introduced to Canada in the winter of 1781 by Brunswick soldiers stationed in the Province of Quebec to garrison the colonyagainst American attack. General Friedrich Adolf Riedesel and his wife, the Baroness von Riedesel, held a Christmas party at Sorel, delightingtheir guests with a fir tree decorated with candles and fruits.[42]

A woodcut of the British Royal family with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, initially published in The Illustrated London NewsDecember 1848, was copied in the United States at Christmas 1850, in Godey's Lady's Book. Godey's copied it exactly, except for the removalof the Queen's tiara and Prince Albert's moustache, to remake the engraving into an American scene.[43] The republished Godey's imagebecame the first widely circulated picture of a decorated evergreen Christmas tree in America. Arthistorian Karal Ann Marling called Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, shorn of their royal trappings, "thefirst influential American Christmas tree".[44] Folk­culture historian Alfred Lewis Shoemaker states, "In allof America there was no more important medium in spreading the Christmas tree in the decade 1850–60than Godey's Lady's Book". The image was reprinted in 1860, and by the 1870s, putting up a Christmastree had become common in America.[43]

Several cities in the United States with German connections lay claim to that country's first Christmas tree:Windsor Locks, Connecticut, claims that a Hessian soldier put up a Christmas tree in 1777 whileimprisoned at the Noden­Reed House,[45] while the "First Christmas Tree in America" is also claimed byEaston, Pennsylvania, where German settlers purportedly erected a Christmas tree in 1816. In his diary,Matthew Zahm of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, recorded the use of a Christmas tree in 1821, leadingLancaster to also lay claim to the first Christmas tree in America.[46] Other accounts credit Charles Follen,a German immigrant to Boston, for being the first to introduce to America the custom of decorating aChristmas tree.[47] August Imgard, a German immigrant living in Wooster, Ohio, is the first to popularizethe practice of decorating a tree with candy canes. In 1847, Imgard cut a blue spruce tree from a woodsoutside town, had the Wooster village tinsmith construct a star, and placed the tree in his house, decoratingit with paper ornaments and candy canes. German immigrant Charles Minnegerode accepted a position asa professor of humanities at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1842, where hetaught Latin and Greek. Entering into the social life of the Virginia Tidewater, Minnigerode introduced theGerman custom of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas at the home of law professor St. GeorgeTucker, thereby becoming another of many influences that prompted Americans to adopt the practice atabout that time.[48]An 1853 article on Christmas customs in Pennsylvania defines them as mostly "Germanin origin", including the Christmas tree, which is "planted in a flower pot filled with earth, and its branchesare covered with presents, chiefly of confectionary, for the younger members of the family." The article distinguishes between customs indifferent states however, claiming that in New England generally "Christmas is not much celebrated", whereas in Pennsylvania and New Yorkit is.[49]

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Christmas tree depicted asChristmas card by Prang & Co.(Boston) 1880

The Christmas tree by WinslowHomer, 1858

The lyrics sung in the United States to the German tune O Tannenbaum begin "O Christmas tree", giving rise to the mistaken idea that theGerman word Tannenbaum (fir tree) means "Christmas tree", the German word for which is instead Weihnachtsbaum.

18th to early 20th centuries

Christmas in theNetherlands, c.

1899

The Queen'sChristmas tree atWindsor Castlepublished in TheIllustrated

London News,1848

Illustration forHarper'sBazaar,

published 1January 1870.

An Italian Americanfamily on Christmas

1924

When Johnson was Vice President of the Edison Electric Light Company, a predecessor of Con Edison, hecreated the first known electrically illuminated Christmas tree at his home in New York City in 1882.Edward H. Johnson became the Father of Electric Christmas Tree Lights.[50]

1935 to present

In Russia, the Christmas tree was banned shortly after the October Revolution but then reinstated as a New­year spruce (Новогодняя ёлка,Novogodnyaya yolka) in 1935. It became a fully secular icon of the New Year holiday, for example, the crowning star was regarded not as asymbol of Bethlehem Star, but as the Red star. Decorations, such as figurines of airplanes, bicycles, space rockets, cosmonauts, and charactersof Russian fairy tales, were produced. This tradition persists after the fall of the USSR, with the New Year holiday outweighing the Christmas(7 January) for a wide majority of Russian people.[51]

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A Christmas tree from 1951, in ahome in New York state.

The TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) was influential on the pop culture surrounding the Christmas tree. Aluminum Christmastrees were popular during the early 1960s in the US. They were satirized in the Charlie Brown show and came to be seen as symbolizing thecommercialization of Christmas. The term Charlie Brown Christmas tree, describing any poor­looking or malformed little tree, also derivesfrom the 1965 TV special, based on the appearance of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.[52]

1935 to present

Christmas Tree inthe cozy room atthe WisconsinGovernor'smansion.

Christmas tea withChristmas Tree atan espresso shopin Eugene, Oregon

A Soviet­era (1960s)New Year tree

decoration depicting acosmonaut

Christmas Trees inchurch

Public Christmas trees

Since the early 20th century, it has become common in many cities, towns, and department stores to putup public Christmas trees outdoors, such as the Macy's Great Tree in Atlanta (since 1948), theRockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City, and the large Christmas tree at Victoria Square in Adelaide.

The use of fire retardant allows many indoor public areas to place real trees ­and be compliant with code. Licensed applicants of fire retardantsolution spray the tree, tag the tree, and provide a certificate for inspection. Real trees are popular with high end visual merchandising displaysaround the world. Leading global retailers like Apple often place real trees in their window display. In 2009 Apple placed 2 Fraser fir for everystore in the world.

The United States' National Christmas Tree has been lit each year since 1923 on the South Lawn of the White House. Today, the lighting ofthe National Christmas Tree is part of what has become a major holiday event at the White House. President Jimmy Carter lit only thecrowning star atop the tree in 1979 in honor of the Americans being held hostage in Iran.[53] The same was true in 1980, except that the treewas fully lit for 417 seconds, one second for each day the hostages had been in captivity.[53]

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Christmas trees in Husum church

An early example of apublic Christmascelebration tree for theunemployed in Prague.

During most of the 1970s and 1980s, the largest decorated Christmas tree in the world was put up every year on the property of the NationalEnquirer in Lantana, Florida. This tradition grew into one of the most spectacular and celebrated events in the history of southern Florida, butwas discontinued on the death of the paper's founder in the late 1980s.[54]

In some cities, a Festival of Trees is organized around the decoration and display of multiple trees as charity events.

