TRUE OR false:Christmas trees grow in all 50 states (including Alaska and Hawaii).
The tradition of bringing Christmas-like trees inside predates the birth of Christ.
It used to be illegal to have a decorated Christmas tree in Massachusetts on Dec. 25.
Early Christmas tree decorations were mostly edible.
The first recorded use of Christmas trees in the U.S. was in Williamsburg.
Let me help lend a little context to each statement.
If you look up that first one online, you’ll probably find many sources that verify it, but it might not be as true as we’d like to believe. While it’s true that trees suitable for use as Christmas trees grow in all 50 states, there’s no verification of the existence of Christmas tree growers or farms in every state. The most recent Ag Census (2009) found no Christmas tree farms in Alaska, Arizona, Wyoming, Nevada or North Dakota.
Oregon, Pennsylvania and North Carolina tend to lead the pack, with Virginia ranking sixth in total trees harvested and total acreage as recently as 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
As for when the Christmas tree tradition began, it was before Jesus was born. Bringing evergreen plants or plant parts inside during the shortest days of winter has a long history. In early polytheistic Egyptian and Roman culture, decorating with green palm rushes or evergreen boughs was associated with worship of god(s). Between then and now the Druids of Great Britain, along with the Germans and Scandinavians of the late Middle Ages, had their own beliefs associated with evergreen trees during the winter solstice.
Christianity traces the use of the Christmas tree as part of the Christmas celebration to Martin Luther in the early 1500s. Legend has it he was walking home through the woods on a cold Christmas Eve and was consumed by the beauty of snow-dusted evergreens reflecting the moonlight. It’s said that he cut a little fir down to bring inside and decorated it with candles.
Why then would it be true in 1659 that the General Court of Massachusetts made it illegal to hang Christmas tree decorations? Because then, like now, some Christians (in this case, the Puritans) didn’t like it that the use of Christmas trees began as a pagan tradition.
I really like the idea of Christmas tree decorations being edible. A small remnant of that practice is the hanging of candy canes on the tree and the occasional string of popcorn. German–Americans continued to use apples, nuts and marzipan cookies even into the early 20th century, when most other Americans had started decorating with homemade ornaments. Wouldn’t it be nice to simply eat the decorations instead of having to pack them up in storage for a year?
And finally, the last point is false, but it was sort of a trick question. The best Internet sleuthing I can do finds that historians claim U.S. soldiers stationed at Fort Dearborn, Ill., in 1804 for the Revolutionary War harvested Christmas trees from the nearby woods to help celebrate Christmas in their barracks. Fort Dearborn is now Chicago.
Williamsburg can, however, claim the first decorated tree. Charles Minnegrode was a German professor at the College of William Mary, and in 1842 he brought a Christmas tree with him on a visit with a fellow professor, whose children entertained themselves by decorating it with colored paper and candles attached to the branches with wire.
Regardless of how well you did with the quiz, if you are one of the 8 in 10 Americans who put up a Christmas tree—and especially if you have an “all-American” real Christmas tree that is 100 percent biodegradable and provides local jobs—Merry Christmas from Virginia Cooperative Extension!
Adam Downing is an agent in Virginia Cooperative Extension’s Madison County office, specializing in forestry and natural resources. Phone 540/948-6881; fax 540/948-6883; email adowning@vt.edu.
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