It is an accepted fact that the Christmas
tree tradition is one that was brought to the shores of America by German immigrants
who continued a practice that was
popular in their former homeland. Today, a Christmas tree, even a miniature one, is present in just about every home at
Christmas. It is therefore interesting
to note some little-know facts about the Christmas Tree and other traditions related to Christmas.
The first interesting fact is the source of
real Christmas Trees for some Americans.These can be bought at a Christmas Tree Farm
or at many local stores and other
places of business in just about every town and city across the country around Christmas time. But according to the
National Christmas Tree
Association, Americans buy about 330,000
Christmas trees that are real through e-commerce or from a catalogue and have them shipped by
mail-order.
The scent of real Christmas trees is the
reason they are so popular. But as they stand silently in their decorative wonder, they also are
providing another benefit. The Christmas Tree
Association says the amount of oxygen produced on a daily basis by one acre of Christmas tree is enough to
provide enough oxygen for
people. And during the first week, a Christmas Tree at home will use up
to one quart of water each day to help
retain its longevity for the many days of Christmas.
Since Christmas celebrations gained
popularity in America, the Christmas Tree has always been a big tradition. During the 1950s
however, artificial Christmas trees were not always green. It was very popular during
those times to have artificial trees with other colors
such as silver, pink and aqua. The appeal in having these colored
Christmas trees may have been due to the fact that they looked shiny and bright and appeared like tinsel instead
of green foliage.
An important ceremony related to the
Christmas tree that gains national attention during the Christmas season is the lighting of
the National Christmas Tree at the
White House. This tradition can be credited to President Calvin Coolidge who lit the first decorated Christmas tree
outside at the White House in 1923.
The lighting of the National Christmas Tree
has also been used to convey some symbolic meaning not related to Christmas. It was not
lighted until Dec. 22 in1963
because of a national mourning period of 30 days for the assassination
of President Kennedy. And while Teddy
Roosevelt was President he gave an order that banned the Christmas tree from the White House, not for
the assassination of
President McKinley in 1901, which caused him
to become president, but for reasons related to the environment.
Also of note is that when the National
Christmas Tree was lighted on Dec. 13 in1984,temperatures were in the 70s during an unusually
warm December.
Christmas has been celebrated in the United
States since the 1600s although it wasn't always very popular. It took more than two
centuries into the mid-late 1860s
for Christmas to become a popular holiday season all across America. So maybe the rest of the country owes the
holiday of Christmas Day to the state of Alabama, which in 1836 became the first state to declare
Dec. 25 a legal holiday.
It is interesting to note that on Christmas
Day of 1789 Congress was in session. And to show how far ahead of the game Alabama was, it
wasn't until June 26, 1870 that the
federal government declared Christmas as a federal holiday.
Although Christmas is based on the Christian
religion, not all Christian groups celebrate the season. Among the Christian groups who do
not celebrate Christmas and related
traditions such as sending greeting cards are Jehovah Witnesses.
Jehovah Witnesses and other non-participating
Christian groups say Christmas isn't specifically mentioned in the Bible as a time or
reason to celebrate and since they
strictly adhere to the word of the Bible, they refuse to celebrate Christmas.
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