Little Christmas Knowledge - Christmas Tree

Christmas tree is one of the most famous traditions in Christmas celebration. Usually people bring an evergreen plant, such as a pine tree, into the house or outdoors before and after Christmas, and decorate it with Christmas lights and colorful ornaments. And put an angel or star on the top of the tree.

So what is the origin of the Christmas tree? How did it become one of the symbols of Christmas? Today, I'd like to introduce you.

It is said that long ago, a farmer met a poor child on Christmas Day. He warmly welcomed the child. When the child left, he cut off a pine branch and inserted it on the ground. The pine branch immediately turned into a tree with gifts hanging on it to thank the farmer for his kindness.

However, the Christmas tree really appeared at Christmas, first in Germany, and then in Europe and the United States, becoming an indispensable Christmas ornament. They usually use colorful lights, wax, gifts or angels to install Christmas trees, especially for people living in the northwest of the United States. Because of the rich forest resources in the region, they will choose a real tree as the Christmas tree with their whole family. There are many kinds of Christmas trees, including natural pine and cypress Christmas trees, artificial Christmas trees and white Christmas trees. Each Christmas tree is decorated with a dazzling array of ornaments, but there must be a huge star at the top of each tree, like the star that guides the Three Magi of the Orient to find Jesus. And in traditional customs, only the head of a family can put this star of hope on the list, and no one else can take over.

It is said that around the 16th century, the Germans first took evergreen pine and cypress branches to their houses for decoration. Later, German missionary Martin Luther put the candle on the fir tree branch in the forest and lit it, making it look like the star light guiding people to Bethlehem, just like the Three Magi of the East found Jesus according to the stars in the sky two thousand years ago. Nowadays, people have switched to small light bulbs instead of candles.

The moral of the Christmas tree

1. The ancients once hung red apples on the trees, symbolizing the separation of good and evil.

2. Evergreen trees also symbolize eternal life.

3. The triangle of the Christmas tree symbolizes the trinity.

4. Candles or colored lights on the Christmas tree symbolize the light of the world.

5. The star at the top of the tree symbolizes the bright morning star, or the star that guides the Oriental doctor, sometimes replaced by a messenger angel.

6. The gift under the tree symbolizes that salvation is God's gift and grace.

7. The Christmas tree is not only a holiday decoration, but also a symbol of happiness and a new journey.

Common tree species of Christmas tree

1. Pine and cypress

Piniperdae is a general name for Pinaceae, Taxodiaceae, Cupressaceae and Araucaceae in the class Pinaceae of gymnospermum. Among them, most trees of Cupressaceae do not present triangular tower shape, and are rarely used as Christmas trees;

At the same time, Araucaceae trees are native to the southern hemisphere (except New Zealand, Australia and other places in the southern hemisphere) and are usually used only as Christmas trees in the southern hemisphere, and rarely used as Christmas trees in other regions; In Pinaceae and Taxodiaceae, Pinaceae has more than ten times as many species as Taxodiaceae, so Pinaceae plants are often used as Christmas trees.

2. Abies

More than ten species of fir trees in the pine family are the most popular Christmas trees in the world. Because of their beautiful tree shape, attractive color and smell, and their leaves are not easy to fall off after being cut and dried, fir trees have become the most popular Christmas trees. Among them, European fir is regarded as the most traditional Christmas tree.

3. Picea

Picea, like fir, has tower shaped tree shape and strip hard leaves, and is also one of the main tree species of Christmas tree. Among them, Norwegian spruce is a very common Christmas tree species due to its easy planting and low price.