Boutique Reneé

The Tree
Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we know it today. Decorating evergreen trees had always been a part of the German winter solstice tradition. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree.

Walking toward his home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens. To recapture the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lighted candles.

The first "Christmas trees" explicitly decorated and named after the Christian holiday, appeared in Strasbourg, in Alsace in the beginning of the 17th century. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. After 1750, Christmas trees began showing up in other parts of Germany, and even more so after 1771, when Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited Strasbourg and promptly included a Christmas tree is his novel, The Suffering of Young Werther.

Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity and considered the tree a pagan symbol, referring back to ancient Egyptian and early Roman practices of decorating with evergreen boughs. Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.

The first record of a Christmas tree being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier. In 1846, the popular royals, Queen Victoria and her German Prince, Albert, revitalized the tree tradition, and what was done at court immediately became fashionable—not only in Britain, but with fashion-conscious East Coast American Society. In 1848, the first American newspaper carried a picture of a Christmas tree and the custom spread to nearly every home in just a few years. By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S.

Holly
Holly is an evergreen tree with sharply pointed, glossy leaves, a white blossom, and red berries. The use of holly as a symbolic winter decoration goes back in history to the Celtic peoples of Northern Europe, who decorated their homes with it during the time of the winter solstice, or Yule.

The early Christian Church retained many of the Celtic, as well as Roman traditions to help celebrate the birth of Christ. The needle-like points of the leaves were thought to resemble the crown of thorns that Jesus wore when He was crucified. The white blossom represented His purity, and the red berries symbolized the drops of blood He shed.

Mistletoe
Mistletoe is an evergreen plant with dark leaves and shiny white berries. Ancient Celtic priests considered the plant sacred and gave people sprigs of it to use as charms. It was said to have the ability to heal wounds and increase fertility. Celts hung mistletoe in their homes in order to bring themselves good luck and ward off evil spirits.

The custom of decorating homes with mistletoe probably came from its use as a ceremonial plant by early Europeans. During holidays in the Victorian era, the English would hang sprigs of mistletoe from ceilings and in doorways. If someone was found standing under the mistletoe, they would be kissed by someone else in the room, behavior not usually demonstrated in Victorian society.

Some traditions state that a man should pluck a berry from the mistletoe when ever he kisses a woman under it's branches. When the berries are gone - no more kisses! In some places, they even burn the Christmas mistletoe on the twelfth day of Christmas; otherwise they believe that all who kissed under it will never marry!

Poinsettia
In 1828, the American minister to Mexico, Joel R. Poinsett, brought a red and green plant from Mexico to America. As its coloring seemed perfect for the new holiday, the plants, which were called poinsettias after Poinsett, began appearing in greenhouses as early as 1830. In 1870, New York stores began to sell them at Christmas. By 1900, they were a universal symbol of the holiday.

Wreaths
In ancient Greece a laurel wreath was awarded to victors in sporting events. The Romans adopted this custom, hanging the wreaths outside their homes to brag of their victory. Wreaths were also used in Rome much as we use house numbers. Everyone would have their own distinctive wreath hanging on the door or outside the house to identify their family.

Much symbolism may be attached to the Christmas wreath. It is usually in the shape of a circle which represents the eternal nature of God's love. Evergreens are used to represent immortality.