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The History of Christmas Trees and Ornaments
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
The origins of the first Christmas trees can be traced back to the Alsace region of 16th-century Germany. At the time, these trees were made of fir, since this was the wood of choice among the local craftsmen in this region. During the holiday season, these trees were handsomely decorated with real apples, but were only erected in front of city hall. At that time, homes were typically decorated with all kinds of tree branches such as holly, mistletoe, hawthorn, spruce, pine, yew and laurel. Over time, however, Christmas trees started popping up inside people’s homes.
These trees were suspended from the ceiling and had the traditional apples attached to their trunks. Legend has it that one year, following a particularly bad apple crop, the Christmas trees remained bare. The children were so disappointed that a glassblower worked all through Christmas night to create beautiful glass Christmas balls to replace the apples.
The glass Christmas balls were eventually replaced with other decorative items such as small cakes and toys. Christmas trees would be solidly planted in buckets of sand and then shaken vigorously to knock off and distribute the attached gifts, much to everyone’s joy.
Other popular tree ornaments that came about were edible treats such as candies, painted walnuts and figurines made of marzipan. It was only in the 19th century that decorations were constructed with materials such as papier-mâché, wire, glass or wax. Apples and oranges remained popular decorations, and were decorated with elaborate designs made of paper and communion wafers. Today, Christmas ornaments are nostalgic reminders of these first holiday decorations.
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