The giving of Christmas trees has also often been associated with the end of hostilities. After the signing of the Armistice in 1918 the city ofManchester sent a tree, and £500 to buy chocolate and cakes, for the children of the much­bombarded town of Lille in northern France.[55] Insome cases the trees represent special commemorative gifts, such as in Trafalgar Square in London, where the City of Oslo, Norway presents atree to the people of London as a token of appreciation for the British support of Norwegian resistance during the Second World War; inBoston, where the tree is a gift from the province of Nova Scotia, in thanks for rapid deployment of supplies and rescuers to the 1917ammunition ship explosion that leveled the city of Halifax; and in Newcastle upon Tyne, where the main civic Christmas tree is an annual gift

from the city of Bergen, in thanks for the part played by soldiers fromNewcastle in liberating Bergen from Nazi occupation.[56] Norway alsoannually gifts a Christmas tree to Washington, D.C. as a symbol offriendship between Norway and the US and as an expression of gratitudefrom Norway for the help received from the US during World War II.[57]

Public Christmas trees

Christmas tree inSalerno oldtown, Italy,

2008.

Trafalgar SquareChristmas tree

Rockefeller CenterChristmas Tree

Christmas treeon the

Römerberg inFrankfurt(2008)

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in Lisbon(2005), at75 metres

(246 feet) thetallest

Christmas treein Europe.

Boston'sChristmasTree.

An Árbolnavideñoluminoso in

Madrid (2011)

Christmas treein Warsaw

Christmas treein South Coast

Plaza,California

Christmas tree inStockholm at NKshopping mall

Christmas trees in OceanTerminal, Harbour City, Hong

Kong

Customs and traditions

Setting up and taking down

Both setting up and taking down a Christmas tree are associated with specific dates. Traditionally, Christmas trees were not brought in anddecorated until Christmas Eve (24 December) or, in the traditions celebrating Christmas Eve rather than the first day of Christmas, 23December, and then removed the day after Twelfth Night (5 January); to have a tree up before or after these dates was even considered badluck.

In many areas, it has become customary to set up one's Christmas tree at the beginning of the Advent season.[58] Some families in the U.S. andCanada will put up a Christmas tree a week prior to American Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday of November), and Christmas decorationscan show up even earlier in retail stores, often the day after Halloween (31 October). In Canada many families wait until after RemembranceDay, as to show respect to fallen soldiers. Some households do not put up the tree until the second week of December, and leave it up until 6January (Epiphany). In Germany, traditionally the tree is put up on 24 December and taken down on 7 January, though many start one or twoweeks earlier, and in Roman Catholic homes the tree may be kept until February 2 (Candlemas).

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A candle on a Christmas tree

In Italy and Argentina, along with many countries in Latin America, the Christmas tree is put up on 8 December (Immaculate Conception day)and left up until 6 January. In Australia, the Christmas tree is usually put up on 1 December, which occurs about a 2 weeks before the schoolsummer holidays; except for South Australia, where most people put up their tree after the Adelaide Christmas Pageant in late November.Some traditions suggest that Christmas trees may be kept up until no later than 2 February, the feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple(Candlemas), when the Christmas season effectively closes.[59] Superstitions say that it is a bad sign if Christmas greenery is not removed byCandlemas Eve.[60]

Decoration

Christmas ornaments are decorations (usually made of glass, metal, wood, or ceramics) that are used to decorate a Christmas tree. The firstdecorated trees were adorned with apples, white candy canes and pastries in the shapes of stars, hearts and flowers. Glass baubles were firstmade in Lauscha, Germany, garlands of glass beads and tin figures that could be hung on trees. The popularity of these decorations grew intothe production of glass figures made by highly skilled artisans with clay molds.

The ornaments were hand­painted and topped with a cap and hook.[61] Tinsel and several types ofgarland or ribbon are commonly used to decorate a Christmas tree. Silvered saran­based tinsel wasintroduced later. Delicate mold­blown and painted colored glass Christmas ornaments were a specialtyof the glass factories in the Thuringian Forest, especially in Lauscha in the late 19th century, and havesince become a large industry, complete with famous­name designers. Baubles are another commondecoration, consisting of small hollow glass or plastic spheres coated with a thin metallic layer to makethem reflective, with a further coating of a thin pigmented polymer in order to provide coloration.Lighting with electric lights (fairy lights) is commonly done. A tree­topper, sometimes an angel butmore frequently a star, completes the decoration.

Individuals' decorations typically include a mix of family traditions and personal tastes; even a smallunattractive ornament, if passed down from a parent or grandparent, may come to carry considerableemotional value and be given a place of pride on the tree. Conversely, trees decorated by professionaldesigners for department stores and other institutions will usually have a "theme"; a set of predominantcolors, multiple instances of each type of ornament, and larger decorations that may be morecomplicated to set up correctly. Some churches decorate with Chrismon trees, which use handmadeornaments depicting various Chrismon symbols.

Many people also decorate outdoor trees with food that birds and other wildlife will enjoy, such asgarlands made from unsalted popcorn or cranberries, orange halves, and seed­covered suet cakes.

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White house Christmas tree

Christmas ornaments at the Christmasmarket, Strasbourg

Because candles were used to light trees until electric bulbs came about, a mat (UK) or skirt (US) was often placed on the floor below the treeto collect wax drippings and also any needles that fell. Even when drip less candles, electric lights and artificial trees have been used, a skirt isstill usually used as a decorative feature: among other things, it hides the Christmas tree stand, which may be unsightly yet an important safetyfeature of home trees.[62] What began as ordinary cloth has now often become much more ornate, somehaving embroidery or being put together like a quilt.

A nativity scene, model train, or Christmas village may be placed on the mat or skirt. As Christmaspresents arrive, they are generally placed underneath the tree on the tree skirt (depending on tradition,all Christmas gifts, or those too large to be hung on the tree, as in "presents on the tree" of the song "I'llBe Home for Christmas").

Generally, the difference between a mat and skirt is simply that a mat is placed under the Christmastree stand, while a skirt is placed over it, having a hole in the middle for the trunk, with a slot cut to theoutside edge so that it can be placed around the tree (beneath the branches) easily. A plain mat of fabricor plastic may also be placed under the stand and skirt to protect the floor from scratches or water.

