Although it is generally agreed that the Christmas tree in its current form came from Germany in the early 19th century, the tradition of decorating a tree to mark winter celebrations dates back hundreds of years to Roman times, when they used to decorate evergreen trees with small pieces of metal to celebrate Saturnalia.
In medieval times the 'Paradise Play' was performed every year on 24 December. This depicted the creation of Man and the fall of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and always included an evergreen hung with apples which represented the apple tree of temptation.
There is a legend that St Boniface, an English monk, came upon a group of pagans gathered around an oak tree who were preparing to sacrifice a child to the God Thor. In order to stop the sacrifice, and save the child's life, St Boniface is said to have felled the tree with one blow of his fist. Later on, a fir tree grew in place of the oak and this, St Boniface told the pagans, was the Tree of Life and represented the Christ Child.
Legend also suggests that, in the late 16th century, Martin Luther (the founder of the Protestant religion) was the first to decorate an indoor tree with candles when he attempted to recreate the stars shining over a forest of evergreens.
The first mention of decorated trees being taken indoors came in 1605 in Germany - a country with a long Christmas tree history! The trees were initially decorated with fruit and sweets together with hand made objects such as quilled snowflakes and stars. German Christmas Markets began to sell shaped gingerbreads and wax ornaments which people bought as souvenirs of the fair and took home to hang on their tree.
Tinsel was also invented in Germany in about 1610. Up until fairly recently real silver was used, which was pulled into wafer thin strips by special machines. This was durable but tarnished quickly and many experiments took place to try and find an alternative - including a mix of lead and tin, which was too heavy and kept breaking. It was only in the mid 20th century that a viable alternative was found.
Artificial trees were invented in the 1880's in a bid to try and stop some of the damage being caused to real trees due to people lopping the tip off large trees, thus preventing the trees from growing any further. It got so bad in Germany that laws had to be brought in to prevent people having more than one tree.
Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, is credited with being responsible for introducing the custom of the Christmas tree to the British public by decorating the first English Christmas tree at Windsor Castle in 1841 using candles, sweets, fruit and gingerbread.
The popularity of the Christmas tree grew in Britain during the first half of the 20th century, with trees becoming bigger and more elaborately decorated with bells, baubles and tinsel. However, the onset of the Second World War resulted in a ban on cutting down trees for decoration and people resorted to having small, artificial tabletop trees bearing home made decorations. These were often taken down into the air raid shelters when the sirens sounded to provide a bit of Christmas cheer!
This all changed following the war, and large trees were erected in many public places to celebrate Christmas. The most famous of these is the tree in Trafalgar Square, London which is an annual gift from the Norwegian government to give thanks for the help they received from Britain during the war.
虽然普遍认为,圣诞树在其目前的形式来自德国在19世纪早期,装饰冬天一棵树来纪念庆祝活动的传统可以追溯到几百年罗马时代,当他们使用装饰常绿乔木的金属小块庆祝农神节。
在中世纪的天堂玩的是每年12月24日执行。描述人的创造和亚当和夏娃从伊甸园的秋天,总是包括常绿挂着苹果代表诱惑的苹果树。
有一个传说,圣小旅店,一个英语和尚,遇到一群异教徒聚集在一棵橡树准备牺牲一个孩子的神托尔。为了阻止牺牲,拯救孩子的生命,圣小旅店的老板据说砍伐树的拳头一拳。后来,冷杉树生长在橡树的地方,圣博尼费斯告诉异教徒,是生命之树,代表了基督的孩子。
传说也表明,在16世纪末期,马丁·路德(新教宗教的创始人)是第一个用蜡烛装饰室内树当他试图重现星星闪亮的常绿的森林。
室内装饰树的第一次提到被发生在1605年在德国——一个国家历史悠久的圣诞树!最初的树装饰着水果和糖果一起手工制作的对象(如羽毛状的雪花和星星。德国圣诞节市场开始销售的文化遗产和蜡装饰品,人们买纪念品的公平和带回家挂在圣诞树上。
金属丝也在德国在1610年发明的。直到最近使用真正的银,拖入薄带的特殊机器。这是耐用但玷污很快,发生了许多实验,试图找到一个替代——包括铅和锡、太重,不停地打破。直到20世纪中期,一个可行的选择。
人工树木是在1880年代发明的,试图阻止一些损坏造成真正的树木由于人砸断大树的顶端,从而防止树木进一步增长。它变得如此糟糕在德国法律必须在阻止人们拥有多个树。
维多利亚女王的丈夫,阿尔伯特王子,被认为是负责引入自定义装饰圣诞树,英国公众的第一英语圣诞树在温莎城堡在1841年使用蜡烛、糖果、水果和姜饼。
圣诞树的流行上半年增长在英国20世纪初,随着树变得更大、更精心装饰着铃铛,装饰物和金属箔。然而,第二次世界大战的爆发导致禁止砍伐树木装饰和人们采取小,人工桌面树木轴承家里做装饰。这些经常被分解成的防空洞警报拉响的时候提供一些圣诞快乐!
这一切都改变了战争之后,大树被竖立在许多公共场所庆祝圣诞节。其中最著名的是树在特拉法加广场,伦敦是一个年度来自挪威政府的礼物感谢他们收到英国在战争期间的帮助。
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