German Christmas tree

The cult of worshipping trees is found in almost all world cultures. If we look more closely at ancient myths, biblical legends or even folk tales, we can understand that in all of them, one way or another, there are different trees. The cult of a tree and ideas about structuring the world as a tree have existed for a long time. Even in the Paleolithic…

Okay, we’re the ones who are starting something really far away. We just want to share a fun fact that few people know about. One of the few remnants of the cult of worshipping the tree of our time is a Christmas tree / New Year’s tree – a Christmas tree. So, this tradition is from Germany.

The spruce has nothing to do with Christianity, but rather is a trace of ancient pagan traditions. The spirits of spring and fertility should live in it. Therefore, every time in the middle of winter the northern Europeans called for these spirits through the decoration of a tree or pine tree.

After the baptism of the Germanic peoples the rites were forgotten, but some beautiful traditions are still popular. The German Martin Luther (one of the fathers of the Reformation of the Christian Church) brought real popularity to the tree as a Christmas decoration. Since the beginning of the 16th century, the tradition has spread throughout Europe as a Christian tradition. It came to the Russian Empire much later, after the reforms of Peter I. The first fir trees in the imperial palaces began to appear as early as the beginning of the XIX century.

And then there was the Soviet Union, and you know how the Christmas tree became a New Year’s Eve.

That’s how the German reformer extended the German pagan tradition to the whole Christian world.