A Christmas tree stand is an object designed to support a cut, natural Christmas tree or an artificialChristmas tree. Christmas tree stands appeared as early as 1876 and have had various designs over theyears. Those stands designed for natural trees have a water reservoir to hydrate the live tree. ArtificialChristmas trees usually have a plastic or metal stand, with three legs shaping like a Y.

In the 1940s and 1950s flocking was very popular on the West Coast of the United States. There werehome flocking kits that could be used with vacuum cleaners. In the 1980s some trees were sprayed withfluffy white flocking to simulate snow. Typically it would be sprayed all over the tree from the sides,which produced a look different from real snow, which settles in clumps atop branches. Flocking canbe done with a professional sprayer at a tree lot (or an artificial tree's manufacturer), or at home from aspray can. This tradition seems to be most popular on the west coast and southern parts of the UnitedStates. Because flock contains flame retardants, a flocked tree can be placed in a public building inaccordance with local fire safety codes.

In the late 1800s and, most probably, long before, home­made white Christmas trees were made bywrapping strips of cotton batting around leafless branches creating the appearance of a snow­laden tree.This family tradition eliminated killing and care of a live tree and needle drop in the house whileproviding a beautiful way of displaying ornaments. After Christmas, the cotton batting was unwrapped and stored with the Christmas presentsand the branches were burnt or discarded. It is thought these home­made white trees at least, in part, inspired flocking popularized byHollywood films in the late 1930s.

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Decorations

A transparent Christmas bauble

A golden bauble decorating aChristmas tree

Christmas baubles

A snowman­shapeddecoration painted as a

baseball

A toy bearChristmasdecoration.

Fabergé egg asa Christmasdecoration.

Christmasdecorations

RedornamentedChristmasbauble

Christmasbaubles

Production

Each year, 33 to 36 million Christmas trees are produced in America, and 50 to 60 million are produced in Europe. In 1998, there were about15,000 growers in America (a third of them "choose and cut" farms). In that same year, it was estimated that Americans spent $1.5 billion onChristmas trees.[63]

Natural trees

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Undecorated Christmas trees for sale

The most commonly used species are fir (Abies), which have the benefit of not shedding their needles when they dry out, as well as retaininggood foliage color and scent; but species in other genera are also used.

In northern Europe most commonly used are:

Norway spruce Picea abies (the original tree, generally the cheapest)Silver fir Abies albaNordmann fir Abies nordmannianaNoble fir Abies proceraSerbian spruce Picea omorikaScots pine Pinus sylvestrisStone pine Pinus pinea (as small table­top trees)Swiss pine Pinus cembra

In North America, Central America and South America most commonly used are:

Douglas­fir Pseudotsuga menziesiiBalsam fir Abies balsameaFraser Fir Abies fraseriGrand fir Abies grandisGuatemalan fir Abies guatemalensisNoble fir Abies proceraRed fir Abies magnificaWhite fir Abies concolorPinyon pine Pinus edulisJeffrey pine Pinus jeffreyiScots pine Pinus sylvestrisStone pine Pinus pinea (as small table­top trees)Norfolk Island pine Araucaria heterophylla

Several other species are used to a lesser extent. Less­traditional conifers are sometimes used, such as giant sequoia, Leyland cypress,Monterey cypress and eastern juniper. Various types of spruce tree are also used for Christmas trees (including the blue spruce and, lesscommonly, the white spruce); but spruces (unlike firs) begin to lose their needles rapidly upon being cut, and spruce needles are often sharp,making decorating uncomfortable. Virginia pine is still available on some tree farms in the southeastern United States, however its winter coloris faded. The long­needled eastern white pine is also used there, though it is an unpopular Christmas tree in most parts of the country, owingalso to its faded winter coloration and limp branches, making decorating difficult with all but the lightest ornaments. Norfolk Island pine issometimes used, particularly in Oceania, and in Australia, some species of the genera Casuarina and Allocasuarina are also occasionally usedas Christmas trees. But, by far, the most common tree is the Monterey pine. Adenanthos sericeus or Albany woolly bush is commonly sold in

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Father and son with their dogcollecting a tree in the forest, paintingby Franz Krüger (1797–1857)

Trees on sale at a Christmas market inVienna, painting by Carl WenzelZajicek (1908)

southern Australia as a potted living Christmas tree. Hemlock species are generally consideredunsuitable as Christmas trees due to their poor needle retention and inability to support the weight oflights and ornaments.

Some trees, frequently referred to as "living Christmas trees", are sold live with roots and soil, oftenfrom a plant nursery, to be stored at nurseries in planters or planted later outdoors and enjoyed (andoften decorated) for years or decades. Others are produced in a container and sometimes as topiary for aporch or patio. However, when done improperly, the combination of root loss caused by digging, andthe indoor environment of high temperature and low humidity is very detrimental to the tree's health;additionally, the warmth of an indoor climate will bring the tree out of its natural winter dormancy,leaving it little protection when put back outside into a cold outdoor climate. Often Christmas trees area large attraction for living animals, including mice and spiders. Thus, the survival rate of these trees islow.[64] However, when done properly, replanting provides higher survival rates.[65]

European tradition prefers the open aspect of naturally grown, unsheared trees, while in North America(outside western areas where trees are often wild­harvested on public lands)[66] there is a preference forclose­sheared trees with denser foliage, but less space to hang decorations.

In the past, Christmas trees were often harvested from wild forests, but now almost all arecommercially grown on tree farms. Almost all Christmas trees in the United States are grown onChristmas tree farms where they are cut after about ten years of growth and new trees planted.According to the United States Department of Agriculture's agriculture census for 2007, 21,537 farmswere producing conifers for the cut Christmas tree market in America, 5,717.09 square kilometres(1,412,724 acres) were planted in Christmas trees.[67]

The life cycle of a Christmas tree from the seed to a 2­metre (7 ft) tree takes, depending on species andtreatment in cultivation, between 8 and 12 years. First, the seed is extracted from cones harvested fromolder trees. These seeds are then usually grown in nurseries and then sold to Christmas tree farms at anage of 3–4 years. The remaining development of the tree greatly depends on the climate, soil quality, aswell as the cultivation and how the trees are tended by the Christmas tree farmer.[68]

Artificial trees

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A grower in Waterloo, Nova Scotia,prunes balsam fir trees in October.The tree must experience three froststo stabilize the needles before cutting.

