History of the Christmas tree
The history and tradition of the Christmas tree
The Christmas tree (a spruce, not a pine tree) goes back to a fertility symbol. Sources differ widely on the age of its use as a Christmas tree. The Germans probably already had an evergreen tree in their home or yard around the time of the winter solstice (the Yule festival) before Christianization. Because of these pagan roots, the Roman Catholic Church banned the tree from Christianity for a long time.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Luther declared the Christmas tree to be a symbol of the birth of Jesus. At first, the tree was only in churches; at the end of the 19th century, it was brought into the living room, first in Protestant countries.
According to Luther, the Christmas tree reminds Christians of the tree in paradise; the Christmas tree balls of the fruit that Adam and Eve ate. The top of the tree represents the star that showed the Wise Men the way to the birthplace of Jesus; sometimes the top is therefore replaced by a star.
The Catholics previously gave the nativity scene, possibly with green decorations, the place of honor in the house, but it is only since 1982 that there has also been a Christmas tree in the Vatican. Protestants, however, generally rejected the images of the nativity scene, because of their ban on images, which is why the Christmas tree was more successful among them. Incidentally, there was no prehistory or pagan folklore around the evergreen conifer in the warmer, southern Catholic countries, as there was in the Germanic northern countries. The Christmas tree is decorated with candles, garlands, ball chains, angel hair and Christmas balls. In connection with fire prevention, special Christmas tree lighting has also come into use, consisting of small electric lamps in a plastic housing.
The Christmas tree is now also interpreted theologically as a prefiguration of the wood of the cross of Christ's suffering and sacrificial death; in addition, the green wood refers to the manger and the eternal life that was accomplished and earned by Jesus, according to the Christian view.
(source: wikipedia)