The Christmas Forest – History of the Tree.
AD – Gifted
We recently had our Christmas tree delivered courtesy of The Christmas Forest and it got me wondering about the history of the Christmas tree. Why do we drag a tree from the forest into our house every year to celebrate Christmas?* At no other time of year would we do this!
The history of the Christmas tree goes back much further then you would imagine with Pagans using using trees to decorate their temples during the festival of Saturnalia and even ancient Egyptians used to use evergreen wreaths and garland to symbolise eternal life.
It’s believed that the fir tree was first used 1000 years ago in Northern Europe and probably brought over to the UK by Queen Charlotte, the German wife of King George III in 1800 and adopted quickly by the wealthy families of the UK.
Christmas trees were originally suspended upside down from the ceilings. They were decorated with real candles to represent stars in the Victorian times, and continue to be in Europe, when I was little, my Austrian Granny still put real candles on, they were attached to wooden clothes pegs and we clipped them onto the branches.
Christmas tree skirts started as Christmas tree carpets and were heavy bits of fabric designed to stop the wax damaging the floor or table that the Christmas tree stood on. Europeans used to put nativity scenes under their trees.
Tinsel was also invented in Germany and was made from hammered strands of real silver.
*Thankfully with the Christmas Forest, they do all the hard work for you, no forest trips necessary, just choose your tree height online, your delivery date and whether you want a stand and lo and behold, one tree delivered to your door! Read my review from our experience last year here.
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