An artificial Christmas tree

The first artificial Christmas trees were developed in Germany during the 19th century,[69][70] though earlier examples exist.[71] These "trees"were made using goose feathers that were dyed green.,[69] as one response by Germans to continued deforestation.[70] Feather Christmas treesranged widely in size, from a small 2­inch (51 mm) tree to a large 98­inch (2,500 mm) tree sold in department stores during the 1920s.[72]

Often, the tree branches were tipped with artificial red berries which acted as candle holders.[73]

Over the years, other styles of artificial Christmas trees have evolved and become popular. In 1930, theU.S.­based Addis Brush Company created the first artificial Christmas tree made from brushbristles.[74] Another type of artificial tree is the aluminum Christmas tree,[70] first manufactured inChicago in 1958,[75] and later in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where the majority of the trees wereproduced.[76] Most modern artificial Christmas trees are made from plastic recycled from usedpackaging materials, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC).[70] Approximately 10% of artificial Christmastrees are using virgin suspension PVC resin; despite being plastic most artificial trees are not recyclableor biodegradable.[77]

Other trends have developed in the early 2000s as well. Optical fiber Christmas trees come in twomajor varieties; one resembles a traditional Christmas tree.[78] One Dallas­based company offers"holographic mylar" trees in many hues.[71] Tree­shaped objects made from such materials ascardboard,[79] glass,[80] ceramic or other materials can be found in use as tabletop decorations. Upside­down artificial Christmas trees became popular for a short time and were originally introduced as amarketing gimmick; they allowed consumers to get closer to ornaments for sale in retail stores andopened up floor space for more products.[81] Artificial trees became increasingly popular during the late20th century.[70] Users of artificial Christmas trees assert that they are more convenient, and, becausethey are reusable, much cheaper than their natural alternative.[70] They are also considered muchsafer[82] as natural trees can be a significant fire hazard. Between 2001 and 2007 artificial Christmastree sales in the U.S. jumped from 7.3 million to 17.4 million.[83]

Artificial trees

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A lighted artificial Christmas treewith ornaments

A treewith fibreopticlights

Christmas tree andpresentsAthens,Greece

WhiteChristmas tree

SpanishartificialChristmas

tree

Achrismontree (St.Alban'sAnglicanCathedral,Oviedo,Florida)

An artificial AluminumChristmas tree

Artificialtree

Environmental issues

The debate about the environmental impact of artificial trees is ongoing. Generally, natural tree growerscontend that artificial trees are more environmentally harmful than their natural counterparts.[83]However, trade groups such as the American Christmas Tree Association, continue to refute thatartificial trees are more harmful to the environment, and maintain that the PVC used in Christmas treeshas excellent recyclable properties.[84]

Live trees are typically grown as a crop and replanted in rotation after cutting, often providing suitable habitat for wildlife. Alternately, livetrees can be donated to livestock farmers of such animals like goats who find that such trees uncontaminated by chemical additives areexcellent fodder.[85] In some cases management of Christmas tree crops can result in poor habitat since it sometimes involves heavy input ofpesticides. Concerns have been raised about people cutting down old and rare conifers, such as the Keteleeria evelyniana, for Christmas trees.

Real or cut trees are used only for a short time, but can be recycled and used as mulch, wildlife habitat, or used to prevent erosion.[86][87][88]

Real trees are carbon­neutral, they emit no more carbon dioxide by being cut down and disposed of than they absorb while growing.[89]However, emissions can occur from farming activities and transportation. An independent life­cycle assessment study, conducted by a firm ofexperts in sustainable development, states that a natural tree will generate 3.1 kg (6.8 lb) of greenhouse gases every year (based on purchasing5 km (3.1 miles) from home) whereas the artificial tree will produce 48.3 kg (106 lb) over its lifetime.[90] Some people use living Christmas orpotted trees for several seasons, providing a longer life cycle for each tree. Living Christmas trees can be purchased or rented from local

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Poinsettia flowers arranged into theconical shape of a "Christmas tree",topped with a "Star of Bethlehem", inSan Diego (2005)

Christmas tree recycling point (pointrecyclage de sapins) in Paris, 22January 2010

market growers. Rentals are picked up after the holidays, whilepurchased trees can be planted by the owner after use ordonated to local tree adoption or urban reforestation services.[91]

Most artificial trees are made of recycled PVC rigid sheetsusing tin stabilizer in the recent years. In the past, lead wasoften used as a stabilizer in PVC, but is now banned by Chineselaws. The use of lead stabilizer in Chinese imported trees hasbeen an issue of concern among politicians and scientists overrecent years. A 2004 study found that while in general artificialtrees pose little health risk from lead contamination, there doexist "worst­case scenarios" where major health risks to youngchildren exist.[92] A 2008 United States EnvironmentalProtection Agency report found that as the PVC in artificialChristmas trees aged it began to degrade.[93] The report determined that of the 50 million artificial treesin the United States approximately 20 million were 9 or more years old, the point where dangerous leadcontamination levels are reached.[93] A professional study on the life­cycle assessment of both real andartificial Christmas trees revealed that one must use an artificial Christmas tree at least 20 years toleave an environmental footprint as small as the natural Christmas tree.[90]

Religious issues

The Christmas tree was first used by German Lutherans in the 16th Century, with records indicating that a Christmas tree was placed in theCathedral of Strassburg in 1539, under the leadership of the Protestant Reformer, Martin Bucer.[94][95] In the United States, these "GermanLutherans brought the decorated Christmas tree with them; the Moravians put lighted candles on those trees."[96][97] When decorating theChristmas tree, many individuals place a star at the top of the tree symbolizing the Star of Bethlehem, a fact recorded by The School Journal in1897.[4][98] Professor David Albert Jones of Oxford University writes that in the 19th century, it became popular for people to also use an angelto top the Christmas tree in order to symbolize the angels mentioned in the accounts of the Nativity of Jesus.[5]

Under the Marxist­Leninist doctrine of state atheism in the Soviet Union, after its foundation in 1917, Christmas celebrations—along withother religious holidays—were prohibited as a result of the Soviet anti­religious campaign.[99][100][101] The League of Militant Atheistsencouraged school pupils to campaign against Christmas traditions, among them being the Christmas tree, as well as other Christian holidays,

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A 1931 edition of the Soviet magazineBezbozhnik, distributed by the League ofMilitant Atheists, depicting an OrthodoxChristian priest being forbidden to cut

including Easter; the League established an anti­religious holiday to be the 31st of each month as a replacement.[102] With the Christmas treebeing prohibited in accordance with Soviet anti­religious legislation, people supplanted the former Christmas custom with New Year'strees.[101][103] In 1935 the tree was brought back as New Year tree and became a secular, not a religious holiday.

