Who introduced the tradition of decorating the Christmas tree. History of the tradition of decorating the Christmas tree

The legend connects the Christmas tree with the name of the Baptist of Germany, Saint Boniface. While preaching Christianity to the pagans in the 8th century, Boniface decided to prove that the oak, which they worshiped, did not have magical powers, and cut it down. Falling, the oak knocked down all the trees around it, and only a small spruce remained standing. “Let it be the tree of Christ!” the saint exclaimed. Allegedly, since then, a decorated Christmas tree has been put in houses for Christmas.

The Christmas tree actually comes from Germany. A later legend says that one of the founders of Protestantism, Martin Luther, ordered to put a Christmas tree in the houses. Luther was probably one of the first Christian authorities to put a Christmas tree in the house and urge others not to shy away from this pagan custom, which, of course, existed long before Luther.

Even before the beginning of the Christian era, the Germans celebrated the mid-winter festival at the end of December. Before this day, they put branches of bird cherry or fruit trees into the water. By the holiday, flowers appeared on the branches, symbolizing that nature did not die forever. But sometimes the buds didn't open. This was considered a bad omen. Therefore, over time, instead of bird cherry, branches of evergreen trees began to be used: fir, spruce or pine, and later whole small Christmas trees.

How did the Christmas tree migrate from a pagan holiday to Christian Christmas?

At the beginning of the first millennium, the Romans celebrated on December 25 the day of Sol Invictus - "the invincible sun." When Christianity spread throughout the empire, no one celebrated Christmas because the exact date of Jesus' birth was unknown. But since he was born in winter, the old holiday of Sol Invictus began to be associated with his birth. And so it went, in general, since then Christmas around the world along with Christianity, absorbing pagan winter holidays. In the German lands, he absorbed with giblets the customs of the midwinter festival. Including the Christmas tree.

In the XIV-XV centuries, ordinary people still could not afford to buy a whole Christmas tree and were content with branches. But the rich craft workshops put (and sometimes hung from the ceiling) large fir trees in their workshops, decorating them with apples and various sweets. After the holiday, the children were allowed to shake off all this stuff from the Christmas tree and take it for themselves. The sugar Christmas star, which was crowned with a Christmas tree, was usually given to the youngest or the most distinguished child in the past year. It is not surprising that children have especially loved Christmas since then.

From Germany, the Christmas tree went all over the world. In 1807, the French emperor Napoleon I, who learned about this custom in military campaigns, ordered to decorate a Christmas tree in the city of Kassel for his German soldiers from Alsace. In 1837, a Christmas tree was placed in the Tuileries Palace in France. This was ordered to be done by the Duchess of Orleans, nee German princess Helena von Macklenburg. The first Christmas tree in England was erected back in 1800 at the court of King George III for his German wife Charlotte. But the custom did not take hold immediately. The second time the Christmas tree was dressed up in England only in 1840 - and again for the German of the most august blood - the husband of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg. In England and France, this tradition became popular only in the second half of the 19th century. But now France provides all of Europe with Christmas trees, growing them on plantations in the Morvan mountains. And the main Christmas tree of England, which is put up on Trafalgar Square every year, is brought from Norway. This is how the Norwegians express their gratitude to the British for their help during the Second World War.

The custom of decorating a Christmas tree was brought to America in the second half of the 19th century by immigrants from southwestern Germany. And in 1882 in New York, the Christmas tree was first decorated with electric candles, which were made by special order of the vice president of the first New York power plant. Selling electric Christmas tree candles began in 1902.

It is believed that in Russia a Christmas tree was first dressed up by decree of Peter I. This is not so. Peter ordered to celebrate the New Year on January 1 and ordered that on this day to decorate the gates of houses with spruce and pine branches. And the first Christmas tree in Russia was decorated by the St. Petersburg Germans in the 40s of the XIX century. From them, this custom was adopted first by the townspeople, and later by the villagers. By the end of the 19th century, a Christmas tree was already put up in almost every Russian house.

By the way, few people know that the song "A Christmas tree was born in the forest" is not at all folk. Its text was composed in 1903 by a certain Raisa Kudasheva. Then she was 25 years old. And the music for this song was composed by the biologist and agronomist Leonid Beckman.

Christmas tree in antiquity

Christmas tree in medieval Europe

Decorating the Christmas tree with the whole family is a good New Year's Eve tradition that over and over again takes us back to childhood and immerses us in the atmosphere of a real winter fairy tale. But have you ever wondered where this custom came from? We offer you several versions that are followed in Europe and Russia.

