Upside-Down Christmas Trees: A Historical Tradition?

It’s the holiday season.

You just started Christmas shopping.

You’re walking from store to store hunting down the best deals on clothes your significant other will probably return on boxing day.

From the corner of your eye you notice a Christmas tree, but this one calls for closer inspection.

While this tree resembles any other decorated holiday pine, there is one feature distinguishing it from the rest:

It’s upside down.

You begin to think, wow, is this mall anti-Christmas?

How can they blatantly break tradition and be openly sacrilegious?

But what if these mall decorators are following a tradition dating back to the 7th century?

The History of Upside Down Christmas Trees

The history is murky, but in the Middle Ages, Europeans used upside-down fir trees to represent the holy trinity and mimic a crucifix shape.

There are many myths around the origin of the Christmas tree, but the most accepted story is from St. Boniface in the 8th century.

Supposedly, Boniface saw a group of pagans worshipping an oak tree.

To stop them, he cut the tree down, and a fir grew in its place.

Boniface used the 3 point triangular shape of the fir to represent the Holy Trinity.

Another theory suggests the inverted tree is a 12th century eastern European tradition.

Polish houses would hang a simple branch from the rafters pointing down at their dinner table.

Why did we switch to Upright Christmas trees?

In the book, Inventing The Christmas Tree, author Bernd Brunner explains that plaster ceilings replaced rafters and couldn’t hold much weight.

Recently, retail stores revived the Upside-down Christmas tree trend to free up floor space and hang ornaments at eye level.

Big names recently attached themselves to the upside down tree, with the Tate British Museum hanging a gold leaf tree and Karl Lagerfeld designing one for London’s Claridge’s Hotel.

So fear not, your local Target is not waging war on Christmas this season, they’re simply trying to free up floor space to sell more products to you, while staying trendy.