--- title: "The History of the Christmas Tree, From Germany to Your Phone" description: "Where the Christmas tree comes from: evergreens in winter, paradise trees, the first decorated trees in German towns, Queen Victoria, electric lights and today’s online trees." url: https://decomytree.link/blog/history-of-the-christmas-tree language: en last_updated: 2026-11-08 --- Blog · History # The history of the Christmas tree, from Germany to your phone Why do millions of people bring a tree indoors every December and hang shiny things on it? The answer is a story of winter, theatre, merchants, a queen and a lot of candles. By [Ömer Ercan](https://decomytree.link/about#founder), founder ## Evergreens in the darkest time of year Long before Christmas, people in many parts of Europe brought green branches inside in winter. When everything else looked dead, an evergreen was a sign that life and light would come back. Romans decorated with greenery during the winter festival of Saturnalia, and many ancient peoples hung evergreen branches over doors and windows. ## The paradise tree In the Middle Ages, December 24 was the feast day of Adam and Eve in the church calendar, and towns performed “paradise plays” about them. The Garden of Eden was shown with a single fir tree hung with apples, the “paradise tree”. Families began to put up their own, and over time wafers, sweets and paper decorations joined the apples. ## The first decorated trees in town Some of the earliest records of decorated trees come from merchants’ guilds around the Baltic and in German-speaking towns. Tallinn in Estonia and Riga in Latvia both claim the first Christmas tree, Tallinn from 1441 and Riga from 1510. A description from Strasbourg in 1605 mentions trees set up in homes and decorated with paper roses, apples, wafers and foil. A popular legend says the reformer Martin Luther added candles after seeing stars shine through the trees on a winter night. It’s a lovely story, but there is no record that it happened. ## Glass, tinsel and candles - **Tinsel** was first made from real silver, reportedly in Nuremberg in the early 1600s, and it sparkled in candlelight. - **Glass ornaments** came from the glassblowers of Lauscha in Germany, who began making them in the mid-1800s. - **Candles** were clipped to the branches. They were beautiful, but a real fire hazard. For ten ways to decorate a tree today, see our [tree decorating ideas](https://decomytree.link/blog/christmas-tree-decorating-ideas). ## A royal tree goes viral German-born Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, set up trees in England around 1800, but it was her granddaughter, Queen Victoria, who made them fashionable. In 1848 the Illustrated London News printed an engraving of Victoria, her German husband Prince Albert and their children around a decorated tree at Windsor Castle. Everyone wanted one. Two years later an American magazine, Godey’s Lady’s Book, printed a version of the picture, and the tree, already known among German families in places like Pennsylvania, spread across the United States. ## Electric lights In 1882 Edward H. Johnson, who worked with Thomas Edison, lit his tree in New York with 80 hand-wired red, white and blue electric bulbs. Electric lights were expensive at first, but they slowly replaced candles and made trees much safer. In 1931 workers building Rockefeller Center in New York put up a small tree on the site. The official tree and its lighting followed in 1933, and it has been a city tradition ever since. ## Trees as gifts Some of the most famous trees are presents. Every year since 1947, the city of Oslo has sent a Norwegian spruce to London as a thank-you for Britain’s support during the Second World War. It stands in Trafalgar Square, decorated the Norwegian way, with simple white lights hung in vertical strings. In the United States, the White House credits President Benjamin Harrison with its first indoor Christmas tree, in 1889, and in 1923 Calvin Coolidge lit the first National Christmas Tree outside it. Since 1982, St Peter’s Square in Rome has had a tall tree every Christmas too, donated by a different region or country from year to year. ## Artificial trees Artificial trees are older than you might think. Germans made trees from dyed goose feathers in the late 1800s. In the 20th century came bristle trees made by a brush company, shiny aluminium trees in the late 1950s and 1960s, and the realistic plastic trees sold today. ## A New Year tree In some countries the tree moved to another holiday. In the Soviet Union, Christmas trees were discouraged in the late 1920s, then brought back at the end of 1935 as a New Year tree, the “yolka”. In Russia it is still a New Year tree