How a Christmas Tree works

Описание: The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen conifer, typically a fir, spruce, or pine, central to seasonal celebrations in many households worldwide. It serves as a focal point for ornaments, lights, and gifts, symbolising renewal and light amid winter darkness.
Origins and Early Traditions
Evergreens have long held symbolic importance in winter rituals across cultures, representing enduring life during the coldest months. Ancient peoples, including Egyptians, Romans during Saturnalia, and Northern Europeans, incorporated evergreen branches into homes and temples to evoke hope for spring's return and to mark the solstice. These practices predate Christian observances but share themes of persistence and rebirth.
The modern indoor Christmas tree emerged in early modern Northern Europe, particularly in Germanic regions and the Baltic areas like Livonia (present-day Estonia and Latvia). Records from the 16th century describe Protestant families bringing small fir trees indoors, adorning them with apples, nuts, wafers, and candles.
Earlier influences include medieval "paradise trees" used in plays on 24 December, commemorating Adam and Eve, hung with apples to represent the Garden of Eden. Some link it further back to 8th-century legends involving St Boniface, who reportedly felled a sacred oak and pointed to a young fir as a symbol of eternal life, though later embellishments added the tree growing miraculously in its place.
Spread and Evolution
By the 19th century, the tradition gained prominence in Germany, spreading through migration. Prince Albert, of German origin, introduced it to the British royal family in the 1840s, with an 1848 illustration of Queen Victoria's decorated tree popularising it across the empire and beyond. German settlers brought it to North America earlier, but it faced resistance initially due to associations with older customs.