Today it is difficult for us to imagine the New Year holidays without a green, beautifully decorated spruce. But once our ancestors did without it. Where did the tradition of decorating the Christmas tree come from? You will learn about this from our article.
Christmas tree: a little about the symbol
Green beautiful spruce is an integral attribute of Christmas in many countries of the planet. As a rule, Christmas tree means not only a specific type of tree - ordinary spruce. The role of the festive tree with the same success is performed by pine or fir. Also in recent years, artificial imitations of live spruce have become increasingly popular.
Today, this attribute of the New Year's mood is beautifully and variably decorated with colorful balls, garlands, candles, lights and sweets. But many are wondering where the tradition of decorating the Christmas tree came from. Let's try to answer it together.
The origins of tradition
"Weihnachtsbaum" - that's what the Germans call the New Year tree. Answering the question of where the tradition of decorating the Christmas tree from the New Year came from, researchers confidently claim to be from Germany. The inhabitants of this country dressed up trees for Christmas back in the Middle Ages. They were sure that plants were able to bloom and bear fruit on Christmas night.
By the way, it should be noted that the ancient Germanic tribes always with special trepidation belonged to the natural world, endowing it with divine features. They sincerely believed in the existence of the so-called "forest spirits." And the most powerful spirits, in their opinion, lived just in the crowns of conifers. Therefore, in order to appease them, the Germans hung fruit, nuts and various sweets on the branches. By the way, this is why some people, when decorating the Christmas tree, even today refuse glass balls and "rain" in favor of apples, nuts or sweets.
Where did the tradition of decorating the Christmas tree come from? The Legend of Martin Luther
For a long time, even after Christianity was universally entrenched in the European region, people continued to leave on New Year's Eve in the forest. There they decorated the trees with fruits and goodies.
This whole situation, which was more suitable for a pagan society than for a Christian one, extremely worried the priest Martin Luther. And once he wandered into the forest, reflecting on this problem. In one of the glades, he saw a tall and beautiful spruce, powdered with silvery snow, which sparkled brightly under the moonlight. This wonderful picture reminded Martin Luther of the Star of Bethlehem, which became a guide for the Magi on Christmas night.
And so the brilliant idea was born at the reformer: he brought the spruce home and decorated it with lights resembling stars in the sky. This is the legend that explains this tradition.
It is difficult to say how true it can be. However, you can safely trust the written documents, which first mentioned Christmas trees. They are dated to the beginning of the XVII century. Then they were decorated with apples, nuts, colored paper. And only at the beginning of the XIX century, spruce, as a mandatory attribute of Christmas, spread to other European countries. And closer to the middle of the same century, tradition took root overseas, in particular in the United States.
Where did the tradition to decorate the Christmas tree in Russia come from?
Now it’s worth finding out how this custom migrated to our country. Where did the tradition to decorate the Christmas tree for the New Year in Russia come from?
“The window to Europe, ” as you know, was cut through by Tsar Peter I. This also applies to New Year’s traditions. So, it was by his decree that Russia began to celebrate the new year, and decorations in the form of branches of coniferous trees were used as early as 1700.
However, the tradition of decorating the Christmas tree in Russia became popular only in the 30s of the XIX century. And Nicholas I can rightfully be considered its founder. He was the first to order a Christmas tree for the holiday. After this, the king’s example was followed by all his close associates. The fact that in the middle of the 19th century German culture and literature was very popular in Russia also helped to popularize this custom.
It is also very interesting that the New Year tree managed to survive the difficult times of "the fight against opium for the people" - the years of Soviet power. So, immediately after the October Revolution, the Christmas holidays, as well as everything connected with them, fell under a strict ban. However, later, apparently, the realization came that people still needed holidays. And in 1936, the tree again became the main attribute of the winter holiday, but not of Christmas, but of the New Year. At the same time, the new religious ideologists managed to eradicate all the religious connotations of this symbol, and the top of the New Year’s spruce was taken not by Bethlehem, but by a red five-pointed star.
