If, like us, you don’t know the history of Christmas trees and their pagan roots we have done some research for you! If you want some information on how to care for your Christmas tree, keeping it alive for longer, scroll down to the bottom.
The History of Christmas Trees
Many people don’t know the history of the Christmas tree. The 1st we hear of the Christmas tree being a popular Christmas tradition in the UK in the Victorian times when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were pictured in newspapers adorning their evergreen spruce firs with Christmas decorations. By 1860, most well off families had a Christmas tree in their parlour or hall as it was fashionable to do so.
In fact, the Christmas tree dates even further back to pagan times when the evergreen trees represented new life during the winter solstice, in the darkest time of the year where it was hard for most living things to prosper.
Then, in the 12th century in Germany they began celebrating the feast day of our first parents Adam and Eve. They held plays to act out Eve tempting Adam to eat an apple from the tree. These were called these “Paradise Plays”. The tree in the play was an evergreen and adorned with apples and a snake!
Over time the plays vanished, but the tradition to have a Christmas tree in your house grew. They still decorated the trees with apples, but the snake vanished! Perhaps this is where the idea of tinsel came from as it was originally strips of hammered silver.
In Germany by the 1600’s the Christmas tree was an established custom. They hung apples, coloured paper roses, cold coloured papers and sweets. in 1880 a German glass maker made baubles to go on Christmas trees, and these replaced the apples.
Nowadays we still have baubles and sweets hung on our trees and they are a staple tradition for many countries throughout the world.
Christmas Tree Care
Our trees are locally sourced and freshly cut, which means that they will have less needle droppage and are better for our local environment and economy.
The traditional Christmas Tree is the Norway Spruce. This is the most resinous and has the spiky needles on. Note: resin is hard to get off of old clothes. The positives about the Norway Spruce are:
- it looks the most traditional
- it is generally the cheaper option
The Abies Fraseri and Abies Nordmanniana are a bit more expensive but are very popular due to:
- less need drop (less mess)
- softer needles (less spiky for both adults and children)
Hints and tips on looking after your tree
You could just pop your tree up and be done with it! Or, if you want it to last longer with less needles dropping, here are some tips;
Location
- use a small amount of non-solvent based hair spray to help reduce needle drop
- keep away from heat sources and draughts as this can dry the tree
- keep away from naked flames as they are very flammable
- choose a location where children and pets are less likely to topple it!
Caring for your tree
- cut 10cm off the bottom of the trunk (this will help the tree to drink water)
- stand in water before putting it up
- choose a stand which holds your tree securely and has room for water (this will help keep the tree for long, just like if you had some fresh cut flowers in your room)
Disposal of the tree
Many avenues exist for responsible disposal, such as composting and creating mulch (see local authority recycling centre). Also, burning, although producing CO2, will always leave some residual molecular carbon, which is the most effective way of locking carbon.
Christmas Tree Prices
Here are our very competitive prices for 2019. Happy decorating!