c. 2004 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) The Christmas tree remains a powerful symbol for many of us, a mandala of sorts, evoking emotions that can be traced through thousands of years of humankind and across many different faiths.
“Christmas trees probably add more to mark the period of `peace on earth, goodwill toward men’ than any other product of the soil,” says Ann Kirk-Davis, whose family has been raising and selling Christmas trees for generations. “This enduring tree symbol _ which is even older than Christianity and not exclusive to any one religion _ remains a firmly established part of our holiday customs, engaging not only our senses of sight, touch and smell, but also our sense of tradition.”
The Christmas tree has evolved from centuries-old traditions.
Ancient Egyptians, Romans, Chinese and other cultures used evergreens to mark the winter solstice, celebrate the end of the harvest year and symbolize the spirit of renewal. Druids used holly and mistletoe as symbols of eternal life.
In the seventh century in Germany, St. Boniface used the triangular shape of the tree to symbolize the Holy Trinity. In the Middle Ages, evergreens were decorated with red apples _ the paradise tree _ to mark the pagan festival of Adam and Eve. In Riga, Latvia, in 1510, Martin Luther, inspired by the stars shimmering through the trees as he walked through the woods one wintry night, cut down a small tree, took it home and decorated it with candles for his children.
One of the first documented reports of Christmas trees in America was in 1747 among the German Moravian immigrants in Bethlehem, Pa. In 1825, the Saturday Evening Post noted the decorated trees in Philadelphia, and in 1842 candles, popcorn, nuts and homemade paper ornaments were used to decorate Christmas trees in Williamsburg, Va.
In 1851, a New York farmer, Mark Carr, cut a load of evergreens from the Catskills, hauled them to Manhattan and set up the first street corner Christmas tree lot in Greenwich Village. Franklin Pierce put the first tree in the White House in the 1850s, and every president embraced the practice _ except for Theodore Roosevelt, the noted conservationist, who objected to cutting down perfectly good trees from the forest.
By 1900, one in five American families had a Christmas tree, and over the next 20 years the popularity of Christmas trees spread rapidly. A farmer planted 25,000 Norway spruce outside Trenton, N.J., and allowed the public to come and cut down a tree for a dollar.
Americans buy about 25 million trees each December, though that number has been decreasing as aging baby boomers use artificial trees or don’t put up a tree at all. About seven of 10 households have an artificial tree, but most of them are well beyond the first 1960s “Silver Pine” aluminum poles-and-branches that came with the revolving colored-light wheel.
Today you can buy a fake tree that looks reasonably real _ irregular in shape, rather than perfectly symmetrical _ for $200. For more than $1,000, you can get a faux tree (faux is more expensive than fake) with hundreds of lights embedded in the branches, a pine scent and loose plastic needles to scatter on the floor.
Ninety-eight percent of all real trees are grown on plantations rather than cut from the wild, and every tree that is cut down is replaced. Somewhere from one-quarter to one-half of all trees _ not even the National Christmas Tree Association is sure _ are purchased by people who go to farms and cut their own, usually as the highlight of a day of “agritainment” with the kids that might include hayrides, a petting zoo, hot cocoa and a visit with Santa.
Today’s trees are fuller and better shaped, but it’s not because of biotechnology or genetics. Instead, longtime Maine grower Doug Kell Sr. explains, farmers simply started “shearing” trees as they grew _ using a knife to trim branches. This resulted not only in a more perfect cone shape, but also fewer bare spots.
That’s why there are so few crooked or lopsided trees _ what he and other growers call “Charlie Brown” trees _ in lots anymore.
Most trees come from six states: Oregon, Michigan, North Carolina, Washington, Wisconsin and California. Among the most popular species are Scotch pine, Douglas fir, white pine, balsam fir and white spruce. The most expensive trees on most lots are the Noble fir on the West Coast and the Fraser fir on the East Coast, known for holding their needles, scent and color.
Charlie Grogan, president of the growers’ National Christmas Tree Association, says the typical Christmas tree sells for about $16.50, is shipped to a lot for $4, and is sold by the retailer for about $40. Grogan, who grows trees in the Willamette Valley foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon, says the growers’ association is intent on expanding the market. This year, for example, a cross-promotion let moviegoers take their ticket stubs from “The Polar Express” to participating lots and get a discount on their Christmas trees.
A longer-range “certification” program aims to guarantee purchasers that their trees have been grown, shipped, stored and otherwise handled in the best way to assure that the color, scent and needles will last through the holiday season.
“Those who truly believe,” Grogan says, “should have a real tree.”
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(Timothy Harper is an editorial/publishing consultant who also teaches writing at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City.)