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:

Tradition connects the emergence of the custom of putting fir trees in houses on the feast of the Nativity of Christ with the name of the Apostle of Germany, St. Boniface (+ June 5, 754). While preaching to the pagans and telling them about the Nativity of Christ, he cut down an oak tree dedicated to Thor, the god of thunder, to show the pagans how powerless their gods were. Oak, falling, knocked down several trees, except for spruce. Bonifatius called spruce the tree of the Infant Christ. Apparently, at first the spruce was placed on the feast of the Nativity of Christ without decorations. She herself, slender, beautiful, exhaling a thick pleasant smell, was the decoration of the house. The custom of dressing a fir tree appeared after the Reformation in Protestant countries.

In Russia, the establishment of the Christmas tree, apparently, dates back to the reign of Peter the Great. The Orthodox Church celebrated the beginning of the new year on September 1 in memory of the victory won by Constantine the Great over Maxentius in 312. In 1342, under Metropolitan Theognost, it was decided to start both the church and the civil year on September 1, which was also confirmed at the council of 1505 d. The celebration of the new civil year and the church year were closely intertwined.

The year 1700 was celebrated twice in Russia. First September 1st. And on December 20, 1699, Peter I adopted a decree "on the celebration of the New Year." He ordered the beginning of the year to be moved from September 1 to January 1, 1700. At the same time, Peter I ordered that houses be decorated that day with “pine, spruce and juniper branches, according to the samples exhibited in Gostiny Dvor; as a sign of fun to each other, be sure to congratulate each other on the new year. Fire fun was arranged on Red Square.

The custom introduced by Peter I took root with difficulty. Even at the beginning of the 19th century, Christmas trees were put up only in the houses of St. Petersburg Germans. The Christmas tree became a ubiquitous decoration in Russia only at the end of the 19th century. However, in the 40s of the same century, it began to enter the life of Russian society. This can be judged from the story of F.M. Dostoevsky Christmas tree and wedding, published in the September issue of Notes of the Fatherland for 1848: “The other day I saw a wedding ... but no! I'd rather tell you about the tree. The wedding is good; I liked it very much, but another incident is better. I don’t know how, looking at this wedding, I remembered this tree. This is how it happened. Exactly five years ago, on the eve of the New Year, I was invited to a children's ball.

Putting up and decorating a Christmas tree for Christmas was a favorite thing not only for children, but also for adults. In the story of A.P. Chekhov. boys(1887) Katya, Sonya and Masha with their father are preparing decorations for the Christmas tree: “After tea, everyone went to the nursery. The father and the girls sat down at the table and began to work, which was interrupted by the arrival of the boys. They made flowers and fringes for the Christmas tree out of multi-colored paper. It was exciting and noisy work. Each newly made flower was greeted by girls with enthusiastic cries, even cries of horror, as if this flower had fallen from the sky; Papa also admired. The Christmas tree was put up not only at home, but also in the city in the squares: “Before Christmas, three days, in the markets, in the squares, there is a forest of Christmas trees. And what trees! This goodness in Russia as much as you want. Not like here - stamens. At our Christmas tree ... as it warms up, straightens its paws, - a thicket. There used to be a forest on Theater Square. They stand in the snow. And the snow will fall - lost the way! Guys, in sheepskin coats, as in the forest. People walk, choose. Dogs in Christmas trees are like wolves, right. Bonfires are burning, get warm. Smoke pillars "(I. Shmelev. Summer of the Lord).

In the first poetry collection of O.E. Mandelstam Stone(1913) captured his adolescent experiences:

Burning with gold leaf
There are Christmas trees in the woods;
Toy wolves in the bushes
They look with terrible eyes.
Oh, my sadness,
Oh my quiet freedom
And the inanimate sky
Always laughing crystal!

