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SundryShop.com Explains the Oriigin of the Christmas Tree and Showcases An Amazing Collection of Collectible Hand Blown Christmas Ornaments

Imagine a world without Christmas trees around which the family and friends gather during the winter holiday season?  Truly, contemporary life would be quite different indeed!

Given that SundryShop's assosrtment of collectible Patricia Breen, Christopher Radko, Vaillancourt Folk Art, Old World Inge Glas, Kurt Adler Polonaise by Komoja, & vintage hand blown European glass ornaments is one of the largest on the Internet, it's befitting that we share information about the origin of the Christmas tree.   If you've ever asked, "Where then did the use of Christmas trees come from?", SundryShop.com has answers!

Mouth-blown and handcrafted glass ornaments are wonderful gifts that endure through the years and even the generations.  And they are terrific collectible investments.  Enjoy exploring our large collection!

The Use of Coniferous Trees During Pre-Christian Times

While we often believe that the Christmas trees has its roots in some Bavarian village before the Victorian era, in reality coniferous trees had celebratory meaning during much earlier pagan, Pre-Christian times.  After the foods were harvested and the leaves fell from the trees, mankind in Northern Europea dealt with the barren realities of winter!  Snow blanketed the earth during the winter months, with only coniferous trees reminding one of the fecund green world of the other seasons.  Consequently, evergreens took on special meaning.  The Old Norse custom of hanging jingling balls on coniferous trees strove to drive away evil spirits that they believed lingered longer during the long, winter nights.

Pagan Use of Jingling Balls Kept Evil Spirits Away

Not only was framing a door or window with holy with berries a visual feast, but the prickly thorns snagged the evil spirits, as well!

Prickly holly & berries kept evil spirits away

Pagans generally selected and lit outdoor Yule trees on which they suspended ornaments that symbolized the sun, moon, and stars that looked down upon the Tree of Life.  The tree lights also permitted remembrance of departed love ones and the hanging of sacred presents as offerings to deities.

Pr-Christian pagans ritualistically used fir trees

Christian Use of the Christmas Tree

The Christian use of the Christmas tree originated in what is now modern day Germany.  The English Bishop Winfri, who later was ordained a saint and became known as Saint Boniface, was a missionary who successfully preached Christianity primarily to the Hesse Germans and the French during the 8th century AD.  Certain legends evolved to explain how Boniface introduced the concept of the Christmas tree.

First,  Boniface in effect substituted as the Druid's object of worship the fir tree for the Donar Oak.   Boniface accomplished this by using the upside-down, triangular fir tree as a symbol to teach about the holy trinity.

Another story proposes that, upon returning to Geismar, Germany after visiting Rome in 723 to confer with Pope Gregory II, Boniface was angered when he discovered that the Druids had reverted back to old pagan ways and were about to sacrifice a young man under Oden's oak.  Boniface grabbed an axe and felled the mighty oak.  All in the fallen tree's path was crushed except for a tiny fir tree that magically replaced the oak tree.  Seeing that the gods spared both Boniface and the little fir tree, the Druids believed the little fir tree to be a miracle and named it "Christbaum" (Christ's tree).  Thereafter, the Druids not only became true Christians, but also used the fir tree (the Yule tree) in their Christian celebratory practices.

Children's Book About Boniface & The Little Fir Tree

Even into the medieval times, verdant coniferous trees were a powerful symbol signifying hope for a blossoming spring that would bring new beginnings. Because doors and windows were generally kept closed during the winter months, the stagnant thatch and straw flooring produced objectionable odors.  Displaying evergreens not only added a lively dash of color to the home decor, but also smelled “fresher”.  And, throwing a handful of readily accessible pine needles and cones into the fireplace produced pleasantly scented incense that also helped mask nasty smells.

It is believed that Martin Luther, the Protesant Reformer during the 16th century, established the precedent of using candle lit Christmas trees to replicate the brilliant effect of viewing stars through the branches of fir trees.  The use of Christmas trees became so popular that by the 16th Century, that ordinances cropped up permitting only one tree per household in order to prevent deforestation!  Christmas trees were traditionally decorated with fruits, nuts, dates, sugar twists, and candle figures, most of which were consumed while the tree adorned the home

Candle Lit Christmas Trees During the 16th Century

However, Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England, found both the use of decorated Christmas trees and Christmas carols to be sacrilegious and, using the threat of persecution, banned any celebration of Christmas other than attending church, thereby putting a halt to the Christmas tree usage for around 200 years.  Accordingly, the Puritans in North America followed suit.  This period of time represented a "dark age" for the Christmas tree tradition!

