Old World Christmas Ornaments & Great Holiday Stuff

Ornamented evergreen trees are a favorite symbol of Christians during Christmas. On the other hand, history reveals that conifer trees were worshiped by different societies long before Christians got the idea. The earliest Egyptians were one of the first known civilizations to value the conifers. During winter solstice, the Egyptians used to move green date palm leaves inside to represent life over death. When Romans celebrated their winter solstice festival, Saturnalia, they festooned their homes with greenery and lights as a way of giving thanks for a bountiful season and keeps on praying for another upcoming abundant season. It has been said that the Druids used evergreens in their winter solstice ceremonies. They placed evergreen branches over doors to fend off evil spirits and stop them from entering their homes. The evergreen tree’s connection with Christianity dates back about 500 years ago to the early 16th century. As the story goes, St. Boniface was wandering through the woods, which today is northern Germany, when he stumbled across a group of pagans that were devoting an oak tree. Seeing this, St. Boniface was so angered that he cut the oak tree down. It is said that in the oak tree’s place, a conifer tree grew in a little while. Astonished, St. Bonifice acknowledged this to be a holy sign of the Christian faith, and since then on, conifer trees began to be linked with Christianity. In due course, German people began to take coniferous trees indoors at Christmastime and adorn them with candles to observe the holiday. When Prince Albert of Germany married Queen Victoria of England, he transported his German practice of the Christmas tree to England. The first year he was in England, he got hold of a fir tree and had it ornamented for his family. The people of England were so overwhelmed, that the idea caught on quickly, and before long everyone in England wanted their own “Christmas tree” in their homes. This practice slowly extended to the new world. Initially, the Puritans who instituted our country barred Christmas worldly celebrations. In 1851, a Cleveland minister allowed a Christmas tree in his church and almost lost his job because of it. During that same year, the practice became part of the free market economy when a farmer named Mark Carr produced and dragged two sleds of evergreen trees to New York City. In spite of the Puritans’ early struggle to the tradition, the idea of Christmas trees grew in the United States. At the turn of 1900, one in five American homes had a Christmas tree. Christmas tree farms started to sprang up and farmers could barley meet the demand. During 1890, a man by the name of F. W. Woolworth initiated to the United States the thought of decorating a tree with glass knick-knacks. Blown glass decorations had long been a custom in Europe. From 1870 to the 1930s, Germans created the finest glass ornaments of that time. German glass blowers were accounted to have had nearly 5,000 different molds for variations and different styles of Christmas ornaments. At the turn of the century, there were over one hundred small glass blowing shops in Europe that were all producing Christmas stuff. These days there are only two German glass-blowing factories that are capable of making the accuracy required for fashionable ornament collections such as Christopher Radko. The reputation of the Christmas tree continues to develop. The National Christmas Tree Association reports that in 2006, over 28 million live Christmas trees were put up for sale in the United States. The use of an evergreen tree has developed into such a conventional symbol of the holiday season that it sometimes go beyond religious boundaries. Today, many non-Christians prefer to exhibit decorated evergreen tree in their homes during the month of December. At the moment, synthetic Christmas trees have also become a well-liked choice for many families, which has even initiated a debate over which is superior: real versus artificial. Whatever your choice, adorn it well and enjoy it; you are taking part in a tradition that dates back hundreds of years.

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