The History of the Christmas Tree
In Rome, decorating the tree is a widespread custom now in every neighborhood and even in every family.
This is something that happens all over the world, the origins of which some trace back to ancient Greece and also to the Romans of the Eastern Empire.
Obviously it was not about making the classic Christmas tree but something similar.
An olive or laurel branch was used, called Eiresione and decorated with red or white wool garlands and with winter fruits such as chestnuts and nuts, as well as apples and pears.
It was prepared twice a year:
in spring to ask for a clement weather, favorable to crops,
and in autumn to thank the gifts that the earth had bestowed during the past year.
The decorated branches were dedicated to divinities such as Apollo or Athena, carried from house to house by children who sang songs of good wishes, receiving gifts in return.
A kind of Christmas mixed with Halloween.
Then in the modern era in many say have been pagan traditions celtic that have given rise to the tree as we know it.
Actually it seems that Germany is the “true” home of the Christmas tree.
From some documents and even paintings, it seems that the first appearance of the festively decorated fir tree was in German homes from the 16th century onwards.
To give it a Christian meaning, the biblical scene of Eden was then used.
On the night in which the birth of Jesus is celebrated, the tree placed in the center of the Garden of Eden also becomes the tree around which humanity finds forgiveness.
In Italy, the first person to decorate a Christmas tree, in the second half of the nineteenth century, was Queen Margherita of Savoy, and since then it also began to appear next to the crib.
