Where Did the Idea of a Christmas Tree Come From?

When it comes to Christmas, there’s no other symbol that people associate this festive time with more than the Christmas Tree. With all the lights, ornaments, and glistening star atop the tree, this symbol has been around for what seems like forever. It’s where the presents are tucked away for children to find Christmas morning to unwrap while their parents watch and take photos

But where exactly did the idea of the Christmas Tree come from, anyway?

In the UK, Queen Victoria’s consort Prince Albert is typically given credit for introducing the Christmas tree to England in the mid-1800’s. But this credit actually belongs to George III’s wife Queen Charlotte, who set up the first known English Christmas tree at Queen’s Lodge, Windsor.

Infamous religious reformer Martin Luther was the real person who invented the Christmas tree. Legend has it that one winter’s night in the 1536, Luther was strolling through pine trees near his home in Wittenberg when he gazed up and witnessed thousands of stars shining on the branches of the trees

This amazing sight inspired him to set up a pine tree in his home and adorn it with candles to mimic the stars gleaming in the tree branches out in the forest. That Christmas, the tree he set up was to remind his children of the heavens from where their Saviour Jesus Christ came.

By the time Queen Charlotte passed away, the tradition of the Christmas tree was solidly established in society, and continued to become more popular throughout the 1820s and 30s. These early English Yuletide trees can be best described through the diary of Charles Greville, the Clerk of the Privy Council.

The things that really seemed to impress Greville in his diary entries were the beautiful little spruce fir trees that his house guests set up on Christmas Day to entertain the youngest children in the home.

It wasn’t until news periodicals like the Illustrated London News and The Graphic started to depict and describe the royal Christmas trees each year in the mid-1800’s that the custom of setting up these trees in homes caught on with all the people of England.

Whatever type or way of decoration, Christmas trees certainly delight the senses of both children and adults alike. Christmas is definitely a special time of year, and one where gifts are exchanged to show each other appreciation.

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