Pope John Paul II introduced the Christmas tree custom to the Vatican in 1982. Although at first disapproved of by some as out of place at thecentre of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican Christmas Tree has become an integral part of the Vatican Christmas celebrations,[104] andin 2005 Pope Benedict XVI spoke of it as part of the normal Christmas decorations in Catholic homes.[105] In 2004, Pope John Paul called theChristmas tree a symbol of Christ. This very ancient custom, he said, exalts the value of life, as in winter what is evergreen becomes a sign ofundying life, and it reminds Christians of the "tree of life" of Genesis 2:9 (http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?book=Genesis&verse=2:9&src=!), an image of Christ, the supreme gift of God to humanity.[106] In the previous year he said: "Beside the crib,the Christmas tree, with its twinkling lights, reminds us that with the birth of Jesus the tree of life has blossomed anew in the desert ofhumanity. The crib and the tree: precious symbols, which hand down in time the true meaning ofChristmas."[107] The Catholic Church's official Book of Blessings has a service for the blessing ofthe Christmas tree in a home.[108] Likewise the Protestant Episcopal Church in The AnglicanFamily Prayer Book, which has the imprimatur of The Rt. Rev. Catherine S. Roskam of theAnglican Communion, has long had a ritual titled Blessing of a Christmas Tree, as well as Blessingof a Crèche, for use in the church and the home.[109]

In 2006, the Seattle–Tacoma International Airport removed all of its Christmas trees in the middleof the night rather than allow a rabbi to put up a menorah near the largest tree display.[110]

Officials feared that one display would open the door for other religious displays,[110] and, in 2007,they opted to display a grove of birches in polyethylene terephthalate snow rather than religioussymbols or Christmas trees.[110] In 2005, the city of Boston renamed the spruce tree used todecorate the Boston Common a "Holiday Tree" rather than a "Christmas Tree".[111] The namechange drew a poor response from the public and it was reversed after the city was threatened withseveral lawsuits.[112] At the Bilbao airport 2005 displayed a Christmas tree and a Santa Claus andChristmas elf alongside the Basque Olentzero, as a way of syncretising traditions in NorthernSpain.

Chrismon trees are a variety developed in 1957 by a Lutheran laywoman in Virginia, as aspecifically religious version appropriate for a church's Christmas celebrations, although mostChristian churches continue to display the traditional Christmas tree in their sanctuaries duringChristmastide.[113]

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down a tree for ChristmasSee also

References

EiresioneFestive ecologyFestivus poleHanukkah bushChristmas tree controversiesChristmas traditionsLegend of the Christmas SpiderNew Year treeStar of BethlehemTree worshipWeihnachtenYule logBadnjakSanta Claus

1. "History of Christmas Trees". History. Retrieved 15 December 2012.2. Christmas trees were hung in St. George's Church, Sélestat since 1521:Selestat.fr ­ Office de la Culture de Sélestat ­ The history of the Christmas tree

since 1521 (http://www.selestat.fr/spip_noel/IMG/pdf/histoire_des_decorations_de_l_arbre_de_noel.pdf)3. Ingeborg Weber­Kellermann (1978). Das Weihnachtsfest. Eine Kultur­ und Sozialgeschichte der Weihnachtszeit [Christmas: A cultural and socialhistory of Christmastide] (in German). Bucher. p. 22. ISBN 3­7658­0273­5. "Man kann als sicher annehmen daß die Luzienbräuche gemeinsam mit demWeinachtsbaum in Laufe des 19. Jahrhunderts aus Deutschland über die gesellschaftliche Oberschicht der Herrenhöfe nach Schweden gekommen sind.(English: One can assume with certainty that traditions of lighting, together with the Christmas tree, crossed from the upper classes to the manor houses,from Germany to Sweden in the 19th century.)"

4. Mandryk, DeeAnn (25 October 2005). Canadian Christmas Traditions. James Lorimer & Company. p. 67. ISBN 9781554390984. "The eight­pointedstar became a popular manufactured Christmas ornament around the 1840s and many people place a star on the top of their Christmas tree to representthe Star of Bethlehem."

5. Jones, David Albert (27 October 2011). Angels. Oxford University Press. p. 24. ISBN 9780191614910. "The same ambiguity is seen in that mostfamiliar of angels, the angel on top of the Christmas tree. This decoration, popularized in the nineteenth century, recalls the place of the angels in theChristmas story (Luke 2.9–18)."

6. Daniel J. Foley (1999). The Christmas Tree. Omnigraphics. p. 45. ISBN 978­1­55888­286­7.7. Greg Dues (2008). Advent and Christmas. Bayard. pp. 13–15. ISBN 978­1­58595­722­4.8. Sheryl Karas (1998). The Solstice Evergreen: history, folklore, and origins of the Christmas tree. Aslan. pp. 103–04. ISBN 978­0­944031­75­9.9. Helen Haidle (2002). Christmas Legends to Remember'. p. 119. ISBN 978­1­56292­534­5.

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10. Debbie Trafton O'Neal, David LaRochelle (2001). Before and After Christmas. Augsburg Fortress. p. 22. ISBN 978­0­8066­4156­0.11. Fritz Allhoff, Scott C. Lowe (2010). Christmas. John Wiley & Sons. "His biographer, Eddius Stephanus, relates that while Boniface was serving as a

missionary near Geismar, Germany, he had enough of the locals' reverence for the old gods. Taking an axe to an oak tree dedicated to Norse god Thor,Boniface chopped the tree down and dared Thor to zap him for it. When nothing happened, Boniface pointed out a young fir tree amid the roots of theoak and explained how this tree was a more fitting object of reverence as it pointed towards the Christian heaven and its triangular shape was reminiscentof the Christian trinity."

