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.
雖然普遍認為,圣誕樹在其目前的形式來自德國在19世紀早期,裝飾冬天一棵樹來紀念慶祝活動的傳統可以追溯到幾百年羅馬時代,當他們使用裝飾常綠喬木的金屬小塊慶祝農神節。
在中世紀的天堂玩的是每年12月24日執行。描述人的創造和亞當和夏娃從伊甸園的秋天,總是包括常綠掛著蘋果代表誘惑的蘋果樹。
有一個傳說,圣小旅店,一個英語和尚,遇到一群異教徒聚集在一棵橡樹準備犧牲一個孩子的神托爾。為了阻止犧牲,拯救孩子的生命,圣小旅店的老板據說砍伐樹的拳頭一拳。后來,冷杉樹生長在橡樹的地方,圣博尼費斯告訴異教徒,是生命之樹,代表了基督的孩子。
傳說也表明,在16世紀末期,馬丁·路德(新教宗教的創始人)是第一個用蠟燭裝飾室內樹當他試圖重現星星閃亮的常綠的森林。
室內裝飾樹的第一次提到被發生在1605年在德國——一個國家歷史悠久的圣誕樹!最初的樹裝飾著水果和糖果一起手工制作的對象(如羽毛狀的雪花和星星。德國圣誕節市場開始銷售的文化遺產和蠟裝飾品,人們買紀念品的公平和帶回家掛在圣誕樹上。
金屬絲也在德國在1610年發明的。直到最近使用真正的銀,拖入薄帶的特殊機器。這是耐用但玷污很快,發生了許多實驗,試圖找到一個替代——包括鉛和錫、太重,不停地打破。直到20世紀中期,一個可行的選擇。
人工樹木是在1880年代發明的,試圖阻止一些損壞造成真正的樹木由于人砸斷大樹的頂端,從而防止樹木進一步增長。它變得如此糟糕在德國法律必須在阻止人們擁有多個樹。
維多利亞女王的丈夫,阿爾伯特王子,被認為是負責引入自定義裝飾圣誕樹,英國公眾的第一英語圣誕樹在溫莎城堡在1841年使用蠟燭、糖果、水果和姜餅。
圣誕樹的流行上半年增長在英國20世紀初,隨著樹變得更大、更精心裝飾著鈴鐺,裝飾物和金屬箔。然而,第二次世界大戰的爆發導致禁止砍伐樹木裝飾和人們采取小,人工桌面樹木軸承家里做裝飾。這些經常被分解成的防空洞警報拉響的時候提供一些圣誕快樂!
這一切都改變了戰爭之后,大樹被豎立在許多公共場所慶祝圣誕節。其中最著名的是樹在特拉法加廣場,倫敦是一個年度來自挪威政府的禮物感謝他們收到英國在戰爭期間的幫助。
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