Today's indoor artificial trees are often sold pre-strung with lights, which not only provide a consistent display of color and light, but also allow people to avoid the most unpleasant yearly task of untangling Christmas lights. Some pre-lit trees contain fiber optics, which are lighted by a single lamp at the base. Most fiber optic trees come with a rotating color wheel that creates a shimmering multicolored lighting effect.
Other modern Christmas tree gimmicks include talking or singing trees, trees that blow their own "snow" (Styrofoam beads) and inverted trees. Inverted Christmas trees were originally used in stores by merchants who wanted their customers to get a closer look at the ornaments and other decorations being sold. The idea caught on with some customers who thought that the inverted trees would allow larger presents to be placed underneath them.
The Multicultural Holiday Evergreen
Today, decorated evergreen trees are often the subject of political controversy. In recent years, as America has progressed toward greater religious tolerance and freedom, the governments of some cities and towns have declined to put up lighted and decorated evergreens because they fear that they might be in violation of the First Amendment. Other localities simply call their decorated evergreens "Holiday Trees" in order to be inclusive and respectful of their communities' diversity.
Some Christians object to the idea of calling a decorated evergreen a "Holiday Tree," believing that such a generic name is marginalizing to the Christian faith. But as their history demonstrates, decorated evergreens, which pre-date Christianity by thousands of years, were never exclusively Christian. Rather, the idea of decorating an evergreen tree in December is an ancient, multicultural notion whose meaning is as diverse as the variety of Christmas/Holiday tree styles available in stores today.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
fascinating! great report as always Margaret - love the background of tradtions and customs!
2 - Margaret Romao Toigo
Thank you, Eric. It's always nice to get a pat on the back from the man in charge.
3 - GoHah
I never would've thought artificial trees went back that far. Enjoyable history lesson--thanks
4 - Greg Schoppe
wait, what you just wrote boils down to: lighted, decorated trees were created by either Martin Luthor, or St Bonaface. How does that make it not a Christian tradition? The use of evergreen boughs as decoration is not the same, and is derived from a totally seperate tradition.
5 - Margaret Romao Toigo
Well, of course decorated evergreens are a Christian tradition! They just aren't exclusively so, having evolved from numerous ancient customs and beliefs.
Indeed, the legends of Martin Luther and St. Boniface tell part of the story of how decorated evergreens might have become Christmas trees in world culture.
It is interesting that both of those stories originated in Germany, where evergreens were decorated and worshiped by the ancient cultures of that land long before the advent of Christianity.
Let us not forget that Christmas trees really didn't catch on with Christians in America until the 1890s.
Several centuries passed before the notions of our rather joyless Puritan forefathers, who condemned Christmas trees as a "heathen tradition," would fade from our culture. Remarkably, there are a few Christian sects that still subscribe to this belief in the 21st century.
Did you know that there is not one mention of a Christmas tree anywhere in the Bible? Perhaps this is the reason why the Puritans did not care too much for Christmas trees and why a few modern Christians still do not use Christmas trees in their celebrations of the Birth of Christ.
So let's not get all vainglorious and play that silly "War on Christmas" game (besides, it's really nothing more than another holiday fund raising ploy). There's no good reason to make assertions of Christian exclusivity with regard to decorated evergreens.
In fact, the very lack of exclusivity makes decorated evergreens multicultural and therefore suitable and appropriate for governments to display as Holiday Trees that include everyone and marginalize no one.