An indoor Norway spruce all decorated for Christmas.
EVERY year, in the third week of December, I am faced with a threefold problem. Shall I buy a Norway spruce (Picea abies), a Nordmann fir (Abies nordmanniana) or simply get an artificial Christmas tree (‘arbor electrica China’), the latter for regular use in later years?
The spruce tree always sheds its needles and turns to a brownish colour after a week indoors whereas the fir tree remains greener and holds its needles longer with consequently less vacuum cleaning of carpets when the tree is taken down on 12th day of Christmas on the sixth day of January.
Whilst shopping malls in Kuching, Singapore and all over the globe, to include China, display elaborately decorated artificial trees, as long I spend Christmas in a temperate climate, I shall opt for a real Christmas tree.
A brief history
The Christmas tree has a fascinating history and, as far as the United Kingdom is concerned, first appeared at a children’s party thrown by King George III’s wife, Queen Charlotte, in 1800. However, it was Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert (also of German descent like Queen Charlotte) who introduced a pine tree to the royal Christmas at Windsor Castle in mid- Victorian times. He had remembered dressing such a tree in Germany as a young boy and the joy that such an exercise gave to him and his family.
There, the tradition of bringing indoors a spruce, pine, or fir tree dated back to the 15th or 16th century.
The ‘Tannenbaum’ (literally meaning fir tree in German) or ‘Christbaum’ was originally decorated with apples, nuts, sweet meats and fastened wax candles for illumination.
Today of course we have coloured bulbs, chocolate goodies of all shapes, and the inevitable flashing lights. It is alleged that St Boniface cut down an oak tree in Scandinavia, whilst trying to destroy the pagans’ worship of this tree and replaced it by planting a fir tree. To him the fir tree, because of its triangular shape, represented the Holy Trinity pointing upwards to heaven.
Today in the UK, over eight million Christmas trees are commercially grown. We can thank Edward Johnson, the vice-president of Edison Electric Light Company, for inventing the first electric illuminated Christmas tree in New York City in 1882.
In post-war Cornwall, it was tradition to use a Cornish holly tree for Christmas.
A time to reflect
Christmastime in the northern hemisphere and especially in the most northerly parts is a time of nearly 24 hours of darkness. On such dark days, at Midwinter, an illuminated Christmas tree brings light into all houses and hope for better years to come. For Christians, it is the time to celebrate the birth of The Light of the World.
Whatever our religious beliefs, it is a time to reflect and remember the good times we had with family members before they departed this life on earth. Such reflections are well demonstrated by the generosity of the people of Norway who, since 1946, have annually donated three giant Norway spruce trees to London and Washington DC (USA) for display in prominent public places. The folk of Bergen (Norway), similarly, give the people of Newcastle (UK) an annual Christmas tree. This gesture of friendship and gratitude is in remembrance of British and US forces who assisted the Norwegian resistance fighters during the Nazi occupation of their country during World War II.
Wherever we are in the world this Christmas and whatever type of Christmas tree we put up and whatever our religious beliefs, we all acknowledge the fact that it brings light to our evenings. As the late Pope Paul II remarked, “What is evergreen becomes a sign of undying life.”
Other Christmas traditions
In Scandinavian countries on Dec 13, 12 days before Christmas Day, in Advent, all folk celebrate the festival of Santa Lucia. There, the light of the world is brought, at night, into homes in the form of a young girl, dressed in white with an evergreen garland holding lighted candles around the crown of her head and holding a lighted candle. Youths follow her, each holding a candle, in solemn procession and they sing the spine tingling song ‘Santa Lucia’ in a most reverent fashion.
Actually, this same day and festival is celebrated in Southern Italy and especially in Sicily. The actual song ‘Santa Lucia’ was born in Naples.
This day is a celebration dedicated to the memory of St Lucia (whose Latin name means light) a lady who, in 303AD, became a Christian martyr in the city of Syracuse in SE Sicily having earlier suffered torture because of her faith including total blindness. By a miracle, her eyesight was restored and thus she saw light again.
In some parts of Sicily, the traditional Christmas tree is a holly tree, the Ilex. It is probably of the species Ilex aquifolium, more commonly known as the European holly. There are more than 500 species of Ilex to be found worldwide in both evergreen and deciduous forms and several types grow in Southeast Asia.
Holly branches, with their resplendent red, but poisonous berries, are used as wreaths and on Christmas cards.
It is thought that holly decorations in houses pre-date Christianity, as pagan Druids in Europe wore holly wreathes on their heads at their Winter Solstice celebrations.
The evergreen oak (Quercus ilex) abounded in the hedgerows of West Cornwall (SW England) where I lived as a boy. Whilst Norway spruce trees decorated wealthier family homes at Christmas time, in post-war Cornwall we always had a traditional Cornish holly tree. No doubt in Cornwall it was related to its past pagan history.
Each Christmas, my mother would climb into the hedgerows to cut down a holly tree and my sister and I would take turns to carry it home.
It was our duty to decorate it with coloured balls, lights, Christmas crackers, sweets, and paper decorations which we made together beforehand.
The final touch was the random scattering of cotton wool fluff onto the holly leaves to simulate snow and of course the Star of Bethlehem or an Angel on the apex of the tree.
Frequently we pricked our fingers on the spikes of the holly leaves and gently cursed as, on Christmas Day, we retrieved the goodies.
This Romanian pine began as a 2.5-centimetre sapling.
Final choices of Christmas trees
In my front garden, I have two beautiful evergreen trees forever growing upwards.
One is a Romanian pine, which I plucked out of the Transylvanian forests as a 2.5-centimetre sapling and the other is a holly tree, planted as a very youthful sapling. The Romanian pine sapling was collected on a family holiday there 23 years ago. It is now at least two metres tall.
The other tree is a holly tree planted here 27 years ago and is now five metres tall and nearly extending into the local overhead electricity cable.
My youngest granddaughter, Zoe, who will be here for Christmas, wants a tree in the house under which Santa Claus may lay out presents, before he has had a glass of sherry, a mince pie and carrots for his reindeer. So, it will be a Norway spruce again this year inside the house with my dog, Holly, guarding the presents. My holly tree outside will also be illuminated with a star on its summit. This is a compromise.
May I wish all readers, of all faiths, a good Christmas Day holiday and do ensure that you continue to bring light and joy into all your homes in 2016.
Do view, with your children, the history of Christmas trees at www.history.com and google the Santa Lucia song by Lauren Bernarducci in Italian or look at the Swedish version by a young choir on YouTube.