Many may know that putting up a tree for Christmas is a tradition, but did you ever wonder who started the tradition or when? I know that I have. Nobody is quite sure at first where it started, but eventually the word got out. The Germans were the ones who thought of putting up one of these Fir trees for Christmas. It’s argued that the Tallinn and Riga in 1510 claimed they were the first ones to put the tree up. They found a tree, cut it down and took it so they would have something for New Years to put up, but they weren’t actually the first ones.

The first tree was put up in a super market by a Christian women, but then eventually people started putting them in their homes after seeing them in the market. The actual story of how the tree came about and put in homes was when a Christian man, who was walking through the forest the night of Christmas Eve, saw one. He was looking in the sky and then came across a tree. He saw the stars through the branches and said it was a nice sighting and he loved it. He went home and told his children and wife all about it and how seeing the light through the branches of the trees reminded him of the sight of Jesus.

When people put their trees up they figured they needed something on it because the tree were just too plain. Tinsel was put on trees before any other decorations. Tinsel was much cheaper than actual real silver and lighter for the tree to hold. So, everyone used tinsel, which was thin strips of beaten silver. There are many folk stories on how tinsel was used and how it was created. A popular story is that on Christmas Eve night, a spider went on the tree and covered it in cobwebs, and, on Christmas morning, it turned into gold or silver tinsel. The things that supposedly change the web over night is believed to be the magic from Santa Claus on the special night.

The goose feather artificial tree was introduced to the Germans in the 1800’s. They did this because the real trees started to suffer mass destruction and some people didn’t like the scent given off  by the real tree either. The only problem about these tree’s were they weren’t that strong like the real ones. In the early 1900’s the Addis Brush Company, which makes toilet bowl brushes, used the same method and stronger material to make new artificial Christmas trees that would hold up more decorations, lights and ornaments. In the 1960’s artificial trees became popular in America.