By Fabia Buescher (fb586@cam.ac.uk)
Today, one of the most prominent Christmas traditions in Britain is the Christmas tree. Real or artificial, it is decorated with Christmas baubles, tinsel and lights. But how did fir trees become such an integral part of Christmas?
Since antiquity, many cultures, including Egypt, China and Rome, used evergreens for festive religious decorations, symbolizing eternal life.[i] Yet, it was in sixteenth-century Germany that the modern version of the Christmas tree originated. There, the trees were used to represent the Garden of Eden on the religious feast day of Adam and Eve on 24 December.[ii] This tradition spread across other countries as well, and it was introduced into early nineteenth-century England by Queen Charlotte, King George III’s German-born wife. After Queen Charlotte set up the first known Christmas tree at Windsor Castle in December 1800, the Christmas tree tradition continued to thrive throughout the 1820s and 1830s.[iii]
Yet, it was not until the mid-nineteenth century that the Christmas tree became a more wide-spread tradition beyond the aristocracy. Describing and illustrating the Christmas tree of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in December 1848, The Illustrated London News created a sensation around Christmas trees. Celebrating the yuletide season, the periodical reveals:
‘The tree employed for this festive purpose is a young fir about eight feet high, and has six tiers of branches. On each tier, or branch, are arranged a dozen wax tapers. Pendent from the branches are elegant trays, baskets, bonbonnières, and other receptacles for sweetmeats, of the most varied and expensive kind; and of all forms, colours, and degrees of beauty. Fancy cakes, gilt gingerbread, and eggs filled with sweetmeats, are also suspended by variously-coloured ribbons from the branches’.[iv]
Thus, with the mass-market documentation of Queen Victoria’s Christmas tree, the Christmas tree tradition became firmly rooted in the nineteenth-century middle-class household as well, and it continues to delight both children and adults today.
Illustration: J. L. Williams, ‘Christmas Tree at Windsor Castle’, The Illustrated London News, 23 December 1848, p. 409.
[i] Marc Kosciejew, ‘Documenting Victoria’s Christmas Tree: A Conceptual Analysis of Newspapers, Communities and Holiday Traditions’, Media History 27, 4, 2021, p. 462.
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Barnes, Allison, ‘The First Christmas Tree’, History Today 56, 12, 2006, https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/first-christmas-tree.
[iv] Anonymous, ‘The Christmas Tree at Windsor Castle’, The Illustrated London News, 23 December 1848, p. 410.
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