There was a New Year tree. Where, when, in what country was the Christmas tree first decorated? Where is the best place to put a Christmas tree?

Tradition to celebrate New Year and Christmas with a Christmas tree shimmering with multi-colored lights is familiar and mysterious at the same time. Until now, one can only guess about the origins of this custom, and the elegant Christmas tree itself has a complicated, centuries-old history.

Christmas tree decorated with golden balls and stars.

Tree of Paradise and Yule Log

Some researchers believe that the Christmas tree is a reminder of the Tree of Eden, where the story of Adam and Eve played out. In accordance with this idea, traditional Christmas tree decorations, glass balls, symbolize the fruits of the tree of paradise.

According to another version, the custom of putting up and decorating a Christmas tree is an echo of Yule, an ancient German holiday on the night winter solstice. On Yule it was supposed to decorate and then ceremonially burn a log, usually oak or ash. (Both oak and ash were revered as sacred trees.) Holly, holly and ivy also served as symbols of Yule - they decorated houses outside and inside, stalks of wheat and branches of evergreens - they were used to weave baskets in which gifts were distributed: apples and carnations.


Children and the Yule log. Illustration from the book “Aunt Louisa's London toy books: the alphabet of games and sports.” London, 1870.

Christmas tree in Europe

It is not known exactly who and when first came up with the idea of ​​bringing a Christmas tree into the house before Christmas. The debate about this is not nearly as innocent as it might seem. More recently, in 2009-2010, between Latvia and Estonia, who were trying to find out where the Christmas tree appeared first - in Riga in the 16th century or in Tallinn in the 12th century, things almost came to a diplomatic conflict.

There is also information that in the same 16th century, religious reformer Martin Luther organized a Christmas party with a tree in his house in the Saxon city of Eisleben. The legend about him says that one day, walking through the forest on Christmas night, he saw a star fall on the top of a fir tree.


Engraving from the German book “50 Fables with Pictures for Children.”

Ascetic Lutherans did not consider a Christmas tree decorated with fruits and gingerbread to be an excess. By the 18th century christmas tree became a common occurrence in many German states. Somewhere, a tree was hung from the ceiling with the top of its head down - so it personified a ladder lowered to people from heaven. Somewhere there were as many small Christmas trees decorated as there were family members and guests who were supposed to be congratulated and given gifts.

In Germany, much later, when its forests became scarce by the end of the 19th century, the first artificial Christmas trees. They were made from goose feathers, which were dyed green.


Viggo Johansen. "Merry Christmas."

German princes and princesses who married foreign royalty or sat on the throne themselves, bankers, merchants, teachers and artisans brought the Christmas tree to other European countries.

At the British court, the first Christmas tree was decorated back in 1760; in 1819, the forest beauty became part of the court holiday in Budapest, in 1820 - in Prague.

In the middle of the 19th century, the United States became acquainted with the Christmas tree, and the Americans owe this, again, to immigrants from Germany.


Robert Duncan. "Christmas tree".

Peter's decree on the celebration of the New Year

In December 1699, Peter I, by a special decree, introduced the Julian calendar in Russia and ordered to move the New Year's celebration from September 1 to January 1. The decree contained instructions on exactly how loyal subjects should have fun. The New Year was to be celebrated with fireworks and abundant food. Muscovites, residents of the then capital, were recommended to decorate with coniferous trees and branches: spruce, pine, juniper.

The festive tree really took root in Russia only towards the middle of the 19th century, although already at the beginning of the century it was a frequent guest in the homes of St. Petersburg Germans. The monarchs set an example for the indigenous population.


A. F. Chernyshev. "Scenes from family life Emperor Nicholas I. Christmas tree in the Anichkov Palace."

The first Christmas tree in the imperial palace was erected on December 24, 1817, on Christmas Eve, by order of Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna, the wife of the future Emperor Nicholas I. The innovation of household goods of the highest persons was gradually adopted by the nobility. At first, the Christmas trees were almost not decorated. Candles were placed on the branches and lit twice: on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day itself. Gifts for family members were placed under the tree, most often a small one, standing on the table.

