Christmas Series: Tree
History of the Christmas Tree
December 8 is National Christmas Tree Day.
It is generally believed that the first Christmas Tree was of German origin, dating from the time of St. Boniface, an English missionary to Germany in the 8th century. He replaced the sacrifices to the Norse god Odin’s sacred oak — some say it was Thor‘s Thunder Oak — with a fir tree adorned in tribute to the Christ Child.
The legend is told that Boniface found a group of “pagans” preparing to sacrifice a boy near an oak tree near Lower Hesse, Germany. He cut down the oak tree with a single ax stroke and stopped the sacrifice. A small fir tree sprang up in place of the oak. He told the pagans this was the “tree of life” and stood for Christ.
How has the use of the Christmas Tree changed through the centuries?
Middle Ages
A legend began to circulate in the early Middle Ages: when Jesus was born in the dead of winter, all the trees throughout the world shook off their ice and snow to produce new shoots of green. The medieval Church would decorate outdoor fir trees, known as “paradise trees,” with apples on Christmas Eve. They called it “Adam and Eve Day” and celebrated with a play.