today. Türkiye has a New Year tree as well: decorated trees go up for Yılbaşı, the night of December 31, and families exchange gifts then. Here is [how New Year’s Eve is celebrated in Türkiye](https://decomytree.link/blog/new-years-eve-in-turkey). ## And now, a tree on your phone The newest chapter is a tree you never have to water. In recent years, online trees that friends fill with messages have become a December ritual on social media: you share a link, people hang decorated gifts with notes on your tree, and everything opens on Christmas Day. It is the paradise tree’s apples and wafers, in a new form: small gifts from the people around you. Make your Christmas tree Share the link and let your friends decorate it with messages. - [Create your tree](https://decomytree.link/create-tree) - [Send a message](https://decomytree.link/send-message) ## Questions ### Who invented the Christmas tree? No single person. Decorated trees grew out of winter evergreens and medieval paradise trees, and the custom took shape in German-speaking lands and around the Baltic from the 1400s and 1500s. ### When did Christmas trees become popular? They spread among German families in the 1700s and 1800s, and became fashionable in Britain and the United States after an 1848 picture of Queen Victoria’s family tree. ### When were electric Christmas lights invented? In 1882, when Edward H. Johnson lit a tree with 80 electric bulbs in New York. ## Sources Facts checked against these pages on November 7, 2026. 1. [History of Christmas Trees: Symbolism and Traditions](https://www.history.com/articles/history-of-christmas-trees), HISTORY 2. [O, Christmas Tree](https://www.christianitytoday.com/2008/08/o-christmas-tree/), Christianity Today 3. [O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum!](https://www.christianitytoday.com/2006/10/o-tannenbaum-o-tannenbaum/), Christianity Today 4. [Latvia Claims Original Christmas Tree](https://news.err.ee/98572/latvia-claims-original-christmas-tree), ERR News 5. [First tinsel for decorating Christmas trees was created with real silver, making it an adornment for the rich](https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/first-tinsel-decorating-christmas-trees-created-real-silver), Fox Business 6. [Discover Lauscha, the birthplace of glass baubles](https://www.homesandantiques.com/antiques/collecting-guides-antiques/discover-the-town-that-invented-baubles), Homes and Antiques 7. [Who Invented Electric Christmas Tree Lights?](https://www.history.com/articles/electric-christmas-tree-lights), HISTORY 8. [‘O Tannenbaum’: The root of a Christmas tradition](https://blog.nrscotland.gov.uk/2021/12/09/title-o-tannenbaum-the-root-of-a-christmas-tradition/), National Records of Scotland 9. [I’ll be home for Christmas…](https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/2016/12/22/ill-home-christmas/), USS Constitution Museum 10. [Christmas at Trafalgar Square](https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/city-halls-buildings-and-squares/trafalgar-square/christmas), London City Hall 11. [White House Christmas Trees](https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/holiday/2002/text/whtree.html), The White House, 2002 archive 12. [Albero di Natale donato al Santo Padre per la Piazza San Pietro](https://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/avvenimenti/albero-natale_elenco_it.html), Holy See Press Office (in Italian) 13. [A Feather Tree for Christmas](https://saukcountyhistory.org/christmas-feather-tree), Sauk County Historical Society 14. [It Just Doesn’t Addis Up: Trimming the Legend of the Toilet Brush Christmas Tree](https://www.hagley.org/librarynews/it-just-doesnt-addis-trimming-legend-toilet-brush-christmas-tree), Hagley Museum and Library 15. [Around the Tree: Holiday Traditions in the Soviet Era](https://tmora.org/2014/10/26/around-the-tree-holiday-traditions-in-the-soviet-era/), The Museum of Russian Art 16. [New Year’s customs in Turkey: Wearing red, smashing pomegranates and other superstitions](https://www.dailysabah.com/life/new-years-customs-in-turkey-wearing-red-smashing-pomegranates-and-other-superstitions/news), Daily Sabah ## More pages - [Tree decorating ideas](https://decomytree.link/blog/christmas-tree-decorating-ideas): 10 themes and colour schemes, and the order to decorate in - [New Year’s Eve in Türkiye](https://decomytree.link/blog/new-years-eve-in-turkey): Why the tree goes up for New Year, with tombala and pomegranates - [Christmas around the world](https://decomytree.link/christmas-around-the-world): How the world celebrates, country by country - [Virtual Christmas tree](https://decomytree.link/virtual-christmas-tree): A free online tree your friends decorate