The pavilion of the Ekateringofsky station in St. Petersburg in 1852 became the first public building where a Christmas tree appeared at Christmas. A large tree, almost touching the ceiling with its crown, hung with decorations made of colored paper, marked the beginning of the tradition of public Christmas trees, which spread to theaters, noble, officer and merchant clubs and meetings.

The established fashion for Christmas trees gave impetus to the imagination of businessmen. In the late 1840s - early 1850s, Christmas tree markets appeared near Gostiny Dvor in St. Petersburg. Respectable townspeople competed with childish excitement to see who had the biggest, thickest, and most intricately decorated Christmas tree. There was no need to rack your brains about decorating yourself: Swiss confectioners sold Christmas trees with ready-made decorations. It was expensive, although mere pennies compared to the Christmas tree decorations in some rich houses, where diamond necklaces were hung on green branches.

In the last decades of the 19th century, the arsenal of jewelry was replenished with industrially produced toys. The choice was wide: glass balls, voluminous glued cardboard figures, edible miniature animals made of sugar and almonds, garlands, firecrackers and sparklers, “golden” and “silver” rain.

Orthodox priests unsuccessfully but persistently protested against the Christmas tree as a secular and even “pagan” custom. They could not know that not much time would pass, and the Christmas tree would be declared a symbol of “religious dope.”


A. N. Benois. New Year card. The end of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th century.

Adventures of the New Year tree in the USSR

In 1917, most families had no time for Christmas trees. But this did not stop the publishing house “Parus” from releasing a children’s gift book “Yolka” on the eve of 1918. The luxurious album, designed by A. N. Benois, includes poems and stories by Korney Chukovsky, Sasha Cherny, Bryusov and Maxim Gorky, who oversaw the publication. The new government considered the Christmas tree to be a completely appropriate holiday attribute for the residents of post-revolutionary Petrograd.


Still from the film strip “Lenin at the Children’s Christmas Tree.” A. Kononov. Artist V. Konovalov. 1940

“Komsomol Christmas trees” were organized back in the mid-20s. The persecution of the decorated tree, in fact, began only in 1929, when the party press officially condemned the celebration of Christmas. And along with it, as a “priestly custom,” there is a Christmas tree, supposedly poisoning children with “religious poison.”

Now, if a Christmas tree was brought into the house, it was done secretly, placing it where it could not be seen either from the threshold or through the window. Vigilant volunteers who had been patrolling the streets since mid-December looked into the windows specifically for this purpose.

The tree was “rehabilitated” in 1935 after a brief exchange of remarks between Stalin and the Ukrainian party dignitary P. P. Postyshev. “Shouldn’t we return the Christmas tree to the children?” - asked Postyshev. Stalin approved the idea, and his interlocutor wrote a note in the Pravda newspaper, where he reproached the “leftist” killers who had slandered “ children's entertainment like a bourgeois idea." The publication appeared on the morning of December 28 - and in just a few days, festive events with Christmas trees were organized throughout the country and production was established Christmas tree decorations.

The Soviet Christmas tree was in no way supposed to be associated with Christmas. The decorations reflected the spirit of the times. The blue Christmas star with seven points was replaced by a red five-pointed one. Miniature airplanes and cars were hung on the tree. Tiny pioneers, tractor drivers, representatives of the peoples of the Soviet republics coexisted with fairy tale heroes and animal figures. At the end of the 30s, the company was replenished with new characters: Father Frost and Snow Maiden.
In 1937, glass balls with portraits of Stalin, Lenin and members of the Politburo were released, but this initiative was quickly considered dubious from a political point of view.


Soviet postcard. 1950s.

The main Christmas trees of Russia

In December 1996, for the first time since pre-revolutionary times, a giant Christmas tree was installed on the Kremlin's Cathedral Square. From 2001 to 2004 role New Year's symbol was carried out by an artificial tree, but since 2005 a live spruce has again appeared on the square. It is selected in advance in the Moscow region according to certain criteria: the tree must be at least a hundred years old, and it must reach approximately 30 meters in height. The winner is determined by a competition among forest districts. On Red Square, where hundreds of Muscovites and tourists celebrate the New Year, in recent years decorate a huge artificial tree.


