Description

Celebrating Christmas used to be against the law during the Puritan era of the 1600s. Slowly, but surely Americans began to warm to the idea of Christmas. The journey of the Christmas tree in America travels a long and rather surprising road. But now Christmas is the nation’s biggest holiday, and tree lighting ceremonies have become a national annual tradition.

Recommend reading: “The Christmas Tree Book: The History of the Christmas Tree & Antique Christmas Tree Ornaments” by Phillip V. Snyder

Cited sources:

https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/hillsboroughco/2017/12/15/brief-history-christmas-tree-united-states/

Christmas lights - https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/untangling-history-christmas-lights-180961140/

Tree history - https://www.britannica.com/story/how-did-the-tradition-of-christmas-trees-start

Tree history - https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas-trees#who-brought-christmas-trees-to-america

Tree history - https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/christmas-tree-history

Christmas in the colonies - https://www.history.com/news/christmas-13-colonies-puritans

Hale efforts - https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/stealth-campaign-bring-christmas-tree/

Tree history origin - https://www.thoughtco.com/christmas-trees-19th-century-tradition-1773913

Puritan laws - https://newengland.com/yankee/history/how-the-puritans-banned-christmas/

First Christmas - https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/the-1st-recorded-celebration-of-christmas-11629658.html

Congress and Christmas Day - https://religionandpolitics.org/2012/12/21/did-congress-meet-on-christmas-day-fact-checking-the-war-on-christmas/#:~:text=Emery%20then%20turned%20to%20government,Day%20in%20only%20three%20years.

Saturnalia - https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/saturnalia.html#:~:text=In%20the%20Roman%20calendar%2C%20the,ritual%2C%20with%20the%20head%20uncovered.

Rhine Exodus of 1816/17 - https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/article/abs/rhine-exodus-of-18161817-within-the-developing-german-atlantic-world/3C1E169554D846E32447970D04132448

German immigration - https://www.deutschland.de/en/usa/us-immigration-americas-german-roots

Thirty Years’ War - https://militarymaps.rct.uk/thirty-years-war-1618-48#:~:text=The%20Thirty%20Years%20War%20began,German%20princes%20and%20occasionally%20Spain).

Harvard prof - https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/12/harvard-professor-brought-first-christmas-tree-to-new-england/

Bokum book - https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3b06632/ & https://www.amazon.com/Strangers-Gift-Christmas-Years-Present/dp/B01891RTPA/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Winslow Homer Harpers Weekly image - https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/393185

Christmas at Windsor illustration - https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/christmas-tree-at-windsor-castle-from-the-christmas-supplement-to-the-illustrated-london-news 

Household Christmas trees - https://www.christmastreeassociation.org/press-releases/75-percent-of-us-households-or-94-million-homes-will-display-a-christmas-tree-in-2021-despite-supply-chain-and-shortage-challenges#:~:text=December%209%2C%202021%20%2D%20Despite%20global,displaying%20Christmas%20trees%20in%202021%2C 

National Christmas Tree - https://www.whitehousehistory.org/photos/the-1923-national-christmas-tree-and-the-spirit-of-the-holiday-season-photo-4