What species of christmas tree did you pick this year?
Merry Christmas and happy holidays! My favorite thing about Christmas is the tree. I love having a freshly cut pine in our living room all decorated and smelling great. The presents are nice and all but after Christmas day they are gone but the beautiful tree remains.
Every year millions and millions of trees find their way to our homes. businesses and churches. While it may seem we have had this tradition for time eternal it is in fact a relatively new thing. The first Christmas Trees came to Britain sometime in the 1830s. They became very popular in 1841, when Prince Albert (Queen Victoria's German husband) had a Christmas Tree set up in Windsor Castle. In 1848, drawing of "The Queen's Christmas tree at Windsor Castle" was published in the Illustrated London News. But even before this the evergreen fir tree had traditionally been used to celebrate winter festivals (pagan and Christian) for thousands of years. Pagans used branches of it to decorate their homes during the winter solstice, as it made them think of the spring to come. The Romans used Fir Trees to decorate their temples at the festival of Saturnalia. Christians use it as a sign of everlasting life with God.
Early Europeans also made use of trees for Christmas celebrations. These trees were used in medieval German Mystery or Miracle Plays that were acted out in front of Churches on Christmas Eve. In early church calendars of saints, 24th December was Adam and Eve's day. The Paradise Tree represented the Garden of Eden. It was often paraded around the town before the play started, as a way of advertising the play. The plays told Bible stories to people who could not read.
But the first documented use of a tree at Christmas and New Year celebrations is argued between the cities of Tallinn in Estonia and Riga in Latvia! Both claim that they had the first trees; Tallinn in 1441 and Riga in 1510. Both trees were put up by the 'Brotherhood of Blackheads' which was an association of local unmarried merchants, ship owners, and foreigners in Livonia (what is now Estonia and Latvia).
So what are the varieties we get to choose from? Well here they are;
WHITE PINE: The largest pine in the U.S., the white pine has soft, flexible needles and is bluish-green in color. Needles are 2½ - 5 inches long. White pines have good needle retention, but have little aroma.
FRASER FIR: The Fraser fir branches turn slightly upward. They have good form and needle-retention. They are dark blue-green in color. They have a pleasant scent, and this is my favorite tree by far!
DOUGLAS-FIR: These soft needles are dark green to blue green in color and are approximately 1 to 1 ½ in. in length. Douglas-fir needles radiate in all directions from the branch. When crushed, these needles have a sweet fragrance. They are one of the top major Christmas tree species in the U.S.
Ok there is your short primer on Christmas trees and as we all know there are many more varieties to choose from. I hope everyone has a merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Learn more about the varieties of trees here
How to care for your tree here
My favorite Christmas song here
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