Decorated Christmas tree on Cathedral Square of the Kremlin.

Now it is difficult to imagine celebrating the New Year without its symbol - the fluffy evergreen beauty of the spruce. On the eve of this have a wonderful holiday it is installed in every home, decorated with toys, tinsel and garlands. The fragrant smell of fresh pine needles, the taste of tangerines - this is what is associated with New Year's holiday in most Russian children. The children find their gifts under the Christmas tree. At matinees, round dances are performed around her and songs are sung. But this was not always the case. Where did the New Year tree come from in Rus'? The history of the tradition of decorating it for the New Year is described in this material.

Pagan Totem Tree

Our ancestors believed that all trees are alive and spirits live in them. In pre-Christian times, the Celtic Druidic calendar included a day of worship of the fir tree. For them, it was a symbol of courage, strength, and the pyramidal shape of the tree resembled heavenly fire. Fir cones also symbolized health and strength of spirit. The ancient Germans considered this tree sacred and worshiped it. They identified it with the World Tree - the source of eternal life and immortality. There was a custom: at the end of December, people went into the forest, chose the fluffiest and tallest tree, decorated it with multi-colored ribbons and made various offerings. Then they danced around the tree and sang ritual songs. All this symbolized the cyclical nature of life, its revival, the beginning of a new thing, the arrival of spring. Among the pagan Slavs, on the contrary, spruce was associated with the world of the dead and was often used in funeral rites. Although it was believed that if you place spruce paws in the corners of a house or barn, this will protect the home from storms and thunderstorms, and its inhabitants from illnesses and evil spirits.

New Year tree: the history of its appearance in Europe after the Nativity of Christ

The Germans were the first to decorate the Christmas tree in their homes back in the Middle Ages. It is no coincidence that this tradition appeared in medieval Germany. There is a legend that the holy Apostle Boniface, an ardent missionary and preacher of the word of God, cut down an oak tree dedicated to the god of thunder, Thor. He did this in order to show the pagans the powerlessness of their gods. The felled tree felled several more trees, but the spruce survived. St. Boniface declared the spruce a sacred tree, Christbaum (tree of Christ).

There is also a legend about a poor lumberjack who, on the eve of Christmas, sheltered a little boy who was lost in the forest. He warmed, fed and left the lost child to spend the night. The next morning the boy disappeared, and in his place he left a small coniferous tree at the door. In fact, under the guise of an unfortunate child, Christ himself came to the woodcutter and thus thanked him for the warm welcome. Since then, spruces have become the main Christmas attribute not only in Germany, but also in other European countries.

The story of the appearance of the star on the top of the Christmas tree

At first, people decorated their houses only with branches and large spruce paws, but later they began to bring whole trees. But much later, the custom of decorating the New Year tree appeared.

The story of the appearance of a star on the Christmas tree is associated with the name of the founder of Protestantism - the German Martin Luther, the head of the burgher Reformation. One day, while walking along the street on Christmas Eve, Luther looked at bright stars night sky. There were so many of them in the night sky that it seemed as if they, like small lights, were stuck in the treetops. Arriving home, he decorated the small fir tree with apples and burning candles. And he placed an asterisk on the top of the tree, as a symbol of the Star of Bethlehem, which announced to the Magi about the birth of the infant Christ. Subsequently, this tradition spread among followers of the ideas of Protestantism, and subsequently throughout the country. Beginning in the 17th century, this fragrant conifer became the main symbol of Christmas Eve in medieval Germany. IN German There was even such a definition as Weihnachtsbaum - Christmas tree, pine.

The appearance of the Christmas tree in Rus'

The history of the appearance of the New Year tree in Russia began in 1699. The custom of erecting a Christmas tree appeared in the country during the reign of Peter I, at the beginning of the 18th century. The Russian Tsar issued a decree on the transition to a new account of time, the chronology began from the date of the Nativity of Christ.

