The Story of the Christmas Tree - Die Geschichte des Weihnachtsbaumes

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Why do we decorate Christmas trees?

I was asking myself, where Christmas trees actually come from?

What does a tree have to do with the birth of Jesus?

Why of all trees do we pick a green fir tree?

And why do we decorate it with golden balls, stars and bows?

So I did some research online and it turns out that the decorated Christmas trees come from an old German tradition.

Why do we decorate a gree fir tree?

The fir tree was chosen as a it is an evergreen tree symbolizing life and health. In winter, many people used to bring green fir branches in order to frighten away the bad ghosts and also in order to look forward with hope for the spring to come.

How did we start decorating Christmas trees?

Also in church, around Christmas time, there was a so called paradice tree. December, 24. was known as Adam's and Eva's day. So the tree in the church was decorated with hanging apples as well as wooden or pastry figures of Adam, Eva and the snake, telling the story of the Original sin.

Later, this tradition was extended so that nuts and other sweets were used for the decoration. Today, replaced by golden balls, stars and other decorations.

All of this makes sense now to me, so I decided to share it with other curious ones like you. Please, share your traditions or something interesting you might know around Christmas.

Have you decorated a Christmas tree at home?

A real one or an artificial one? This year, we decided to get an artificial IKEA tree.

It can be used multiple times and that way other trees don't get cut.

I wish you a stress-free and beautiful Christmas time.

xo xo

Dilyana

P.S. This story is part of this year's Lern-Adventskalender.

Practice your German and get new learning surprises from me every day. Register here for free.

And this here is the biggest Christmas tree, I've ever seen in my life (in Boston):

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