In our society today, Christmas trees are an essential symbol that signifies Christmas. It serves to be a significant representation of the holiday season. The origin of Christmas began among pagan ceremonies and was later adopted by Christians to celebrate Christmas.
Because of the significance of the evergreen leaves, Christmas trees symbolize eternal life obtained through birth, death, and resurrection. The tradition of bringing branches of trees indoors during winter originated from the practices of ancient Romans. The branches were decorated in honor of the emperor.
One of the first instances where trees became associated with Christian practice was in the 700 A.D. missionaries ministering, who was led by Boniface to tribes in Germany, cut down an oak tree. The oak tree had already been dedicated to the Norse god, Thor. The wood was used to build a chapel. Boniface then pointed to an evergreen, using it as an example of eternal life in Christ.
Further use of a Christmas tree in association with Christianityoccurred in the middle ages, and by 1500 Christmas tree was famous in Strasbourg and Latvia.
Another situation where the use of Christmas trees gained popularity was when Queen Victoria and her husband set up a Christmas tree at the castle of Windsor. It was further boosted by London news, which took the story to the united states, where people immensely imitated it.
The U.S. President Grover Cleveland also further the popularity of charismas trees by setting up a wired Christmas tree in 1895 in the White House.
After the introduction of plastic trees, artificial Christmas trees were born and have mostly replaced the use of conventional trees. Today Christmas trees are used by both Christians and non-Christians alike and have lost any religious significance.
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