Let's learn about Christmas Trees!
Pagans and Druids believed the evergreen boughs would ward off evil
spirits, witches, ghosts and illness. In the Northern Hemisphere, many
ancient people believed the sun was a god and believed when winter came,
this god became sick and weak. The shortest day and longest night of
the year, better known as the Winter Solstice, falls on December 21st or December 22nd,
depending on the Gregorian calendar and leap years. No matter what the
group of people were or whence they came, they celebrated this day with
great joy because it meant the sun god would begin to get well again.
The Pagans used evergreen boughs to decorate their homes because they
reminded them of all the green plants which would grow again when the
sun god was strong and summer would return. Ancient Egyptians would fill
their homes with green palm rushes, symbolizing life over death. The
Druids decorated their temples with boughs as a symbol of everlasting
life.
Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition in the 16th
century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their
homes. Trees were decorated with fruits and nuts. Martin Luther, a 16th
century Protestant, is believed to be the first to add lights to a
tree. While walking home one night, he was astounded by the brilliance
of the star lights twinkling amongst the trees. In trying to recapture
what he saw to his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired
candles to the boughs.
Most 19th
century Americans found trees an oddity. Although the German settlers
in PA had community trees as early as 1747, the first recorded Christmas
tree was in 1830 by the same people. Even as late as the 1840’s most
Americans still considered the trees as Pagan symbols and not accepted.
In
1846, the popular royals Queen Victoria, her German Prince Albert and
their family, were sketched in the London News standing around a
Christmas tree. Being very popular with her subjects, what was done in
court immediately became fashionable. Not only in Britain but also
fashion conscious East Coast American Society!
Typically
Europeans liked their trees to be about 4 feet tall whereas American
liked theirs from floor to ceiling. (Americans always want bigger and better!) By the 1890’s Christmas ornaments
were arriving from Germany but most American’s preferred decorating
their trees with fruit, popcorn laced with berries and nuts and homemade
ornaments. When electricity was introduced, that is when the big change
in how American’s decorated their trees. Throughout the years we’ve
seen trees in various colors, lights ranging from a color wheel to
strings of icicles, and an array of ornaments. But the tall, live fir
tree remains to be the popular tree for most people.
So there you have it - have you learned something today?
Here are the tags that I offered to my group this week.
These were cut using the Apothecary die and the Big Shot. I stamped them with the Watercolor Winter stamp set.
- · Die cut 1 large Scallop Circle
- · Die cut 1 (or 2) large round Circle(s) – use it whole or cut in half.
- · Layer circles onto Scallop Circle.
- · Stamp Santa. Color hat & cut him out.
- Use Tab Punch for top of tag. Option: emboss tab.
This ornament is made using the Ornament stamp set and dies.
- · one 2 3/8” Scallop Circle in White
- · one 1 ¾” Scallop Circle in White
- · one 1-3/4" circle in Blush Blossom (pink)
- · One ¾” circle in white
- · I punched a long strip (white) using the Scallop Border Punch and just cut it as needed for the hat trim.
- · The hat is a 1-3/4" x 3" rectangle, cut at a diagonal and folded over.
- · I did the eyes with a black pen - you could use Pearls or googly eyes instead.
Enjoy!!
