In the Middle Ages, "Paradise Drama" was staged on1February 24th every year. This painting depicts the creation of mankind and the fall of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, and always includes an evergreen tree full of apples, representing the tempting apple tree.
There is a legend that an English monk, Santoboni Fass, met a group of pagans gathered around an oak tree, and they were preparing to sacrifice a child to Thor. It is said that in order to stop the sacrifice and save the child's life, St. Boniface cut down the tree with one blow. Later, a fir tree replaced the oak tree, and Santoboni Fass told the pagans that it was the tree of life, representing the children of Christ.
Legend also shows that in the late 6th century, Martin Luther (the founder of Protestantism) was the first person to decorate an indoor Christmas tree with candles, when he tried to recreate the stars shining on the evergreen trees.
It was first mentioned that decorative trees were brought indoors in Germany1605-a country with a long history of Christmas trees! These trees were originally decorated with fruits and sweets and handmade objects, such as feathered snowflakes and stars. The Christmas market in Germany began to sell gingerbread and wax decorations of various shapes. People took them home as souvenirs of the market and hung them on the Christmas tree.
In about 16 10, Germany also invented metal foil. Until recently, people still used real silver and used special machines to pull it into thin sheets. This material is durable, but it soon loses its luster, so many experiments have been carried out to try to find a substitute, including a mixture of lead and tin, which is too heavy and often breaks. It was not until the mid-20th century that people found a feasible substitute.
Artificial trees were invented in the1880s, with the purpose of trying to prevent some damage to real trees caused by people cutting off the tops of big trees, thus preventing trees from growing further. The situation in Germany has become so bad that laws have to be introduced to prevent people from owning more than one tree.
Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, is regarded as the person in charge of introducing Christmas tree customs to the British public. He decorated the first English Christmas tree with candles, candy, fruit and gingerbread in Windsor Castle in 184 1.
In the first half of the 20th century, Christmas trees became more and more popular in Britain, and the trees became bigger and bigger, decorated with bells, gadgets and foil. However, the outbreak of World War II led to the prohibition of cutting down trees for decoration, and people turned to small artificial desktop trees to carry home-made decorations. When the alarm goes off to provide a little Merry Christmas, these are often taken into the bomb shelter.
After the war, all this changed, and many public places put up big trees to celebrate Christmas. One of the most famous is the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square in London, which is a gift given to them by the Norwegian government every year to thank them for their help from Britain during the war.