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Christmas trees through the ages |
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Christmas trees through the ages
For many, it's a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus on 25 December. Others embrace it as a special time to spend with family and friends, while the Pagans recognize this time of the year as the winter solstice.
Traditionally an evergreen, today's decorated Christmas tree comes in a multitude of shapes, sizes and mediums. These include harvested firs and conifers, African rococo wire, fibre optic and artificial ones made of plastic, wood and metal. History has it that the first decorated Christmas tree originated in Riga, Latvia in 1510, where according to www.firstchristmastree.com, there is a plaque in the town square that reads: "The First New Year's Tree in Riga in 1510″.
For all its modern-day popularity and cheer, however, the Christmas tree has had a somewhat bumpy ride through the ages.
The religioustolerance.org website says Christian theologist Tertullian (c.160 - c.230) was an early antagonist who warned people about the idolatrous association between Christianity and Paganism in terms of using evergreen plants for decoration.
The Christmas tree controversy continued over the centuries, hitting a particularly low spot in the 16th century when John Calvin branded it frivolous, according to David Beaulieu in his article "Christmas Tree Decorating: The History of the Christmas Tree" on about.com. Calvin also objected to observing the Christian calendar, which includes Christmas and Easter, because he felt such celebrations promoted "irreligious frivolity". Ironically, continues Beaulieu, it was at this same point in history that Germany pioneered the art of Christmas tree decorating.
The Calvinist influence prevented tree decorating from reaching England until the reign of Queen Victoria, he notes further. An excerpt from Wikipdeia, the free encyclopaedia, has a journal entry written by her on Christmas Eve 1832, when she was just 13 years old: "After dinner...we then went into the drawing-room near the dining-room...There were two large round tables on which were placed two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments. All the presents being placed round the trees..."
Her marriage to her German cousin Prince Albert, who also loved the tradition, ensured its rapid growth in England. It only reached America in the 19th century, however, brought with a wave of European immigrants who were able to counter the puritans' anti sentiments.
A time line on the National Christmas Tree Association's website, (christmastree.org) pegs the following years as significant in the history of the Christmas tree:
• 1851 was the first year in which Christmas trees were sold commercially in America
• 1853 was when Franklin Pierce brought the first Christmas tree to the White House
• The late 1800s saw the introduction of the first glass ornaments by Germany to the USA
• By the 1900s, the popularity of the Christmas tree had reached such proportions that the country's natural supply of evergreens was in danger of being wiped out. This started a campaign in which people were encouraged to substitute the real thing for an artificial "snow" covered tree comprising a branch of a deciduous tree wrapped in cotton.
• In 1901, W V McGalliard started the first Christmas tree farm in the USA when he planted 25 000 Norway spruces on his farm in New Jersey
• His undertaking was emulated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s on his estate in Hyde Park, New York
• The National Christmas Tree Association began its time-honored tradition of having the Grand Champion grower present a Christmas tree to the First Lady for display in the White House in 1966
Electric lights
Lighted candles as tree decorations might have been very attractive but they were also a major fire risk. The invention of electric Christmas tree lights by Thomas Edison's assistant, Edward Johnson in 1882 (ideafinder.com) therefore added a welcome safety element.
Johnson's invention consisted of a hand-wired strand of 80 red, white and blue bulbs, which he draped around a rotating evergreen tree. The website says his idea was picked up by President Grover Cleveland who set up a lighted Christmas tree in the White House in 1895. It had enormous appeal – not only for the general public but also high society members who began hosting grand Christmas tree parties.
Ideafinder.com notes additional improvements in the ensuing years:
• In 1903, the American Eveready Co. brought out a Christmas light set that included screw-in bulbs and a wall socket plug
• Five years later, someone called Ralph Morris took the lights from an old telephone switchboard, wired them to a tree and ran them off a battery
• The person responsible for popularizing Christmas tree lighting, however, was a 15 year old boy called Albert Sadacca whose immigrant family sold cages with light-up imitation birds. A tragic fire in New York City in 1917, caused by candles on a Christmas tree, gave Albert the idea of making electric tree lights. His parents agreed that it was a far safer way of tree decorating and started making strings of lights from their supply of bulbs. According to Ideafinder.com, however, only 100 strings of electric Christmas tree lights sold in their first year of production. The website continues: "After Albert thought of painting the bulbs red, green, and other colors instead of using plain glass, business picked up sharply. Albert became the head of a multi-million dollar company. The company started by Albert Sadacca and his two brothers, Henri and Leon, was NOMA Electric Company, the largest Christmas lighting company in the world for all of the years of its operation prior to 1965."
The price of the little things …
For some, it's the small things that count. In the Christmas tree context, though, this could cost someone US $1.8 million – the price tag on a Christmas tree at the Takashimaya department store chain in Tokyo. According to bornrich.org, the tree, which measures just 40cm, is made of preserved roses with a teddy bear, and decorated with 400 diamonds.
Alternatively, and with a price tag of just $850,000, bornrich.org suggests that Japanese jeweler Ginza Tanaka's 21-carat gold Christmas tree might appeal.
More affordable and with a local flavour is the hand-made African Baobab tree being advertised by PriceCheck online shopping for R850. At its tallest point it's just 56cm and it comes with 30 hand-strung decorations. Or support CharitySA.co.za and buy a Christmas tree made of red roses and gold decorations for R484 through Kalahari.net. – Ingrid Smit
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Posted on Monday, December 24, 2007 (Archive on Tuesday, January 01, 2008)
Posted by hayleym Contributed by hayleym
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