December 24
Adam and Eve day was set aside for several centuries as a feastday and was often celebrated with a Paradise Play which told the story of humankind from the creation of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden up to the birth of Messiah in Bethlehem. The play featured a large evergreen tree called a Paradise Tree, with its branches laden with red apples. Eventually, small white discs were added representing communion wafers, the Christian sign of redemption.
The Paradise Tree was especially popular in Germany where it was brought into peoples' homes and was decorated with dried apples that had been kept in the root cellar for the winter. In 1880 glassmakers in Thuringia discovered how to make blown glass balls and bells which soon replaced the apples and resulted in what we all know as the traditional Christmas tree all over the world.
The apple has traditionally been the most popular symbol of the forbidden fruit mentioned in the Bible, which did not describe the specific fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil eaten by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. "And the L-rd G-d commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Genesis 1:16-17. There have been controversies over which fruit the Bible referred to with many scholars believing that the fruit was a pomegranate or a fig.
Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier. The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.
It is not surprising that, like many other festive Christmas customs, the tree was adopted so late in America. To the New England Puritans, Christmas was sacred. The pilgrims’s second governor, William Bradford, wrote that he tried hard to stamp out “pagan mockery” of the observance, penalizing any frivolity. The influential Oliver Cromwell preached against “the heathen traditions” of Christmas carols, decorated trees, and any joyful expression that desecrated “that sacred event.” In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 (other than a church service) a penal offense; people were fined for hanging decorations. That stern solemnity continued until the 19th century, when the influx of German and Irish immigrants undermined the Puritan legacy.
In 1846, the popular royals, Queen Victoria and her German Prince, Albert, were sketched in the Illustrated London News standing with their children around a Christmas tree. Unlike the previous royal family, Victoria was very popular with her subjects, and what was done at court immediately became fashionable—not only in Britain, but with fashion-conscious East Coast American Society. The Christmas tree had arrived.
By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to reach from floor to ceiling.
The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments, while the German-American sect continued to use apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies. Popcorn joined in after being dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts. Electricity brought about Christmas lights, making it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days on end. With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country and having a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.
Adam and Eve day was set aside for several centuries as a feastday and was often celebrated with a Paradise Play which told the story of humankind from the creation of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden up to the birth of Messiah in Bethlehem. The play featured a large evergreen tree called a Paradise Tree, with its branches laden with red apples. Eventually, small white discs were added representing communion wafers, the Christian sign of redemption.
The Paradise Tree was especially popular in Germany where it was brought into peoples' homes and was decorated with dried apples that had been kept in the root cellar for the winter. In 1880 glassmakers in Thuringia discovered how to make blown glass balls and bells which soon replaced the apples and resulted in what we all know as the traditional Christmas tree all over the world.
The apple has traditionally been the most popular symbol of the forbidden fruit mentioned in the Bible, which did not describe the specific fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil eaten by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. "And the L-rd G-d commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Genesis 1:16-17. There have been controversies over which fruit the Bible referred to with many scholars believing that the fruit was a pomegranate or a fig.
Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier. The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.
It is not surprising that, like many other festive Christmas customs, the tree was adopted so late in America. To the New England Puritans, Christmas was sacred. The pilgrims’s second governor, William Bradford, wrote that he tried hard to stamp out “pagan mockery” of the observance, penalizing any frivolity. The influential Oliver Cromwell preached against “the heathen traditions” of Christmas carols, decorated trees, and any joyful expression that desecrated “that sacred event.” In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 (other than a church service) a penal offense; people were fined for hanging decorations. That stern solemnity continued until the 19th century, when the influx of German and Irish immigrants undermined the Puritan legacy.
In 1846, the popular royals, Queen Victoria and her German Prince, Albert, were sketched in the Illustrated London News standing with their children around a Christmas tree. Unlike the previous royal family, Victoria was very popular with her subjects, and what was done at court immediately became fashionable—not only in Britain, but with fashion-conscious East Coast American Society. The Christmas tree had arrived.
By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to reach from floor to ceiling.
The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments, while the German-American sect continued to use apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies. Popcorn joined in after being dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts. Electricity brought about Christmas lights, making it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days on end. With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country and having a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.
