O’ Christmas Tree

Christmas trees in Tübingen, Germany. (Photos by Faith Forry)

With Christmas this week, I’d like to take a break from our discussions about Pennsylvania’s wildlife and instead focus on something a little more festive — Christmas trees!

The origin of the beloved Christmas tree tradition as we know it today is credited to Christians in 16th century Germany. Decorated trees were brought into their homes to celebrate this sacred holiday; if wood was scarce, pyramids of wood were built and decorated with candles and evergreens. The Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, is widely thought to be the first to have added candles to a tree. While walking home and devising a sermon on a cold winter night, he marveled at the beauty of the stars shining amongst the evergreen trees. Thus, by adding lighted candles to their Christmas tree, he recreated this scene for his family.

New England Puritans held Christmas as a most sacred holiday, and they considered displays of festivity like Christmas carols or decorated trees to be pagan mockeries of this holy day. As early as 1747, community Christmas trees were erected in German settlements of Pennsylvania. Although, even as late as the 1840s, Christmas trees were not accepted by most Americans, as they were still thought of as pagan symbols. However, as more German and Irish immigrants settled in the U.S., the Christmas tree tradition became more popular and the former stern Puritan ideologies were outnumbered. In the early 1900s, Americans decorated their trees with homemade ornaments, while marzipan cookies, nuts, and apples were still used by German-Americans. With the invention and expansion of electricity, trees were adorned with Christmas lights, wherefore Christmas trees became a widely established tradition in American homes [1].

All these years later, Christmas trees are still a valued tradition, as well as an abundant and profitable crop in Pennsylvania. In fact, Pennsylvania ranks as third in the U.S. for our number of Christmas tree farms, with over 1,400 farms in the state. These farms constitute about 31,000 acres of land and produce around 1 million cut trees yearly [2]. Aside from their traditional value and addition to our economy, real Christmas trees are a renewable and recyclable resource, making them an excellent option compared to their artificial counterpart. For each real Christmas tree bought from a tree farm, another is planted in its place. Further, these Christmas tree farms actually provide similar services as our forests, by sequestering carbon, cleaning our air and water, and stabilizing soil.

Certainly, there are numerous options for recycling your Christmas tree once the holiday season is over. After it has served your family as a cherished tradition, your tree can continue to serve in other ways-- I’d like to name just a few. Of course, you can check with your local town government for tree drop-off areas or designated tree pick-up days. These gathered trees are often used to make mulch for local parks. Or, you yourself can make mulch or compost out of your tree. This mulch can help keep your soil moist and healthy, and the nutrients in pine needles can enhance the pH of alkaline soil. You could also cut the branches off your tree and lay them on your garden, the boughs acting as insulation. Another option is to allow your dead tree to serve as habitat for wildlife-- birds and other creatures will nest in its branches. After drying for a few months, evergreens can be chopped and used as firewood. It’s important to note that evergreens burn fast and hot, making them generally unsafe for indoors but ideal for bonfires. After burning this wood, the ashes can be spread on your garden, providing nutrients for your plants and helping to keep insects away [3].

I hope you’re enjoying Christmas festivities and treasured traditions, perhaps with family gathered around your Christmas tree. I wish you good fortune during this most blessed holiday season and into the new year. Merry Christmas!

[1] https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas-trees

[2] https://christmastrees.org

[3] https://urnabios.com/10-sustainable-ways-to-recycle-your-christmas-tree/

Written by Faith Forry — December 23, 2020