The start date of the next year began to be considered the first of January, and not the first of September, as was previously the case. The decree also mentioned that the nobility should decorate their houses with pine and juniper trees and branches in the European style before Christmas. On January 1, it was also ordered to launch rockets, arrange fireworks and decorate the capital's buildings with pine branches. After the death of Peter the Great, this tradition was forgotten, except that drinking establishments were decorated with fir branches on Christmas Eve. By these branches (tied to a stake stuck at the entrance), visitors could easily recognize the taverns located inside the buildings.

Revival of Peter's customs in the first half of the 19th century

The history of the New Year tree and the tradition of decorating it for the holy holiday did not end there. The custom of placing lighted candles on the Christmas tree and giving each other gifts for Christmas became widespread in Russia during the reign of Nicholas I. This fashion was introduced among the courtiers by his wife, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, a German by birth. Later, all the noble families of St. Petersburg followed her example, and then the rest of society. In the early 40s, the Northern Bee newspaper noted that “it is becoming our custom to celebrate Christmas Eve” by decorating the cherished Christmas tree with sweets and toys. In the capital, on the square near Gostiny Dvor, grandiose Christmas tree markets are held. If poor people could not buy even a small tree, then noble people competed with each other in this: who had a taller, more magnificent, or more elegant spruce. Sometimes precious stones, expensive fabrics, beads, and gimp (thin silver or gold thread) were used to decorate the green beauty. The celebration itself, organized in honor of the main Christian event - the Birth of Christ, began to be called the Christmas tree.

History of the Christmas tree in the USSR

With the Bolsheviks coming to power, all religious holidays, including Christmas, were cancelled. The Christmas tree was considered to be a bourgeois attribute, a relic of the imperial past. For several years this wonderful family tradition became illegal. But in some families it was still preserved, despite the government ban. Only in 1935, thanks to a note by party leader Pavel Postyshev in the main communist publication of those years - the Pravda newspaper, this evergreen tree regained its undeservedly forgotten recognition as a symbol of the coming year.

The wheel of history turned back, and Christmas trees for children began to be held again. Instead of the Star of Bethlehem, its top is decorated with a red five-pointed star - the official symbol of Soviet Russia. Since then, trees began to be called “New Year’s” and not “Christmas”, and the trees and holidays themselves were called not Christmas, but New Year’s. For the first time in the history of Russia, an official document about non-workers appears holidays: The first of January officially becomes a holiday.

Kremlin Christmas trees

But this is not the end of the story of the New Year tree in Russia. For children in 1938 in Moscow, in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions, a huge multi-meter Christmas tree with tens of thousands of glass balls and toys was installed. Since then, every year a giant New Year tree stands in this hall and children's parties are held. Every soviet child dreams of going to the New Year's party in the Kremlin. And until now, Muscovites’ favorite meeting place for next year is Kremlin Square with a huge, elegantly decorated forest beauty installed on it.

Christmas tree decorations: then and now

IN tsarist times Christmas decorations could be eaten. These were shaped gingerbread cookies, wrapped in multi-colored metallic paper. Candied fruits, apples, marmalade, gilded nuts, paper flowers, ribbons, and cardboard figurines of angels were also hung on the branches. But the main element of the Christmas tree decor were lit candles. Glass inflatable balls were brought mainly from Germany, and they were quite expensive. Figurines with porcelain heads were highly valued. In Russia, only at the end of the 19th century did artels for the production of New Year's products appear. They also make cotton, cardboard toys and papier-mâché figurines. IN Soviet times, starting in the 60s, mass production of factory-made Christmas decorations. These products did not differ in variety: the same “cones”, “icicles”, “pyramids”. Fortunately, now on store shelves you can find many interesting Christmas tree decorations, including hand-painted ones.

Where did the tinsel and garlands come from?

