As soon as November comes upon us, the idea of Christmas starts filling our heads—Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas trees being sprung up everywhere we look. They start off in stores, like the iconic Macy’s tree in New York City, then they show up in our town and city’s squares, and lastly, we put them up in our very own homes. These trees come in all different sizes and styles: from real to fake, themed trees, popcorn strands and ornaments we all made in our elementary years. But even with all the different varieties of the iconic symbol, one word always pops into our heads every time we see it: Christmas! But while Christmas trees are everywhere we look, do we really know how this iconic symbol came about?
During ancient times in many countries, it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness during the winter Solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year which falls on December 22.
However, the true credit of starting the Christmas tree tradition as we know it today belongs to Germany. In the 16th century, loyal Christians began bringing trees into their homes. It is believed that Martin Luther was the first to add lighted candles to the tree. He wanted to remake the scene that he saw while walking home one winter evening—a brilliance of stars twinkling amidst the evergreens.
In 1846, the popular Queen Victoria and her German Prince, Albert, made decorating the tree popular by having a sketching done with her family standing around a Christmas tree. Queen Victoria was very popular with her subjects, so whatever she did became immediately fashionable.
As the 20th century came about, Americans started decorating their trees with homemade ornaments. Electricity then brought about Christmas lights, which made it possible for Christmas trees to twinkle all through the night. With Christmas lights becoming increasingly popular, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across country and soon became an American tradition.
Merry Christmas, collegiettes!