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(Editor's note: Here is another in the series on home horticulture by Wesley P. Judkins, extension horticulturist at Virginia Tech.)
The use of decorated trees at Christmas time is a tradition which started several centuries ago. Prior to this time, plants of various sorts were grown in the home, but without special ornamentation. Small trees like the Norfolk Island Pine were grown in tubs to help dispel the gloom of dark winter days.
Martin Luther, the great German reformer is credited as being the first to add holiday decorations to an indoor tree. It is reported that as he walked home through the forest one clear winter night, he observed the beauty of the stately evergreens, and the stars sparkling above and through the branches. This was about the year 1515.
When Luther arrived home and tried to describe the beautiful experience to his wife and children, he was not satisfied. So, to dramatically illustrate the scene, he went to the woods and returned with a small fir tree. This was erected in the home and decorated with lighted candles.
Christmas during early Colonial days in America was a rather drab affair. The Puritans from England did not condone gay and frivolous behavior. In contrast, the settlers of German and Dutch descent in Pennsylvania and New York, celebrated Christmas in the gay manner of their ancestors in the old country. The same was true of the French settlers in the New Orleans area.
Although the records are not too clear or authentic, the first decorated Christmas trees may have been set up by the homesick Hessian soldiers during the American Revolution. In fact, a Christmas Eve celebration by them may have provided Washington with the opportunity to tum the tide of the Colonial forces in 1776.
On that fateful day, Washington’s men had little for which to be thankful. They were cold, hungry, and poorly clothed. The Hessians were confident of victory and seem to have begun their festivities with the drinking of grog the previous evening. The attack by Washington found them ill prepared for the rigors of battle.
Holiday trees did not come into general . use in the U. S. until several decades after the Revolutionary War. Although the custom probably started in Pennsylvania, the first recorded
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