No less interesting is the history of the appearance of other New Year's paraphernalia: tinsel and garlands. Previously, tinsel was made from real silver. These were thin threads, like “silver rain”. There is a beautiful myth about the origin of silver tinsel. One very poor woman, who had many children, decided to decorate the tree before Christmas, but since there was no money for rich decorations, the decoration of the tree turned out to be very unattractive. Overnight spruce branches spiders entwined with their web. Knowing the woman’s kindness, God decided to reward her and turned the web into silver.

Nowadays, tinsel is made from colored foil or PVC. Initially, garlands were long strips intertwined with flowers or branches. In the 19th century, the first electric garland with many bulbs appeared. The idea of ​​its creation was put forward by the American inventor Johnson, and brought to life by the Englishman Ralph Morris.

Stories about a small Christmas tree for children and their parents

Many fairy tales, short stories, and funny stories about the New Year tree have been written for small and large children. Here are some of them:

1. “The Tale of a Little Christmas Tree”, M. Aromstam. A touching and kind story for kids about a little tree that was rewarded for its desire to bring joy to others.
2. Comics from the Snegirev couple “Keshka in pursuit of a Christmas tree.” Short, funny stories about the cat Keshka and his owner.
3. Collection of poems "New Year's Tree". Author - Ag Jatkowska.
4. A. Smirnov “Christmas tree. Ancient Fun" is an old edition of the 1911 Christmas Lotto reprinted in a modern way.

Older children would be interested in reading “The History of the New Year Tree” in the book by Alexander Tkachenko.

New Year is perhaps one of the brightest and most anticipated holidays of the year, both for children and adults. We continue to share memories of him throughout the year. The New Year's bustle in anticipation of the chiming clock and making wishes with the closest people, endless running around the shops, either for forgotten peas, or for some other little thing that became very important on this particular day. Children make snowmen, not realizing that their parents are rushing around the shops at this time in search of a long-awaited gift written in a letter to Santa Claus. Towards evening, the female half of the family is bustling around in the kitchen, trying to get everything done in time for the chimes, while the male half is decorating the Christmas tree with colorful toys, tinsel and garlands.

The Christmas tree is an invariable attribute of Christmas and New Year. People traditionally treat its choice with special care; it should be moderately fluffy, have a uniform color and exude a pleasant smell of pine needles. But how did this tree acquire such iconic significance? What's the story?

Since ancient times, people have worshiped trees; it was believed that the souls of the deceased found their shelter in them. Particular attention was paid to evergreen trees, as it was believed that the sun favored them. They were decorated right in the forest in order to appease the sun god.

The very history of the appearance of the Christmas tree dates back to the end of the Middle Ages and came to us from the traditions of the German people of those times. According to historians, the German peoples had an ancient custom of going to the forest for the New Year, where they decorated a pre-selected spruce tree with colored rags, candles and sweets. Over time, trees began to be cut down and brought home to fill the home with the pleasant smell of pine needles, to enjoy their beauty in the warmth and in the circle of closest relatives. The spruce was placed on the table and decorated with burning candles, fruits and sweets. After the baptism of the German people, all these traditions of celebrating New Year's holidays with a Christmas tree began to acquire a Christian character.

The immediate date from which the history of the Christmas tree originates was 1512. According to legend, then the leader of German Protestants, Martin Luther, walking through the forest, was struck by the beauty of a Christmas tree dusted with snow, and he wanted to show his children this miracle of nature. People used to bring Christmas trees from the forest, but they placed them in the yard so that the thorny branches would scare away devils from the house. Luther did not want to make a scarecrow out of the tree. He brought it into the house and decorated it with sweets, apples and cotton fluffs to the delight of the children. The pastor hung a tree from the ceiling so that the children could enjoy the sight of hanging decorations and gifts. During the holiday, children joyfully picked sweets from the hanging tree, and threw away the tree that same evening. In subsequent years, they began to put the Christmas tree on the floor, and special toys appeared to decorate it.

But, despite the existence of this tradition for several centuries, Christmas trees began to be installed everywhere in homes relatively recently - in the 19th century. It was then that evergreen, coniferous beauties began to be regularly installed in the royal palaces of France, Germany, England, Norway, Denmark and Russia. But ordinary people began to put up a Christmas tree only in the second half of the 19th century.