12. The story, not recounted in the vitae written in his time, appears in a BBC Devon website, "Devon Myths and Legends", and in a number of educationalstorybooks, including St. Boniface and the Little Fir Tree: A Story to Color by Jenny Melmoth and Val Hayward (Warrington: Alfresco Books 1999ISBN 1­873727­15­1), The Brightest Star of All: Christmas Stories for the Family by Carrie Papa (Abingdon Press 1999 ISBN 978­0­687­64813­9) and"How Saint Boniface Kept Christmas Eve" (https://books.google.com/books?id=BdEAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA207) by Mary Louise Harvey in TheAmerican Normal Readers: Fifth Book, 207­22. Silver, Burdett and Co. 1912.

13. "Christmas tree". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2012.14. Philip Lazowski (2004). Understanding Your Neighbor's Faith. KTAV Publishing House. pp. 203–04. ISBN 978­0­88125­811­0.15. Michael P. Foley (2005). Why Do Catholics Eat Fish on Friday?. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 18. ISBN 978­1­4039­6967­5.16. Ann Ball (1997). Catholic Traditions in Crafts. Our Sunday Visitor. p. 19. ISBN 978­0­87973­711­5.17. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2003. "The modern Christmas tree ... originated in western Germany. The main prop of a popular medieval play about Adam

and Eve was a fir tree hung with apples (paradise tree) representing the Garden of Eden. The Germans set up a paradise tree in their homes on December24, the religious feast day of Adam and Eve. They hung wafers on it (symbolizing the host, the Christian sign of redemption); in a later tradition, thewafers were replaced by cookies of various shapes. Candles, too, were often added as the symbol of Christ. In the same room, during the Christmasseason, was the Christmas pyramid, a triangular construction of wood, with shelves to hold Christmas figurines, decorated with evergreens, candles, anda star. By the 16th century, the Christmas pyramid and paradise tree had merged, becoming the Christmas tree."

18. von Staufer, Maria. "The Chronological History of the Christmas Tree". The Christmas Archives. Retrieved 2010­02­07.19. Friedrich Amelung (1885). Geschichte der Revaler Schwarzenhäupter: von ihrem Ursprung an bis auf die Gegenwart: nach den urkundenmäßigen

Quellen des Revaler Schwarzenhäupter­Archivs 1, Die erste Blütezeit von 1399–1557 [History of the Tallinn Blackheads: from their origins until thepresent day: from the testimonial sources of the Tallinn Blackheads archive. 1: The first golden age of 1399–1557] (in German). Reval: Wassermann.

20. Johannes Marbach (1859). Die heilige Weihnachtszeit nach Bedeutung, Geschichte, Sitten und Symbolen [The holy Christmas season for meaning,history, customs and symbols] (in German). p. 416. "Was ist auch eine deutsche Christenfamilie am Christabend ohne Christbäumchen? Zumal in derFremde, unter kaltherzigen Engländern und frivolen Franzosen, unter den amerikanischen Indianern und den Papuas von Australien. Entbehren dochdie nichtdeutschen Christen neben dem Christbäumchen noch so viele Züge deutscher Gemüthlichkeit. (English: What would a German Christian familydo on Christmas Eve without a Christmas tree? Especially in foreign lands, among cold­hearted Englishmen and frivolous Frenchmen, among theAmerican Indians and the Papua of Australia. Even apart from the Christmas tree, the non­German Christians suffer from a lack of a great many traits ofGerman Gemütlichkeit.)"

21. Jan Hermelink (2003). "Weihnachtsgottesdienst" [Christmas worship]. In Christian Grethlein; Günter Ruddat. Liturgisches Kompendium (in German).Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. p. 290. ISBN 978­3­525­57211­5.

22. "Danmarks første juletræ blev tændt i 1808". Kristelig Dagblad. December 17, 2008.23. At Queen's Lodge, Windsor (http://www.thamesweb.co.uk/christmas/christmas_tree.html)24. In 1829 the diarist Greville, visiting Panshanger country house, describes three small Christmas trees "such as is customary in Germany" which Princess

Lieven had put up. Hole, Christine (1950). English Custom and Usage. London: B.T.Batsford Ltd. p. 16.25. Queen Victoria (1912). Reginald Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher, ed. The girlhood of Queen Victoria: a selection from Her Majesty's diaries. J. Murray.

p. 61.

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26. Marie Claire Lejeune. Compendium of symbolic and ritual plants in Europe. Man & Culture. p. 550. ISBN 90­77135­04­9.27. ”GERMAN CHRISTMAS TREES. The nobility and gentry are respectfully informed that these handsome JUVENILE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS are

supplied and elegantly fitted up...”:Times [London, England] 20 December 1842:p.128. The Christmas Tree: published by Darton and Clark, London. 'The ceremony of the Christmas tree, so well known throughout Germany, bids fair to be

welcomed among us, with the other festivities of the season, especially now the Queen, within her own little circle, has set the fashion, by introducing iton the Christmas Eve in her own regal palace.' Book review of The Christmas Tree from the Weekly Chronicle, 14 December 1844, quoted in an advertheadlined 'A new pleasure for Christmas' in The Times, 23 December 1844, p.8

29. Godfrey and Margaret Scheele (1977). The Prince Consort, Man of many Facets: The World and The Age of Prince Albert. Oresko Books. p. 78.ISBN 9780905368061.

30. At the beginning of the year the custom was well­enough known for The Times to compare the January budget of 1848 with gifts handed out beneath "theChristmas tree":The Times (London, England), 21 January 1848, p. 4

31. Special Christmas supplement edition, published 23 December 184832. The Times (London, England), 27 December 1848. p. 733. “Now the best Christmas box/You can give to the young/Is not toys, nor fine playthings,/Nor trees gaily hung...”: Manchester Guardian, Saturday,

January 05, 1856, p.634. Manchester Guardian, 24 January 1856, p.3: the death of Caroline Luttrell of Kilve Court, Somerset.35. The Times (London, England), 28 December 1858, p. 836. The Poor Children's Yuletide Association. The Times (London, England),20 December 1906, p.2. The association sent 71 trees 'bearing thousands of

toys' to the poorest districts of London.37. 'A Merry Christmas': The Times (London, England), 27 December 1918, p.2 '...the so­called "Christmas tree" was out of favour. Large stocks of young

firs were to be seen at Covent Garden on Christmas Eve, but found few buyers. It was remembered that the "Christmas tree" has enemy associations."38. The next year a charity fair in aid of injured soldiers featured 'a huge Christmas­tree'. 'St. Dunstan's Christmas Fair.' The Times (London, England),20

December 1919, p.939. 'Poor families in Lewisham and similar districts are just as particular about the shape of their trees as people in Belgravia...' 'Shapely Christmas

Trees':The Times (London, England), 17 December 1926, p.1140. Christmas Tree Plantations. The Times (London, England), 11 December 1937, p.1141. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk­england­cornwall­2511750142. Emmy E. Werner (2006). In Pursuit of Liberty: Coming of Age in the American Revolution. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 115.

