Advent Day 13

A Christmas Tree Story 

12 days until Christmas, the countdown has officially begun and almost everyone I know has a Christmas Tree. Personally, I do not think given the current world situation Before the Flood - Leonardo Di Caprio it is a good idea to promote massive cutting of trees. Gladly now there are some options. Will share more below, so please keep reading!

My favourite tree embodies the Joy this Advent Period. My favourite tree is the Tree from the Costa Rica National Children's Hospital (Hospital Nacional de Ninos), a national pediatric hospital that provides medical care to children in the country since its founding in 1845. 

Since 1964 in the front garden of the Hospital a large tree is lighted up so all the hospitalized children can watch from their window. The picture speaks for itself:

This year they even took it up a notch and made the 25,999 light bulbs to be made of Led technology to make it eco-friendly. The tree is planted in the hospital garden, so no tree cutting required. 

The first person to bring a Christmas Tree into a house, in the way we know it today, may have been the 16th-century German preacher  Martin Luther. A story is told that, one night before Christmas, he was walking through the forest and looked up to see the stars shining through the tree branches. It was so beautiful, that he went home and told his children that it reminded him of Jesus, who left the stars of heaven to come to earth at Christmas. Some people say this is the same tree as the 'Riga' tree, but it isn't! The Riga tree originally took place a few decades earlier. Source 

The evergreen fir tree has traditionally been used to celebrate winter festivals (pagan and Christian) for thousands of years. Pagans used branches of it to decorate their homes during the winter solstice, as it made them think of the spring to come. The Romans used Fir Trees to decorate their temples at the festival of Saturnalia. Christians use it as a sign of everlasting life with God. Source 

n Germany, the first Christmas Trees were decorated with edible things, such as gingerbread and gold covered apples. Then glass makers made special small ornaments similar to some of the decorations used today. In 1605 an unknown German wrote: "At Christmas, they set up fir trees in the parlours of Strasbourg and hang thereon roses cut out of many-coloured paper, apples, wafers, gold foil, sweets, etc." Source 

At first, a figure of the Baby Jesus was put on the top of the tree. Over time it changed to an angel/fairy that told the shepherds about Jesus, or a star like the Wise Men saw.

The first Christmas Trees came to Britain sometime in the 1830s. They became very popular in 1841 when Prince Albert (Queen Victoria's German husband) had a Christmas Tree set up in Windsor Castle. In 1848, drawing of "The Queen's Christmas tree at Windsor Castle" was published in the Illustrated London News. The drawing was republished in Godey's Lady's Book, Philadelphia in December 1850 (but they removed the Queen's crown and Prince Albert's moustache to make it look 'American'!). The publication of the drawing helped Christmas Trees become popular in the UK and USA. In Victorian times, the tree would have been decorated with candles to represent stars. In many parts of Europe, candles are still used to decorate Christmas trees. Source 

As promised... non-cutting trees options... LOL

Con amor,

Paola

P.S. Some real man-made Christmas Tree options Amazon - Christmas Tree