The First Christmas Tree

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First Christmas Tree
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Christmas Tree In the 7th century, an English monk used a triangular fir tree to describe the Holy Trinity (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) while teaching the Word of God in Germany. Germans originally revered the oak tree, but soon passed it up for the fir and viewed it as God's tree. Centuries later, it became the symbol of Christianity.

You have to go back to 1043 to find the earliest English reference to December 25 as Christmas Day. Christmas carols, associated with the religious observation of the birth of Christ, began to surface in the 14th century.

In 1510, the first Christmas tree was decorated in Riga, Latvia. Shortly thereafter, Martin Luther decorated a tree with candles to explain to his children how stars twinkled at night. Later that century, Christmas markets were set up across Germany; offering gifts, foods, and decorations such as ornaments and gingerbread men.

Exactly 100 years after the first tree was decorated, Germans invented tinsel; using REAL silver. Machines were created to shave silver into thin strips. Though it tarnished quickly and was heavy to sit on a tree, lead and tin alternatives didn't work. And so silver was continually used until the 1950s.

Since then, Christmas trees have come in a variety of forms, but have maintained their triangular shape in honor of the Christ Child.