Siglindesarts's Blog

December 26, 2020 by Diane Harper

There are many legends and stories about the origin of the a Christmas tree, with the story of St. Boniface cutting down a sacred oak in about 723 or 723 in Gaesmere, Hesse being among the earliest to make a connection between evergreens and Christianity. According to the 8th C Vita Bonifatii by Willibald, Boniface cut down the oak and said he would not be struck down by Thor for doing so, in order to convert pagan Germans. A fir subsequently grew on the spot.

There are many variations of a claim that the earliest reference to Christmas tree was in 1419 Freiburg, where a tree was set up by the Bakers Guild and decorated with apples, nuts and lebkuchen (or some other kind of gingerbread or cookies). The treats were eaten to celebrate the new year. Although there is supposedly written documentation of this, I was unable to track it down in English or German.

The next written reference appears to have been in account books from 1492, when the cathedral foundation in Strasbourg ordered nine pine trees, one for each of the parishes in the city “to welcome the new year”. The first written record I have definitely been able to confirm is from 1521 in the town of Selestat in Alsace, also an account book. This one is important because it takes the trees from a religious or communal setting into private homes. In this case, the account was for four schillings to hire guards to protect trees starting at the festival of St Thomas, celebrated at that time on December 21. From that date, people had the right to cut down Christmas trees, and the guards were hired to regulate the cutting and prevent abuses. (https://www.lesechoirduried.com/un-peu-dhistoire/). From 1555 there is a record of Selestat’s magistrates deliberating punishments for those who cut down Christmas trees, and in 1600 a description of how to decorate Christmas trees in the city (https://best-of-upper-rhine.com/selestat-alsace-real-history-of-the-christmas-tree/).

In the 1500s the Christmas tree tradition spread throughout the Rhine region of Alsace and across the river in the Freiburg area. There is evidence that in 1576 a stone lintel above a door in the town of Turckheim, Alsace, was carved with a Christmas tree decorated with pretzels.

By 1570, it appears the Christmas tree had spread as far North as Bremen. A Bremen guild chronicle from 1570 tells of a small Christmas tree that stood in the guild house and was decorated with fruits, nuts and paper flowers. (https://www.baumpflegeportal.de/sonstiges/geschichte_weihnachtsbaum_tannenbaum_christbaum/#:~:text=1570%20in%20Bremen&text=Diese%20berichtet%20von%20einem%20kleinen,und%2018.)

The only other location that claims a pre-1600 tradition of Christmas trees is even further north in Riga, Latvia. According to Latvian historian Dr. Gustavs Strenga, there is a manuscript from 1510 in which the Shrovetide Ordinance of the Riga Blackheads is recorded in detail. And there – at the very end – under “Des dynxtedages in der vasten” (Shrove Tuesday): Item wen de clocke to eynen offte to twen is, so bryngen de Bemerwoldeschen eren bom aff up dat market myt alle deme spele unde vorbernen den bom dar myt vrouwen unde syn dar vrolik wen an den lychten roof; unde dar mede is de vastelavent beslaten. “The Blackheads were sales assistants, young men who completed their training as Hanseatic merchants and then worked as employees until they had enough capital to start their own business. It is possible that the “Bemerwoldi”;were people from the Bohemian Forest, but they do not appear in any other texts from the time, doing in Riga? We also do not know what kind of tree was burned on the market square on Shrove Tuesday to mark the end of Carnival. So why does is there a steel sculpture of a fir tree in front of the House of the Blackheads in Riga every winter? For Gustavs Strenga, the solution is quite simple: “It wasn’t until the 20th century that someone took this tree, took it out of the context of the carnival order and reinterpreted it as a Christmas tree. ( https://www.nordisch.info/lettland/wo-steht-der-aelteste-weihnachtsbaum-der-welt/)

Destroying the decorations on the tree also seems to be a long-standing tradition. In 1601, Selestat resident Balthazar Beck wrote about the customs observed in the Herrenstube (common room of the town hall at Christmas. He described the ceremony of forest guards bringing the trees, and their decorations made of apples and wafers (possibly symbolizing original sin and forgiveness). He also describes the ritual of inviting the children of magistrates, city councillors and municipal employees to shake the Christmas tree and strip it of its decorations and treats. (https://www.selestat.fr/se-divertir-a-selestat/noel-a-selestat/selestat-et-son-sapin.html)

Comments RSS