Legends and facts about the Christmas tree are very diverse. There is a legend about where the tradition of decorating Christmas trees with shiny tinsel came from. Once upon a time there lived a poor woman who had many children. The night before Christmas, she decorated the Christmas tree, but she didn’t have enough toys. At night, spiders visited the tree, crawling from branch to branch, and wrapped it in a dense web. As a reward for the kindness of the mother of many children, the Christ Child blessed the tree, and the web turned into shining silver.

There is also a legend that the first Christmas tree balls appeared due to a poor apple harvest. Fruit supplies were quickly depleted for the winter and resourceful glassblowers small town In Bavaria, multi-colored balls were blown to replace round apples. And in the 1870s in America, a simple telegraph operator figured out to replace fire-hazardous candles with electric garlands.

Our Santa Claus was luckier than his colleagues. None of them have such a pretty and young assistant as Snegurochka. We are accustomed to consider her the granddaughter of Santa Claus. But it turns out that Snegurka is Father Frost’s grandmother. In the oldest fairy tales, it turns out that her name is Kostroma, she is burned at the stake, like Maslenitsa. And both of them are nothing more than the ancient peasant goddess of the Slavs. Santa Claus himself is much younger than his “granddaughter”.

Most countries have their own unique traditions for celebrating New Year and Christmas. For example, in Estonia there has been a rule for many years: after the holidays, Christmas trees are not thrown away, but brought and handed over to certain points. Then various sculptures are built from them and at the appointed hour, instead of being left among garbage containers, for several more hours they serve as the center of a fire show - “Burning holiday trees" The authorities prepare these events in advance and encourage them in every possible way. In addition to the show itself, viewers, especially children, are often treated to various surprises, gifts and sweets. During the event, much attention is paid to environmental issues and cleanliness.

In Turkey, decorating a Christmas tree is primarily a secular custom, since 95% of Turks are Muslims and do not celebrate Christmas. The custom appeared around the end of the 1920s, with Turkey's transition to the Gregorian calendar.

In Argentina, according to an ancient tradition, employees of various institutions throw unnecessary statements, old calendars, forms and other documentation out of the windows on the last working day of the outgoing year. By noon, the streets are covered with a continuous layer of paper. No one remembers how and when this custom arose. Various incidents arise from time to time; once, carried away employees of one of the newspapers threw the entire archive out the window.

In Great Britain, houses are decorated with branches of mistletoe and holly. According to tradition, once a year, on Christmas Eve, men can kiss any girl standing under a decoration made from these plants. One of the oldest traditions of the British is the Christmas log. It is believed that this ritual was introduced by the ancient Vikings. At Christmas they cut down a large tree and dried it all year. And the next Christmas they brought it into the house and burned it in the hearth.

In Greece, there is a custom according to which, at exactly midnight, the head of the family goes out into the street and breaks a pomegranate fruit against the wall of the house. If the grains scatter throughout the yard, the family will live happily in the New Year. When going to visit, the Greeks bring with them a mossy stone as a gift and leave it in the hosts’ room. They say: "Let the owners' money be as heavy as this stone"

In China, New Year is celebrated during the new moon in late January - early February. During the festive procession, people light many lanterns. This is done in order to light your way into the New Year. And they scare away evil spirits with the help of firecrackers and fireworks.

In Russia, the tradition of decorating the New Year tree was introduced by Peter I. Having visited his German friends in his youth, he was pleasantly surprised by a strange tree on which apples and candies hung instead of pine cones. Having become king, Peter I issued a decree to celebrate the New Year, as in enlightened Europe. It instructed to decorate large thoroughfares, houses and gates with pine and juniper branches. After the death of Peter, the tradition was forgotten, and popular New Year's attribute the tree appeared much later. In 1819, Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich, at the insistence of his wife, first put up a New Year's tree in the Anichkov Palace, and in 1852 in St. Petersburg, a public Christmas tree was decorated in the premises of the Catherine Station. The image of the Christmas tree is firmly rooted in the Christian religion. A toy was always placed at the top of the tree, symbolizing the Star of Bethlehem, which rose at the birth of Jesus and showed the way to the Magi. So the tree became a symbol of Christmas.

