Today, the Christmas tree has become an indispensable element of the Christmas celebrations, whether in the private or in the public sphere. Indeed, by now it can be safely said that the Christmas tree is a symbol of Christmas as such. Thus, it might come as a surprise that the Christmas tree custom is only about 500 years old: It originated in Germany, and the first written evidence for a Christmas tree dates back to the 16th century. Yet even before that, evergreen branches or those that could be brought to bloom played an important role in the time of winter, Christmas, and the new year. People put up evergreen branches, so-called Wintermaien or Weihnachtsmaien. The term maien was later on also used for the Christmas tree, which implies that both customs are connected. Apart from the Barbara- or Lucia-branches that were brought to bloom for Christmas, in some areas of Germany people also decorated branches from different kinds of trees with apples, pears, nuts, gingerbread, and marzipan.
In 1570 a guild chronicle from Bremen tells us about a Dattelbäumchen, a little fir tree decorated with apples, nuts, dates, pretzel and paper flowers, which was put up in the guild house and which the children of the guild members were allowed to plunder at Christmas. Most of these early references of trees set up in guild houses for Christmas are from the south of Germany and neighboring countries, and the edible decorations were either given to the children or to the poor.
In the wake of the reformation and with the rise of the guilds, a new form of private Christmas festivities was developed by Protestant town guilds. By the early 17th century these new festivities consisted of reading the Christmas story and singing carols, of specific gift customs, and of the Christmas tree, which was thus brought from the public into the private sphere. This new form of Christmas celebrations contrasted with the Catholic cribs and shepherds' plays, and consequently, it was taken as a sign of confessional affiliation whether a family set up a crib or a tree at Christmas.
In the 17th and 18th century the Christmas tree custom spread from town to town, but did not yet reach the country because the new fashion was regarded as posh and costly. Yet another social class quickly took up the custom: the aristocracy, where we also find the first reference to a Christmas tree decorated with lights. In 1708 the Duchess of Orléans, better known as Lieselotte von der Pfalz, wrote to her daughter: "There, they set tables like altars and fitted them out for each child, with all kinds of things, like new clothes, silvery, dolls, sugary sweets and everything you can think of. On these tables they put box trees and attach a little candle to each twig; that looks delightful …"While towards the end of the 18th and in the 19th century those "gift tables" also appeared in middle-class households, the Duchess' report shows that aristocratic children apparently all got a Christmas tree of their own. Furthermore, it becomes apparent that at that stage people did not only use fir trees, but also other trees like box trees, yews or holly, depending on the area where they lived. In addition, different forms of the Christmas tree developed, like the hanging Christmas tree, the (wooden) Christmas pyramid, or the bow tree.
In the 18th and 19th century the German aristocracy spread the Christmas tree custom throughout the whole of Europe. It is thought that the Hanoverian kings brought the first Christmas trees to England, yet due to the unpopularity of the new rulers, the custom was not generally accepted until Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's German husband, reintroduced it in the 19th century. By then, as a result of the Romantic age and the restoration in the German speaking countries, Christmas had become a private family affair: the focus of the Christmas celebrations was no longer on the birth of baby Jesus, but on the family and, in particular, the children of the family. At the center of the festivities stood – both figuratively and literally – the Christmas tree, lavishly decorated with fruit, sweets and candles. From the middle of the 19th century onwards, new forms of decorations were added: little fruits and nuts made of leaded glass and, since 1848, glass balls from Lauscha. About the same time, the Christmas tree custom came to the USA with German immigrants. And there, sixty years later, in 1912, a Mrs. Herreshof set up the first "Christmas tree for all" – complete with electric lights – on Madison Square in New York. These new public trees were meant as a sign of love and compassion in times of great poverty and unemployment and marked the beginning of a new publicalisation of the Christmas tree in the 20th century.
While today Christmas trees are often used for commercial marketing, family traditions ensure the continuation of the private Christmas festivities with the tree at the center, a means to strengthen family ties. After all, most of us yearn to "come home for Christmas" and to watch our family gather around the Christmas tree.