The Renaissance of the Christmas Tree During the 19th Century  

The Christmas trees as a more recent tradition can be traced back to 1848 after Princess Victoria married her cousin Albert from Germany.  Albert brought the Christmas tree custom to England when he decorated a “Yule-tree” to welcome his brother Ernest to Windsor Palace.  The tree was a big hit among the English nobility who wholeheartedly credited the “foreigner” Albert with introducing a great new idea that soon became a national English Christmas custom. Almost magically, the coniferous tree brought to the dreary, wintery English city elements of the green countryside and helped uplift otherwise oft depressed spirits!  And it provided a welcome enhancement of seasonal celebration and merriment.  Indeed, pictures of the royal family enjoying holiday festivities around the Christmas tree quickly came to epitomize a quintessentially perfect Victorian family activity.

Queen Victoria, Albert, & Children by The Christmas Tree

Lighted candles were again commonly used on potted Christmas trees during the Victorian era.  The trees could then be planted after the holidays.  The illuminating magical effect created by candles endured even though occasionally the home would catch fire and burn down.

Victorian Family Around a Candle Lit Tree

The Ongoing Evolution of the Christmas Tree

The holiday Christmas tree tradition quickly spread throughout the world, and it has evolved!  Today, the Christmas tree celebrates not just Christmas, but many different holidays.  Families commonly imbue their own unique value system and worldview into the tree’s decoration.  One can be as readily greeted by a patriotic tree, a tree enlightened by angels, a Valentines Day tree, a tree adorned with beautiful silk flowers, and much more!  Baby Boomers and their children are nostalgically collecting aluminum trees produced during the 1940s through the 1960s!  The environmentally conscious produce glorious displays on artificial trees.  Even the use of ribbons and choice ornaments on a well articulated tree limb can produce a festive treel.  Increasingly, families take time from the hustle and bustle of their busy lives to gather together and decorate the tree in personal, meaningful ways.  Why, some creative family even made a snowman Christmas tree!

The Snowman Christmas Tree

Collecting fine, European hand blown ornaments to share your holiday traditions with friends and families contributes to wonderful memories and can be a great collectible investment.  Visit SundryShop.com for the largest assortment of collectible glass ornaments on the Internet!

Share Pictures of Your Decorated Trees and Decorating Ideas

SundryShop.com welcomes your comments and pictures of your family tree!  And we invite you to share pictures of your tannenbaum creations on our Christopher Radko Holiday Décor facebook fan page, as well!  And also visit our main SundryShop.com facebook fan page to share your ideas!

[SundryShop.com November, 2012, All rights preserved]

Preface

Radko Heart Spangled Banner American Flag ornament

For many Americans today, Memorial Day represents the end of spring and the first vacation weekend of the summer. It's a time to travel, bond with neighbors over barbeque, and engage in other fun events.  But the true history of Memorial Day pertains to honoring the armed forces soldiers who perished while defending the values and freedoms that we love in our country.

SundryShop.com’s offers a large collection of meaningful patriotic decorations to create a Memorial Day decorative display and to give Memorial Day remembrance gifts! Gifts with flag representations are particularly relevant.  Remember too that the now ubiquitous Sana Claus participates year-round in celebrating various different holidays – he's recognized as an ultimate symbol of giving and caring.

Fllag theme home décor items are particularly relevant as Memorial Day gifts.  Further explore the following collectible mouth-blown and handcrafted European glass ornaments links:

• Christopher Radko Breen Memorial Day theme ornaments

• Patricia Breen Memorial Day theme European blown glass ornaments

• Polonaise by Komozja Memorial Day theme European blown glass ornament

• Larry Fraga Statue of Liberty European blown glass ornament

To honor the memory of the hundreds of thousands of Armed Forces American fallen heroes who sacrificed their lives to protect our country, freedoms, and values, SundryShop.com presents, “Remembrance: An Original Story about the True Meaning of Memorial Day.”

Please share our story with your friends and family and also to comment below and share with us about any Memorial Day traditions you participate in!

SundryShop’s Original Story:  “Remembrance”

Incessant chatter drills through the walls of his cubicle as Thomas, a fit, clean-shaven twenty three year old with a precise crew cut, closes his workstation in order to begin the Memorial Day holiday.

“Oh Erin, you just have to come to the lake for our Memorial Day barbeque this Monday. We’ll have a ton of food and beer, so bring Richard too!” squawks Nancy, a bubbly lady in her late forties and occupant of the cubicle next to Thomas. “Come on Thomas, this is why they give us a three day holiday, to have fun! Oh, are you going to another Memorial Day event? Please tell me more!”

Just then, a four-year-old girl with long black hair comes roaring in to Thomas’s cubicle and springs into his lap. “ Are you ready?” she sequels with excitement.  “Yes. Let’s go home, sweetheart!” Thomas says with joy in his eyes.

