A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance. The custom was developed in medieval Livonia and in early modern Germany where Protestant Germans brought decorated trees into their homes. The Catholic Church had long resisted this Protestant custom and the Christmas Tree stood for the first time in Vatican in 1982.
About Christmas tree in brief
A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance. The custom was developed in medieval Livonia and in early modern Germany where Protestant Germans brought decorated trees into their homes. The Catholic Church had long resisted this Protestant custom and the Christmas Tree stood for the first time in Vatican in 1982. The tree was traditionally decorated with colored paper, apples, wafers, tinsel, sweetmeats. In the 18th century, it began to be illuminated by candles, which were ultimately replaced by Christmas lights after the advent of electrification. Edible items such as gingerbread, chocolate and other sweets are also popular and are tied to or hung from the tree’s branches with ribbons. In Western Christian tradition, Christmas trees are variously erected on days such as the first day of Advent or even as late as Christmas Eve depending on the country; customs of the same faith hold that the two traditional days when Christmas decorations are removed are Twelfth Night and, if they are not taken down on that day, Candlemas, the latter of which ends the Christmas-Epiphany season in some denominations. Modern Christmas trees have been related to the \”tree of paradise\” of medieval mystery plays that were given on 24 December, the commemoration and name day of Adam and Eve in various countries. In such plays, a tree decorated with apples and wafer was used as a setting for the play. Like the Christmas crib, the Paradise tree was later placed in homes and replaced by round objects such as shiny red balls.
At the end of the Middle Ages, an early predecessor appears referred in the Regiment of the Order of Cister in the 15th century in Alcobaça, Portugal. Other sources have offered a connection between the symbolism of the first documented Christmas trees in Alsace around 1600 and the trees of pre-Christian traditions. The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands to symbolize eternal life was a custom of the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. Tree worship was common among pagan Europeans and Scandinavian customs of decorating the house and barn with everreens at the New Year to scare away the devil and the birds during Christmas time. During the Roman mid-winter festival of Saturnalia, Roman houses were decorated with evergreen plants, along with other antecedent customs associated with Christmas. Georgians have their own traditional Christmas tree called Chichichians, which reminds them about how its triangular shape reminds them of the Trinity and how it reminds them how it points to heaven. A later version of the story adds the detail that an ever green oak fell in place of the triangular oak, telling them how its shape reminds the humanity of heaven of how it grew in the 8th century among the pagan practices of Saint Boniface. The story of Saint Donifar’s Oak illustrates the pagan practice of cutting down the Oak in 8th Century among the Germans.
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This page is based on the article Christmas tree published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 29, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
