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Farm Events: |
Farm News: Christmas Tree Celebrating 500 YearscommentsPosted: 11.17.2010 The National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA) has officially recognized the year 1510 as the first recorded instance of a decorated Real Christmas Tree, a tradition born in the city of Riga, Latvia - and Wisconsin Christmas tree growers are getting ready to celebrate! Suzanne Dohner, owner of Christmas Treeland in Baraboo tells Pam Jahnke that the first written record of the decorated Christmas tree comes from Riga, Latvia. In 1510, the men of the Merchants Guild decorated a tree with paper roses for the marketplace. The fir tree commemorated the Holy Child while the roses a symbol for the Virgin Mary. In 1530, there is a record from Alsace, France, that trees were sold in the marketplace and brought home. Laws limited the size of the trees to “eight shoe lengths,” a little over four feet. Today, a plaque marks the spot where the original tree stood.
The tradition of the first Christmas tree is sometimes credited to Martin Luther, with the story that he was walking in the woods when he was awestruck by the beauty of the moonlight on the evergreen trees and took home the first Christmas tree to his family. Luther reportedly decorated the tree with candles to recreate the beautiful effect of the moonlight on the branches. However, historians believe Martin Luther’s tree was decorated in northern Germany a few decades after the one in Latvia.
The term Christmas tree first appeared in Strassburg, Alsace, in 1604, though Christian families incorporated the trees into their celebration of the birth of Christ much earlier. Paper roses that adorned many trees in the 1500s are said to represent the Virgin Mary. During the 1600s, churches used Christmas Trees to help teach the story of creation, decorating them with apples to represent the tree in the Garden of Eden. In the 1700s, trees decorated with gilded nuts and cookies were often referred to as “sugar trees.”
The 1800s brought glass ball ornaments, chains of glass beads and ornaments shaped like toys and other figures. Decorating became much more diverse with the wide assortment of decorations available.
Electric lights were added in 1882. Toward the end of the 1900s, theme trees became popular – trees decorated in all angels, toys, candies, and teddy bears. Trees with color-coordinated lights and ornaments have also become popular. NCTA’s tradition of presenting the White House Christmas Tree for the Blue Room began in 1966 when Lyndon B. Johnson was president.
“Both the trees and the decorations have changed over the years, though in some respects, not as much as you might guess,” adds Dohner. “What we Americans perceive as changes are at least partially the differences in the culture and tradition between the United States and Europe.”
This year during the 500th anniversary of the first Christmas tree, Christmas tree farmers like Jim and Suzanne Dohner are hoping families choose the perfect holiday gift, a Real Christmas tree. "It's just a wonderful time for people to be out in the open, enjoying nature and reminiscing about coming to our farm each year," says Suzanne Dohner. “We're not selling trees, we're selling an experience.”
To enhance the tradition of selecting the perfect Christmas tree, this year Christmas Treeland will be offering Choose and Cut, along with wagon rides, on weekends after Thanksgiving.
Dohner’s Christmas Treeland is located a ½ mile north of Baraboo west off U.S. Highway 12 on Terrytown Road. They are open starting Friday, November 26 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day. For more information on selecting a Real Christmas tree, you can visit their web site at www.ChristmasTreeland.com .
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