Christmas Trees

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Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the tradition BUT...

What would aliens think about the fact that a majority of us put pine trees in our homes for three weeks and decorate them with lights/ornaments? Kinda bizarre, huh?

Circa 1970 the stand up comic Bob Newhart did a skit as a guest on some variety show about the very subject of "the first Christmas tree".

Obviously it wasnt historically accurate: Newhart played a modern American husband who lived in a modern high rise apartment.Not centuries ago when they started the custom.

But it was funny as heck.

Unfortunatly I cant find it on U Tube (it wasnt from either of the two Bob Newhart sitcom series, but from someone else's variety show back in the day, but clips from his sitcoms are the only things you can find on U Tube).

His wife brings a pine tree into the apartment "for xmas...I dunno..maybe we can put decorations on it...". With his deadpan humor he conveys how flabbergasted he is at the idea (and gets us in the audience to realize how absurd the custom is). The wife finnally gets angry and snaps at him, and says "what the matter with you! Do you have something against trees!!?!?!?!?!".

Put on the defensive he pauses and says "well...no...I guess...I just always assumed that trees are happier....out doors....ummm....you know....with other trees...."

Jeremiah 10:4

From what I understand they come from a pre-Christian German tradition. I know it didn't gain currency in the English-speaking world until the mid-19th century and from there it snowballed. Even in places like Australia where it's the middle of summer and there aren't many firs to begin with you can see them everywhere.

While I've heard talk of the Christmas tree having some kind of Pre-Christian origin among Germanic or Celtic peoples. the most convincing origin story says it was started by the father of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther. The story goes that Luther, riding home one Christmas night, saw the stars twinkling through the tree boughs. Impulsive individual that he was, Luther demonstrated to his family what he saw by cutting down a small tree, bringing it inside, and set lit candles on the branches. From this origin story, the Christmas tree became a German tradition, then was brought to England when the German and British monarchies began intermarrying. The tradition had probably come to America with the influx of the first German immigrants.

That first part doesnt sound like what I heard.


When I was a child reading the Sunday comics-the story I read in the Mark Trail strip was that the Pagan barbarian tribes of Germany worshipped the oak tree as a god (or as symbol of Odin). And a missionary from Rome trying to Christianize the tribe publicly cut down an oak tree one winter day - to symbolize the death of the old gods, and persuaded the tribe to focus on the fir tree as the symbol of Christ instead..

But the second part agrees with what I heard: that there was a sudden influx of German cultural influence into both of the main parts of the English speaking world at the same time in history (circa 1840) when the German royal family became the British Royal family. At about the same time there was the huge influx of German immigrants into the USA. The Royals, and the new German Americans both introduced the custom of Christmas trees into the English speaking world. After only decade both Brits and Americans were decorating Christmas trees and were already thinking that it was the "traditional" thing to do.

Just harvested mine,a red cedar growing in my field.Looking forward to seeing it all lit up tonight.

I'm just getting a desk one plastic and 1 ft. Put some fairy light round my dracena. Will have a tinsel and snowflake window clings that'll do.

First year I bothered doing anything in my place.

Mine is plastic and metal wire.

I bought a 4 year old Bonsai tree and put a bauble on it instead.

The Pre-Christian Germans had actually associated the oak with Thor (or Donar, or Thunor as he was also called), because it's alleged to be hit by lightning often.

Knew it was some god. And for some reason an evergreen tree was pointed to as a Christian alternative.

I've always wanted to do an outdoor edible one for the birds.
You get the little mini corns,dried sunflower heads,pine cones with peanut butter or suet rubbed inside them,edible garlands like popcorn or berries and decorate a tree,any tree,it doesn't have to be an evergreen.
Just never seemed to get it together in time.

I'm not going to lie - I top mine off with a large can of PBR

Heineken?!?!?! F*ck that sh*t! PABST BLUE RIBBON!! !

Dennis Hopper as Frank Boothe, in Blue Velvet.