Christmas Tree

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Christmas Tree,
Weihnachtsbaum, Tannenbaum

***** Location: Worldwide
***** Season: Mid-Winter
***** Category: Humanities

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Explanation


http://www.david-armstrong.com/christ.html

tree trimming
decorating the tree

. . . CLICK here for Tree Photos !


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The origin of the Christmas tree is the region of the Alsace between Germany and France.

History of the Christmas Tree

The decorated Christmas tree can be traced back to the ancient Romans who during their winter festival decorated trees with small pieces of metal during Saturnalia, a winter festival in honor of Saturnus, the god of agriculture.

An evergreen, the Paradise tree, was decorated with apples as a symbol of the feast of Adam and Eve held on December 24th during the middle ages.

Christmas trees were sold in Alsace in 1531. Alsace was at that time a part of Germany. Today it is part of France. The trees were sold at local markets and set up in homes undecorated. In the Ammerschweier in Alsace there was an ordinance that stated no person "shall have for Christmas more than one bush of more than eight shoe lengths."

Sixteenth century folklore credited Martin Luther as being the first to decorate an indoor tree. After a walk through a forest of evergreens with shining stars overhead, Luther tried to describe the experience to his family and showed them by bringing a tree into their home and decorating it with candles. Some historians state that the first evidence of a lighted tree appeared more than a century after Martin Luther's death in 1546.

The oldest record of a decorated Christmas tree came from a 1605 diary found in Strasburg, France (Germany in 1605). The tree was decorated with paper roses, apples and candies.
In Austria & Germany during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the tops of evergreens were cut and hung upside down in a living room corner. They were decorated with apples, nuts and strips of red paper.

The first record of Christmas trees in America was for children in the German Moravian Church's settlement in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Christmas 1747. Actual trees were not decorated, but wooden pyramids covered with evergreen branches were decorated with candles.

Read a lot more here:
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/trees/traditions.html

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Christmas Tree Ikebana by Erika Schwalm, 2005

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Christmas Tree Facts
Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United states since about 1850. Until fairly recently, all Christmas trees came from the forest.

The best selling trees are Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Fraser fir, Virginia pine, Balsam fir and white pine.

Read it all here:
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/trees/


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Worldwide use

Brussels, Belgium

One special part of this end of the Christmas season in Brussels (Belgium) is the public collection of Christmas trees, which this year took place on 9 January. Householders are informed and, on that day, everyone should place their undecorated Christmas trees in front of their houses in the street, where the public authorities will collect them and recycle them for use of the shredded wood in the public parks.

Very few Christmas trees miss this collection date, and if they are put out with the rubbish afterwards, they have to be cut up and placed into the usual plastic bags for collection.

Isabelle Prondzynski
Kigo Hotline, January 2011


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Things found on the way

Haibun by Michael Baribeau

Tree Farm Hayride Santa

Last week I took my son Lee to Harts Tree Farm in Rockford, Michigan, USA to cut our own Christmas tree. Michigan is one of the largest producers of evergreens for Christmas trees, some 6 million each year. The tree farms have become quite an operation with a little petting zoo, pony ride, hayrides, hot apple cider and hotdogs.

tree farm
picturing my ceiling
above the douglas fir





tree farm
Santa driving
the tractor

or for buying pre-cut trees at impromptued lots...

Christmas tree lot
wondering which one
will live longest

Michael Baribeau, 2005


Christmas tree lights --
from the couch I listen
to my father sleeping

Michael Baribeau, 2006

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HAIKU

Here is a heartwarming link of Children's haiku about Christmas.

In December, Mr Jones asked us to write Haiku on Christmas themes. We wrote a few together on the whiteboard and then we wrote our own. Here are the results. We hope you enjoy reading them.

Christmas is coming
Toys under the Christmas tree
Then we open them

Stefan, 5 years

Baubles on the tree
Lots of presents for us all
Oh, how exciting.

Trimmings on the tree
Santa puts toys on the tree
I like Christmas Day

Samantha, 4 years
http://www.porthjuniors.ndo.co.uk/MyEnglsihSet/christmas_haiku.htm

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Christmas Haiku by Tom Brinck
skating on the lake,
a tree ornament
half-buried in snow

Read the whole set of it
http://www.iowachristmastree.com/christmas_haiku.html

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at the garbage
a Christmas tree-
makes a good meal for a moose

Fred Masarani
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cherrypoetryclub/message/21202
http://community-2.webtv.net/fmas/HaikuByFredMasarani/


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Related words

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Christmas
. Christmas Moon
. Christmas Tree


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