Why do we have christmas trees in our houses near christmas?
No, it isn’t an American tradition at all. In cooler climates, people dress Christmas trees everywhere. Originally, the Christmas tree idea comes from the ancient pagan belief that evergeens represent the renewal of life. They were set up usually at the winter solstice, which coincides with Christmastime now. Winter solstice was important for the pagans because as of this point, day gains lenght against the night again. Trimmings and candies were hung up on the trees in later centuries- in the 1600’s I guess in Germany for the first time. Their only use was making the children happy who picked off the sweatmeats from the tree in a short span of time… 🙂 Setting up Christmas trees became an institution only in the 19th century though. First, it gained field at the nobility of course, but soon the custom spread over the whole population.