The Russian history of the Christmas tree was not always so rosy, for example, since 1926, in connection with anti-religious work among the population, decorating a Christmas tree was considered to be an anti-Soviet crime, but already in 1935 the first New Year's party with a decorated Christmas tree. And on New Year's Eve 1938, a huge 15-meter Christmas tree with ten thousand decorations and toys was installed in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions; since then it has traditionally been called the main Christmas tree of the country. Since 1976, the main Christmas tree began to be considered the Christmas tree in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, which it remains to this day.

This forest beauty overcame such a difficult and thorny path. Before we decorate our Christmas holiday.

The Christmas tree has long been considered a symbol of Christmas and New Year. But how did she become one?

There is no mention in the New Testament of a tree being decorated to celebrate the Nativity of Christ. There is a mention that at the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, people greeted him with palm branches. The palm tree in Christianity was a symbol of victory over death. In Hawaii, the palm tree is still used as a Christmas tree. And in the USA (Florida) the Christmas palm tree is grown. It gets its name from the fact that its bright red fruits ripen just in time for December.

The first mention of the Christmas tree is found in the ancient German legend of St. Boniface. To prove the superiority of Christianity, he wanted to demonstrate the powerlessness of the pagan gods and cut down the sacred Tree of Odin (Thor), saying: “The fir of Christianity will grow on the roots of the felled oak of paganism.” A fir tree sprouted from a stump as a symbol of Christianity...

In Livonia (the territory of modern Estonia) in the 15th century, the Brotherhood of the Blackheads established on the main square of Rivel (modern Tallinn) big Christmas tree, and the residents organized festivities and dances around it.

The 16th-century Bremen Chronicle describes decorating Christmas trees with “paper flowers, pretzels, dates, nuts and apples” at Christmas.

In Germany there was an ancient custom of decorating a Christmas tree in the forest with rags and wax candles, various rituals were performed near such a tree. Spruce was identified with the world tree, and tradition New Year's decoration oil was common. Later, trees began to be installed in the house.

As the population of Germany became baptized, many rituals and customs began to be filled with Christian content. This also affected the custom of decorating Christmas trees to coincide with Christmas. The Christmas tree officially became a Christmas tree and was also called the “Claus tree.”

There is very little documentary evidence left of those times. Disputes about the “first Christmas tree in Europe” even led to a diplomatic conflict between Tallinn and Riga.

However, the first "official" Christmas tree is attributed to Martin Luther, who installed a tree in his home on Christmas Day. Luther saw it as a symbol of the Tree of Life in Eden.

New Year tree in Russia.

In Russia, the first mentions of Christmas trees date back to the time of Peter I. In his decree on moving the New Year from September 1 to January 1, “following the example of all Christian peoples,” he ordered to launch rockets, light fires and decorate the capital with pine needles: “By big streets, at deliberate houses, in front of the gates, place some decorations from trees and branches of pine, spruce and cerebellum, against the samples that were made at Gostiny Dvor.” And “poor people” were asked to “put at least a tree or branch on each of their gates or over their temple... and stand for that decoration of January on the first day.”

Decorations made from pine needles were prescribed to be installed not indoors, but outside - on gates, roofs of taverns, streets and roads. Thus, the tree turned into a detail of the New Year's city landscape, and not the Christmas interior, which it later became.

After the death of Peter, the custom was forgotten for for a long time. Only taverns were still decorated with Christmas trees. Drinking establishments were identified by these trees. Christmas trees decorated roofs or gates all year round, only in December the old Christmas trees were replaced with new ones. Taverns even began to be called “Yolki” or “Yolkin Ivans”.

In the 19th century, the first Christmas trees appeared in St. Petersburg, in the houses of the Germans who lived there.

