It’s that time of year when, for some strange reason, we bring a tree into our houses and decorate it with lights, baubles and sweets. Peter Barron gets to the root of the tradition with ten Christmas tree facts
1. The evergreen fir tree has been used as a symbol of pagan and Christian winter festivals for thousands of years. Pagans used fir tree branches to decorate their homes during the winter solstice and Romans used fir trees to decorate temples at the festival of Saturnalia. Two cities – Tallinn in Estonia and Riga in Latvia – claim to have had the first “Christmas trees”. Tallinn’s claim goes back to 1441 and Riga’s to 1510. The trees were erected by an association called the “Brotherhood of Blackheads”, who danced around the tree before setting it on fire.
2. Franklin Pierce was the first President of the United States to place a Christmas tree in the White House in 1856.
3. Edward Johnson, an assistant working for Thomas Edison, the inventor of the electric light-bulb, is credited with coming up with the idea of decorating Christmas trees with electric lights in 1882. It was 1890 before Christmas tree lights were in mass production. Ten years later, large stores began to erect illuminated Christmas trees.
4. The people of Oslo, in Norway, have been giving a Christmas tree to the city of Westminster, in England, every year since 1947. It is a gift of thanks and goodwill for Britain’s support of Norway during the Second World War.
5. 98 per cent of all Christmas trees are now grown on farms, with only two per cent cut from the wild. It takes six to ten years for a tree to grow to maturity.
6. Germany is responsible for coming up with the idea of the artificial Christmas tree during the 19th century. The Germans dyed goose feathers green, attached them to wire branches and wrapped around a pole. Most artificial Christmas trees are now made in China.
7. Christmas trees have become very big business, with approximately 100,000 people employed full-time or part-time in producing and selling them.
8. 93 per cent of real Christmas trees are now recycled.
9. About eight million Christmas trees are bought every year in Britain, while up to 40 million are sold each festive season in America.
10. According to the National Gardening Association, the most popular Christmas tree is the Balsam fir. It is tall and slender, making it great for tight spaces, with half-inch-long needles, long-lasting and very aromatic.
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