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Christmas season seems to come earlier and earlier every year. Lights, lawn ornaments and little Santas replace garden gnomes and pink flamingos before the Thanksgiving turkey is completely consumed, superstores prepare months in advance for shoppers interested in the latest fashion trends and Christmas tree vendors suffocate every possible open lot.
Traditionally, Christmas trees were not even bought and decorated until Christmas Eve, but the prevailing commercialization of Christmas has resulted in trees being set up much earlier.
The history behind decorating trees dates back to the Middle Ages, during which an evergreen was ornamented with apples on Dec. 24 to celebrate the feast of Adam and Eve. Some scholars argue that the Old English poem, the “Dream of the Rood,” refers to an early Christmas tree, and the tree eventually became the cross on which Jesus was crucified.
Both Latvia and Germany trace their Christmas tree traditions to the 16th century, when small fir trees were decorated with apples, candies, nuts, pretzels and paper flowers.
The first Christmas trees in America seem to come from a number of conflicting stories.
Some say the earliest accounts come from German settlers in eastern Pennsylvania, while another report tells of a Christmas tree set up at Fort Dearborn, Ill., by American Soldiers in 1804. Others believe German soldiers, hired by Great Britain during
the Revolutionary War, set up the first festive trees in the United States in 1777.
Since about 1850, Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United States, with the first retail lot in New York in 1851.
In 1882 Thomas Edison’s assistant, Edward Johnson, conceived the idea of electric lights, and in 1890 Christmas tree lights were mass produced.
In 1923 President Calvin Coolidge lit the first National Christmas Tree on the White House lawn.
Consider these Christmas tree facts from the University of Illinois :
• 30-35 million real Christmas trees are sold in the U.S. every year.
• An acre of Christmas trees provides for the daily oxygen requirements of 18 people.
• In the United States, there are more than 21, 000 Christmas tree growers.
• 73 million new Christmas trees will be planted this year.
• Artificial trees will last for six years in your home, but for centuries in a landfill.
• The best selling trees are Scotch pine, Douglas fir, noble fir, Fraser fir, Virginia pine, balsam fir and white pine.
• In 1979, the National Christmas Tree was not lit except for the top ornament. This was done in honor of the American hostages in Iran.
• Teddy Roosevelt banned the Christmas tree from the White House for environmental reasons.
• Real Christmas trees are involved in less than one-tenth of one percent of residential fires and only when ignited by some external ignition sources.
• More than 2,000 trees are usually planted per acre. On an average 1,000 to 1,500 of these trees will survive. In the North, maybe 750 trees will remain. Almost all trees require shearing to attain the Christmas tree shape. At six to seven feet, trees are ready for harvest. It takes six to 10 years of fighting heavy rain, wind, hail and drought to get a mature tree.
One trend gaining popularity is the inverted evergreen.
Here, artificial trees are hung from the ceiling or wall upside-down.
Whatever the trend, one thing is certain – the erected evergreen will always remain a Christmas tradition.
Chad Mendenhall