The first official Christmas tree in Russia was organized by Nicholas I at the request of his wife, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, née Princess Charlotte of Prussia. On December 24, 1817, on her initiative, a home Christmas tree was installed in the personal chambers of the imperial family in Moscow, and in 1818 - in the Anichkov Palace.

At Christmas 1828, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna arranged a “children’s Christmas tree” for her five children and nieces in the Great Dining Room of the palace. The children of some of the courtiers were also present at the celebration. On the tables were Christmas trees decorated with gilded apples, sweets and nuts. There were gifts under the Christmas trees.

Until the 1840s, the custom of putting up a Christmas tree was not widespread in Russia; palace trees were an exception. For example, neither A.S. Pushkin nor M.Yu. Lermontov mention trees in their works when describing Christmas festivities. In the mid-1840s, an explosion occurred - “German innovation” began to quickly spread throughout St. Petersburg. The entire capital was gripped by the “Christmas tree rush.” The custom became popular along with the fashion for the works of German writers and, above all, Hoffmann, whose “Christmas tree” works “The Nutcracker” and “Lord of the Fleas” were very popular in Russia at that time.

The sale of Christmas trees began in the late 1840s. They were traded by peasants near Gostiny Dvor. Subsequently, this seasonal trade belonged to Finnish peasants and gave them a considerable income, because Christmas trees were expensive.

The metropolitan nobility quickly moved away from the model of small German Christmas trees and organized competitions: who had a larger, thicker, more elegant, or richly decorated Christmas tree. In those days, they tried to decorate Christmas trees with sweets: nuts, candies, cookies, curly gingerbread cookies, fruits. After the end of the holiday, the Christmas tree decorations were taken apart for souvenirs and food. In wealthy homes, Christmas trees were often decorated with expensive decorations: earrings, rings and rings, as well as expensive fabric and ribbons.

The tradition of decorating the Christmas tree came to Russia from Europe, more precisely, from the land of Alsace. There, at the beginning of the 17th century, this evergreen tree was installed almost everywhere for Christmas. The spruce symbolized the Edenic tree of life, to which Adam and Eve lost access after being expelled from Paradise. But with the Birth of Christ, people again had a chance to join eternity.

In the 17th century, the custom developed of attaching the Christmas tree upside down to the ceiling - as a symbol of the ladder from heaven lowered to earth at Christmas. The Christmas tree was hung with apples, gingerbread and other sweets - in memory of the sweetness of heavenly life.

In Germany there is a legend associated with the founder of Protestantism, Martin Luther. Allegedly, he was walking through the forest on Christmas night and saw a star in the sky that suddenly descended onto the top of a spruce tree. In Protestant homes, the tradition of decorating the Christmas tree has been preserved, even though Protestants do not recognize “excesses” that are not mentioned in the Bible.

When Peter I traveled around Europe at the end of the 17th century, he really liked the way the tree was decorated for Christmas. So much so that the tsar issued a decree: by January 1, 1700, to mark the advent of the new century, everyone should decorate their Christmas trees. However, the custom did not immediately take root in Russia, and until the middle of the 19th century, Christmas trees in Russia were mainly in German homes.

However, from the middle of the 19th century, after the first public Christmas tree in St. Petersburg in 1852, the custom of decorating the Christmas tree became extremely widespread. So much so that Tchaikovsky writes the world's most famous Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker, which literally takes place under the Christmas tree.

In the twentieth century, there were “persecutions” against the Christmas tree. The first time was in 1916, during the First World War, as an alien from Germany. The second time - in 1918, formally as a bourgeois relic. Although in fact it was clear: the Christmas tree is too obvious a Christian symbol. And for some time he practically disappeared from the lives of Soviet people.

In 1935, during the famine and depression, Soviet propaganda workers, in order to raise the “national spirit,” decided to return to the people “ winter holiday"and a Christmas tree. Of course, this is no longer a Christmas tree, but simply christmas tree. Today, in many families, the Christmas tree has again become a Christmas symbol. And on it, instead of a five-pointed red star, the Star of Bethlehem burns again, as before.

Drawings by Diana Lapshina