ISBN 9780275993061.43. Alfred Lewis Shoemaker (1999) [1959]. Christmas in Pennsylvania: a folk­cultural study. Stackpole Books. pp. 52–53. ISBN 0­8117­0328­2.44. Karal Ann Marling (2000). Merry Christmas! Celebrating America's greatest holiday. Harvard University Press. p. 244. ISBN 0­674­00318­7.45. Joseph Wenzel IV (30 November 2015). "First Decorated Christmas Tree in Windsor Locks". WFSB. Retrieved 2 December 2015.46. "The History of Christmas". Gareth Marples. Retrieved December 2, 2006.47. "Professor Brought Christmas Tree to New England". Harvard University Gazette. December 12, 1996. Retrieved December 2, 2012.48. "Charles Minnigerode (1814–1894)". Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.49. 'Notes and Queries', volume 8 (217), 24 December 1853, p.61550. "A Brief History of Electric Christmas Lighting in America". oldchristmastreelights. Retrieved 2014.51. "1 мая собираются праздновать 59% россиян" [May 1 going to celebrate 59% of Russians] (in Russian). April 27, 2012. Retrieved December 2,

2012. "New Year is among the most important holidays for 81% of Russians, while Christmas is such only for 19%, ranking after Victory Day, Easter,International Women's Day."

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52. Belk, Russell (2000). "Materialism and the Modern U.S. Christmas". Advertising & Society Review. Retrieved October 5, 2014.53. "Lighting of the National Christmas Tree". National Park Service. Retrieved April 5, 2009.54. "Flashback Blog: The World's Largest Decorated Christmas Tree". The Palm Beach Post. December 3, 2009. Retrieved March 4, 2010.55. 'Manchester's Gift To Lille..(FROM G. WARD PRICE.)' The Times (London, England),21 December 1918, p.756. "Town twinning: Bergen, Norway". Newcastle City Council.57. "DC: Christmas Tree Lighting at Union Station". Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved December 2, 2012.58. Peter Mazar (2000). School Year, Church Year: Customs and Decorations for the Classroom. Liturgy Training Publications. p. 161. ISBN 1568542402.59. "Customs of the Weeks after Epiphany". Holy Trinity (German) Catholic Church, Boston. Retrieved December 2, 2012.60. "Christmas Superstitions". Snopes.com. December 2006.61. Ace Collins Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. 2003; Zondervan.62. "Safety in the holidays". Retrieved 25 November 2013.63. Gary A. Chastagner and D. Michael Benson (2000). "The Christmas Tree". Archived from the original on December 6, 2006. Retrieved December 8,

2006.64. "Living Christmas Trees". Clemson University. Retrieved July 12, 2010.65. "Christmas tree". Department of Forestry, Michigan State University. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012.66. "BLM and Forest Service Christmas tree permits available". Bureau of Land Management. November 30, 2004. Retrieved December 18, 2012.67. "2007 Census of Agriculture: Specialty Crops (Volume 2, Subject Series, Part 8)" (PDF). United States Department of Agriculture. November 2009.

Table 1, page 1.68. "Unsere kleine Baumschule — Wissenswertes" [Our little nursery: Trivia] (in German). 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2012.69. Bruce David Forbes (2007). Christmas: A Candid History. University of California Press. pp. 121–22. ISBN 0­5202­5104­0.70. James Hewitt (2007). The Christmas Tree. Lulu.com. pp. 33–36. ISBN 1430308206.71. Broderick Perkins (December 12, 2003). "Faux Christmas Tree Crop Yields Special Concerns". Realty Times. Retrieved December 21, 2008.72. Elizabeth Silverthorne (1994). Christmas in Texas. Texas A&M University Press. p. 62. ISBN 0­8909­6578­1.73. Karal Ann Marling (2000). Merry Christmas!: Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday. Harvard University Press. pp. 58–62. ISBN 0­674­00318­7.74. Peter Cole (2002). Christmas Trees: Fun and Festive Ideas. Chronicle Books. p. 23. ISBN 0­8118­3577­4.75. Cassandra A. Fortin (October 26, 2008). "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (1958)". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved December 18, 2012.76. Candice Gaukel Andrews (2006). Great Wisconsin Winter Weekends. Big Earth Publishing. p. 178. ISBN 1­9315­9971­8.77. Jennifer Berry (December 9, 2008). "Fake Christmas Trees Not So Green". LiveScience. Retrieved December 18, 2012.78. Katherine Neer (December 2006). "How Christmas Trees Work". howStuffWorks. Retrieved December 21, 2008.79. "Table­top Christmas Tree". Popular Mechanics: 117. January 1937.80. "Glass Christmas Tree, one­day course listing". Diablo Glass School. Retrieved December 21, 2008.81. "Demand Grows for Upside Down Christmas Tree" (Audio). All Things Considered. NPR. November 9, 2005. Retrieved December 21, 2008.82. "Christmas Tree Safety". About.com.83. Sharon Caskey Hayes (November 26, 2008). "Grower says real Christmas trees are better for environment than artificial ones". Kingsport Times­News

(Kingsport, Tennessee). Retrieved December 21, 2008.84. "Facts on PVC Used in Artificial Christmas Trees". American Christmas Tree Association. Retrieved December 21, 2008.85. "Goats, elk happy to munch on your used Christmas trees". CBC News. Dec 29, 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2015.86. "Engineer Update: Old Christmas trees protect town beach". United States Army Corps of Engineers. March 2007. Archived from the original on 24

August 2007.87. "Christmas tree recycling begins Friday in Columbia County". The Augusta Chronicle. Retrieved 26 December 2014.

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88. "Recycling your tree can be a gift for environment". Star Tribune. Retrieved 26 December 2014.89. David Biello (December 4, 2008). "I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas (Tree)" (podcast transcript). Scientific American. Retrieved December 22, 2008.90. "Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Christmas trees — A study ends the debate over which Christmas tree, natural or artificial, is most ecological".