Monday arrives and Thomas finishes packing his SUV. “Do we have all of the Memorial Day flowers and decorations?” Thomas asks as he turns around to see two shining faces; Maria twenty-three and Lena four. Holding small American flags in each of her hands, Lena gives him a big thumbs-up and Maria blows him a kiss. “Okay, lets go then!” As they drive, Thomas notices the parks and outdoor restaurants full of people laughing, playing and generally enjoying their day off from work.

Finally, they arrive at the county cemetery. A few small flags solemnly stand lifelessly next to handful of graves. Without hesitation Thomas drives to a neatly trimmed plot located at the back of the cemetery. They exit the car with their Memorial Day flowers and decorations and make their way to a grave marked by a modest headstone that reads “CPL Roberto Manuel Rodriguez: January 13 1986 – March 10 2010.”  Thomas considers how on this Memorial Day more than 250,00 grave decorating flags will honor the fallen soldiers buried at the Arlington National Cemetery.

Memorial Day Flags at Each Arlington National Celetery Gravestone

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Thomas tightly clenches a facsimile of General John A. Logan’s handwritten General Order Number 11 of the Grand Army of the Republic from 1868, General John A. Logan Created a Memorial Order, establishing the first Decoration Day. The first line peers out over the top of his large hand:

General John Alexander Logan

 “The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet church-yard in the land.”  

As they begin decorating Roberto’s grave, Thomas reflects on the meaning of Decoration Day, and how it became Memorial Day as we know it today. Another line of General Logan’s Order echoes through his head:

“Let us, then, at the time appointed gather around their sacred remains, and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of Springtime: let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor.”

Tears fall from Maria’s eyes as she places a beautiful floral memorial wreath against her late husband’s head stone while Lena plants a small American flag above her father’s grave. “Te amaré para siempre,” she whispers as she caringly touches the head stone.

Reflecting on the sacrifices made by many to protect their freedoms, they momentarily feel humbled with their purpose in visiting the grave. Thomas ponders, “How can we properly honor the struggles and sacrifices of the fallen heroes and their families?”

Then, glancing at his watch, which reads 2:59 p.m., he prepares for the National Moment of Remembrance. Established by President Bill Clinton in 2000 to honor those Americans who died while defending his nation and its values, the National Moment of Remembrance encourages Americans everywhere to pause for one minute at 3:00 p.m. (local time) to recognize and to silently commemorate the fallen heroes who died to give us the fortune to live in freedom.

As the 3 o’clock bell rings out over the cemetery, Thomas painfully grips the arms of his wheel chair and pushes himself to his feet with all his might. His body weight shifts uncomfortably as he balances on the titanium shaft that replaced his right leg. He uses his left hand to raise his right prosthetic hand to a salute. Choking back tears he silently prays to his friend, “I’m taking care of them now. Your wife Maria and little Lena are safe. Rest in peace my brother.”

The twenty-tree year old veteran stoically salutes at the grave of his closest comrade as he remembered when the explosion blew through their caravan. Thomas lost two of his limbs, while Roberto lost his life in that fateful instant.

Gone was his best friend and brother-in-arms. Gone were a little girl’s father and a loving wife’s husband. Reflecting on the unrecoverable loss of Robert that the three of them experienced, Thomas feels that too many Americans too often have forgotten the true meaning of Memorial Day, choosing instead to perceive the day as merely another three-day holiday and the first weekend of summer.

Thomas stands as a battered soldier, physically broken by war, but also as a man of great spirit and integrity who perseveres to salute his fallen brother as many brave warriors have done before him. He salutes not for himself or for what he has lost, but for the country that he loves and for his brothers that risk their lives to defend and preserve the freedoms and values for their families at home.

As he holds his salute, a sudden breeze embraces the Memorial Day flags, giving them renewed life as they wave freely and proudly, honoring the fallen soldiers.

Afterword

Remember the brave men and women who have fallen in action by creating a display with collectible patriotic home decorations. Many of these collectibles promise to be handed down through the generations, establishing continuity of this important tradition of honoring our service men who have given their lives for their country, and can also be displayed during other patriotic holiday events, such as the Fourth of July and Presidents Day!

We hope that you enjoyed our story. Please share it with your friends and family for their enjoyment. If you have any Memorial Day traditions such as decorating veterans’ graves, creating memorial displays, or joining with friends and family in special ways, we would like to hear about them; post and share your stories in the comments section below!

We at SundryShop.com wish you a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

(Story written by Nicholas who works at SundryShop.com & edited by the Sundryshop.com team. Copyright 2012 by SundryShop.com. All rights reserved.)