Christmas Tree Traditions

Christmas is one of the most celebrated festivals of the world. Christmas has universal appeal. The Christmas traditions vary from one country to other. The festive fervor fills the entire atmosphere during Christmas. People enjoy going out for feast, parties and have family reunions. The cleaning and decoration of the home to welcome the festival is an activity that families enjoy doing. Family goes out to buy a Christmas tree and decorate it before the Christmas Eve. A fresh smelling and evergreen Christmas tree is an inseparable part of Christmas celebrations. People just love to decorate this Christmas tree with ornaments, lights. Tinsel and so on.

A lot of traditions are associated with Christmas tree all over the world. Christmas tree has its origin in Germany. The Christmas tree symbolizes the hope that after this winter, we will be able to see spring. Spring will give us flowers and fruits. Evergreen color signifies prosperity in our lives. The tree is associated with the German town of Geismar and with St. Boniface. St. Boniface was the first to use the evergreen fir tree as a symbol of Christmas. He cut down a Thor tree to remove the legitimacy of Norse gods in the local tribe of Germany. At that moment he saw the fir tree and took it as the Christmas tree that can be used in every house. Martin Luther King tried to use the symbol of Christmas tree for Christmas. He focused on it by saying that the Garden of Eden had this tree as Tree of Life.

The tradition of erecting Christmas tree started in sixteenth century in German town of Livonia. In earlier times, the Christmas tree was erected in public places and market squares. This helped the pastor in attracting the masses towards the Christmas tree. The young men sang and danced around this tree with young maidens. Slowly, the tradition of decorating the tree began. The tree was decorated with natural things like fruits, nuts, flowers, etc. Apples, dates, nuts were the common decoration used on the tree. The trees were erected near the guild-house.

The majority of Protestant erected the tree and decorated it. The Roman Catholics Church took time to accept this tradition. Steadily the Christmas tree started moving from Germany to the other European countries like England, Austria, France and so on. The candles were used along with fruits to decorate the tree. The urban population was the first to start erecting Christmas tree. The tradition took time to enter the rural areas of various countries. The royal family of England was the first to erect the Christmas tree at Windsor Castle.

After Britain, the tradition of erecting the Christmas tree went to America. The states of Connecticut, Pennsylvania were the first to start with this tradition as some settlers in these states had German connections. The German immigrants started the tradition of erecting the Christmas tree in different parts of America. Today, the Christmas tree is popular all around the world. The Christmas tree is now decorated with lights of various types and ornaments.