With the beginning of the persecution of Orthodoxy, the Christmas tree also fell out of favor. Putting it in the house became dangerous. But on December 28, 1935, the Pravda newspaper published an article "Let's organize a good Christmas tree for the children for the New Year!" Its author was P. P. Postyshev, Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. Since January 1933, he was the second secretary of the Central Committee of the CP(b) of Ukraine with the task of "unconditionally fulfilling the grain procurement plan." Postyshev together with V.M. Molotov was the organizer of the famine that claimed 3.5-4 million people in Ukraine (including hundreds of thousands of children). Two years later, he takes special care to ensure that children have a fun New Year: “In pre-revolutionary times, the bourgeoisie and bourgeois officials always arranged a Christmas tree for their children on New Year's Eve. The workers' children looked enviously through the window at the Christmas tree sparkling with multi-colored lights and the rich children having fun around it. Why do our schools, orphanages, nurseries, children's clubs, palaces of pioneers deprive the children of the working people of the Soviet country of this wonderful pleasure? Some, none other than "leftists", denigrators denounced this children's entertainment as a bourgeois undertaking. This wrong condemnation of the Christmas tree, which is a wonderful entertainment for children, should be put to an end. Komsomol members, pioneer workers should arrange collective New Year's parties for children. In schools, orphanages, in the palaces of pioneers, in children's clubs, in children's cinemas and theaters - there should be a children's tree everywhere. There should not be a single collective farm where the board, together with the Komsomol members, would not arrange a Christmas tree for their children on the eve of the new year. City councils, chairmen of district executive committees, village councils, public education bodies should help arrange a Soviet Christmas tree for the children of our great socialist motherland. Organizing a children's Christmas tree, our children will only be grateful. I am sure that the Komsomol members will take the most active part in this matter and eradicate the absurd opinion that the children's Christmas tree is a bourgeois prejudice. So, let's organize a fun meeting of the new year for children, arrange a good Soviet Christmas tree in all cities and collective farms! It was the period of the "godless five-year plan" (1932 - 1937). They actively created rituals for new holidays in order to completely cancel Orthodox holidays. At the top of the Christmas tree, instead of the Star of Bethlehem, a five-pointed star appeared.

Decades have passed. Millions of children again saw the guiding star of Bethlehem over the decorated Christmas tree. And below it is the Divine Infant, Who was born so that the spiritual night would end for us.

He slept, all radiant, in an oak manger,
Like a ray of moon in the hollow of a hollow.
He was replaced with a sheepskin coat
Donkey lips and ox nostrils.
They stood in the shade, as if in the twilight of a barn,
They whispered, barely choosing the words.
Suddenly someone in the dark, a little to the left
He pushed the sorcerer away from the manger with his hand,
And he looked back: from the threshold at the Virgin,
As a guest, the star of Christmas watched.

(Boris Pasternak. 1947)

Today it is difficult to imagine a New Year's holiday without snow and spruce. But a few centuries ago, an evergreen tree was not an attribute of the New Year, and the holiday itself was celebrated in Russia in September.

The tradition of decorating the Christmas tree is known from Celtic traditions. The ancient Slavs dressed up an oak or a birch instead of a Christmas tree.

In Europe, the tradition of celebrating the New Year with a green beauty began in Germany with an ancient German legend about trees blooming magnificently during the winter cold. Soon the decoration of Christmas trees became fashionable and spread to many countries of the Old World. In order to avoid mass deforestation, in the 19th century, artificial spruce trees began to be produced in Germany.

Old Christmas card

Sergei Korovin. Christmas

The New Year tradition came to Russia on the eve of 1700, during the reign of Peter I, who was ordered to switch to a new chronology (from the Nativity of Christ) from January 1, 1700 and to celebrate the New Year on January 1, and not September 1 . The decree stated: “... On large and passable streets, for noble people and at houses of deliberate spiritual and worldly rank, in front of the gates, make some decorations from trees and branches of pine and juniper ... and for meager people, each at least a tree or branch on the gate or over the temple [house] put ... »

After the death of the king, the prescriptions were preserved only regarding the decoration of drinking establishments, which continued to be decorated with Christmas trees before the New Year. Taverns were identified by these trees. The trees stood near the establishments until the next year, on the eve of which the old trees were replaced with new ones.

Heinrich Manizer. Christmas tree auction

Alexey Chernyshev. Christmas tree in the Anichkov Palace

The first public Christmas tree was installed in the building of the Ekaterininsky railway station (now Moscow) in St. Petersburg only in 1852.

At different times, Christmas trees were decorated in different ways: first with fruits, fresh and artificial flowers, to create the effect of a flowering tree. Later, the decorations became fabulous: gilded cones, surprise boxes, sweets, nuts and burning Christmas candles. Soon handmade toys were added: children and adults made them from wax, cardboard, cotton wool and foil. And at the end of the 19th century, wax candles were replaced by electric garlands.

During the First World War, Emperor Nicholas II declared the Christmas tree tradition "enemy". After the October Revolution, the ban was lifted, but in 1926 the power of the workers and peasants again eliminated the "Christmas tree" tradition, considering it to be bourgeois.

Christmas tree in the Hall of Columns. 1950s Newsreel TASS

Christmas tree in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. Photo: N. Akimov, L. Porter / TASS Newsreel

Only in 1938, a huge 15-meter Christmas tree with ten thousand decorations and toys appeared in Moscow, in the Hall of Columns of the House of the Unions. It began to be installed annually and held there for children's New Year's holidays, called "Christmas trees". Since 1976, the main New Year's tree of the country has become a tree installed in the State Kremlin Palace. Babies in New Year's hats near the Christmas tree. Photo: T. Gladskikh / photo bank "Lori"