Ellipsos Inc. December 16, 2008. Retrieved December 18, 2012.91. "Recycling Your Tree: Real Christmas Trees are Recyclable". National Christmas Tree Association. Retrieved December 18, 2012.92. Maas, R. P.; Patch, S. C.; Pandolfo, T. J. (2004). "Artificial Christmas trees: How real are the lead exposure risks?". Journal of environmental health

67 (5): 20–24, 32. PMID 15628192.. Retrieved December 18, 2012.93. Levin, R.; Brown, M. J.; Kashtock, M. E.; et al. (2008). "Lead Exposures in U.S. Children, 2008: Implications for Prevention". Environmental Health

Perspectives 116 (10): 1285–1293. doi:10.1289/ehp.11241. PMC 2569084. PMID 18941567.. Retrieved December 18, 2012.94. Senn, Frank C. (2012). Introduction to Christian Liturgy. Fortress Press. p. 118. ISBN 9781451424331. "The Christmas tree as we know it seemed to

emerge in Lutheran lands in Germany in the sixteenth century. Although no specific city or town has been identified as the first to have a Christmas tree,records for the Cathedral of Strassburg indicate that a Christmas tree was set up in that church in 1539 during Martin Bucer's superintendency."

95. "The Christmas Tree". Lutheran Spokesman. 29­32. 1936. "The Christmas tree became a widespread custom among German Lutherans by the eighteenthcentury."

96. Kelly, Joseph F. (2010). The Feast of Christmas. Liturgical Press. p. 94. ISBN 9780814639320. "German Lutherans brought the decorated Christmastree with them; the Moravians put lighted candles on those trees."

97. Blainey, Geoffrey (24 October 2013). A Short History of Christianity. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 418. ISBN 9781442225909. "ManyLutherans continued to set up a small fir tree as their Christmas tree, and it must have been a seasonal sight in Bach's Leipzig at a time when it wasvirtually unknown in England, and little known in those farmlands of North America where Lutheran immigrants congregated."

98. The School Journal (E.L. Kellogg & Company) 55: 698. 1897. "Christmas is the occasional of family reunions. Grandmother always has the place ofhonor. As the time approaches for enjoying the tree, she gathers her grandchildren about her, to tell them the story of the Christ child, with the meaningof the Christ child, with the meaning of the Christmas tree; how the evergreen is meant to represent the life everlasting, the candle lights to recall thelight of the world, and the star at the top of the tree is to remind them of the star of Bethlehem." Missing or empty |title= (help)

99. Jennifer Eremeeva (15 Dec 2010). "And so, is this Christmas?". Russia Beyond the Headlines. "Russian Christians adhere to the Eastern Orthodoxcalendar, which lags 13 days behind the modern day calendar. This discrepancy was corrected in 1918, by the fledgling Bolshevik regime, but Christmasnever reverted to December 25th in Russia, because the Bolsheviks began a systematic campaign to phase out traditional religious holidays and replacethem with Soviet ones. Christmas was shifted to New Year’s Eve. At the beginning, stringent measures were put in place to see off any holdover of theold days: Christmas trees, introduced to Russia by Tsar Peter The Great in the 17th Century, were banned in 1916 by the Holy Synod as too German.The Bolsheviks kept the tree ban in place. Stalin declared Ded Moroz “an ally of the priest and kulak,” and outlawed him from Russia."

100. Connelly, Mark (2000). Christmas at the Movies: Images of Christmas in American, British and European Cinema. I.B.Tauris. p. 186.ISBN 9781860643972. "A chapter on representations of Christmas in Soviet cinema could, in fact be the shortest in this collection: suffice it to say thatthere were, at least officially, no Christmas celebrations in the atheist socialist state after its foundation in 1917."

101. Echo of Islam. MIG. 1993. "In the former Soviet Union, fir trees were usually put up to mark New Year's day, following a tradition established by theofficially atheist state."

102. Ramet, Sabrina Petra (10 November 2005). Religious Policy in the Soviet Union. Cambridge University Press. p. 138. ISBN 9780521022309. "TheLeague sallied forth to save the day from this putative religious revival. Antireligioznik obliged with so many articles that it devoted an entire section ofits annual index for 1928 to anti­religious training in the schools. More such material followed in 1929, and a flood of it the next year. It recommendedwhat Lenin and others earlier had explicitly condemned­­carnivals, farces, and games to intimidate and purge the youth of religious belief. It suggestedthat pupils campaign against customs associated with Christmas (including Christmas trees) and Easter. Some schools, the League approvingly reported,staged an anti­religious day on the 31st of each month. Not teachers but the League's local set the programme for this special occasion."

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103. Dice, Elizabeth A. (2009). Christmas and Hanukkah. Infobase Publishing. p. 44. ISBN 9781438119717. "The Christmas tree, or Yolka, is anothertradition that was banned during the Soviet era. To keep the custom alive, people decorated New Year's trees instead."

104. Margaret Stenhouse (December 22, 2010). "The Vatican Christmas Tree". Retrieved December 19, 2012.105. "Pre­Christmas Reflection: May Our Spirits Open to the True Spiritual Light". Zenit News Agency. December 21, 2005. Retrieved December 19, 2012.106. "Christmas tree is symbol of Christ, says Pope — And a Sign of 'Undying Life' ". Zenit News Agency. December 19, 2004. Retrieved December 19,

2012.107. "Urbi et Orbi message of His Holiness Pope John Paul II, Christmas 2003" (in Latin). December 25, 2003. Retrieved December 19, 2012.108. "Order for the Blessing of a Christmas Tree". Crossroads Initiative. Retrieved December 19, 2012.109. Kitch, Anne E. (2004). The Anglican Family Prayer Book. Morehouse Publishing. p. 125.110. "Nativity to be Allowed in Capitol Rotunda: Lawsuit Settlement Calls for Fair Treatment for Christian Beliefs". October 23, 2007. Retrieved

December 19, 2012.111. "Boston's 'Holiday Tree' Sparks Controversy". The Harvard Crimson. November 28, 2005. Retrieved January 8, 2008.112. "At Christmas, what's in a name?". ABC News. November 29, 2005. Retrieved 19 December 2012.113. Vipperman, Heather F. "Chrismons Ministry". History. Lutheran Church. Retrieved 27 November 2014.

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organization.