Christmas tree

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Christmas tree on Frankfurt's Römerberg

A Christmas tree or Christmas tree ( exclusively in Austria , Old Bavaria , German-speaking Switzerland and Liechtenstein , often in the Rhineland ) or Tannenbaum is a decorated conifer that is set up in a building or outdoors at Christmas time. Traditional installation locations are churches and apartments. Light chains , candles, Christmas tree balls, tinsel , angels or other figures are usually used as tree decorations . This Christmas custom spread in the 19th century from German-speaking countries across the world.

history

William-Adolphe Bouguereau : Laurel Branch , 1900

The use of a decorated tree has no historically verifiable beginning, but has its origin in the customs of different cultures. Evergreen plants embodied life force, and that is why people in earlier times believed that they could bring health into their homes by decorating their homes with greenery. The Encyclopedia Britannica cites the use of the jewelry through evergreen trees, wreaths and garlands as symbols of eternal life among the ancient Egyptians , Chinese and Hebrews .

Roman antiquity

The Romans crowned their houses with laurel branches at the turn of the year . In the Mithras cult, the sun god was honored by decorating a tree at the winter solstice . In northern areas, too, fir branches were hung in the house early in winter to make it more difficult for evil spirits to penetrate and nestle, at the same time the green gave hope for the return of spring.

Early modern times and modern times

In 1492 the Liebfrauenwerk zu Strasbourg bought fir trees for the parishes of the city: "Item Koüfft 9 fir trees in the 9 Kichspill, the good jor darjnn recommended and therefore give 2 guilders". The text of the document names the New Year as the occasion, but until the 16th century in the Holy Roman Empire, the beginning of the year was Christmas. The fir trees cost two guilders.

An entry in an account book of the humanist library in Schlettstadt dates from 1521 : "Item IIII schillinge dem foerster die meyen on St. Thomas day." (New High German translation: "Likewise four schillinge the forester, so that he can keep the trees from St. Thomas Day guarded. “) In the first half of the 16th century at the end of the Christmas season, the blackheads in Riga and Reval carried fir trees to the market, decorated them and finally burned them.

One of the oldest written mentions of a Christmas tree is dated to 1527. The Mainz ruler of “die weiennacht baum” in the Hübnerwald in Stockstadt am Main can be read in a file .

From 1539 there is again documentary evidence that a Christmas tree was set up in Strasbourg Cathedral . In the end, it was the guilds and associations that put an evergreen tree in the guild houses. In a pay slip of the imperial city of Gengenbach from 1576 it is mentioned that the forester “ime Strohbach” brought a “Christmas tree to the council chambers”.

Early records of the Christmas tree as a common usage date back to 1605, again from Alsace : “At Christmas, Dannen trees are put up in the rooms in Strasbourg. On it are hanging horses cut out of multi-colored paper, apples, wafers, sizzling gold [thin, shaped tinsel made of metal] and sugar ”. In 1611, Duchess Dorothea Sibylle of Silesia decorated the first Christmas tree with candles.

The next message about the Christmas tree also comes from Strasbourg. In a text written between 1642 and 1646, the preacher at the Strasbourg Cathedral, Johann Conrad Dannhauer, got excited about the custom of setting up Christmas trees in houses: “Among other trivialities, so that the old Christmas season is often celebrated more than with God's word, is also Christmas - or a Christmas tree that you set up at home, hang it with dolls and sugar, and then shake it off and let it bloom (clear away). I don't know where the habit comes from; is child's play ”.

Popularization of the custom from the 18th century

Illustration from The Illustrated Londons News (1848): Queen Victoria and Prince Albert celebrate Christmas with their children
Christmas around 1850, illustration by Ludwig Richter

Since the first half of the 18th century, messages about the Christmas tree have become more frequent. Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling , born in Nassau in 1740, seems to bring a memory of his childhood when, in his Das Heimweh published in 1793 , he speaks of the brightly illuminating tree of life with gilded nuts to which the child is led on the morning of Christmas Day.

In foreign perception, the Christmas tree could be viewed as typically German and - to put it even more narrowly - as typically Lutheran, and even attributed to Martin Luther himself.

One of the first mentions of the Christmas tree in German literature comes from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . In the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), the protagonist visits Lotte, whom he admires, on the Sunday before Christmas and speaks of the times when the unexpected opening of the door and the appearance of a "preened tree" with wax lights, sugar and apples put in paradisiacal delight. Friedrich Schiller did not depict a Christmas scene in his works, but he loved the festival under the tree. In 1789 he wrote to Charlotte Buff (Lotte) that he was coming to Weimar for Christmas and said: "I hope you will put up a green tree in my room." In 1805, the Christmas tree became known to a large readership through Johann Peter Lever mentioned in the song The Mother on Christmas Eve from his Alemannic poems . On the eve of Christmas 1815, Wilhelm Hoffmann set up the world's first publicly decorated Christmas tree for poor children in Weimar . E. T. A. Hoffmann's fairy tale Nutcracker and Mouse King from 1816 is the first Berlin literary monument in which the shiny Christmas tree, decorated with golden apples and sweets, appears in the middle of the Christmas presents.

Since fir trees were rare in Central Europe, only the wealthy classes could afford them at first, and the urban population had to make do with branches and accumulating greenery. It was not until the second half of the 19th century that more and more fir and spruce forests were planted that the urban needs could be met.

Although the Catholic Church had for a long time attached greater symbolism to the nativity scene, over time it also adopted the custom of putting up a Christmas tree. Until the end of the 19th century, the Christmas tree was also attested in the Catholic regions of Germany and Austria. The first Christmas tree in Vienna was erected in 1814 by Fanny von Arnstein , a respected Jewish society lady from Berlin, whose house was also used by representatives of the nobility. As early as 1816, according to other sources in the Albertina in 1823 , this tradition was taken up by Henriette von Nassau-Weilburg , the wife of Archduke Charles , and from then on spread to all social classes in Austria.

In 1815, the Lower Austrian provincial government forbade “cutting down and digging up trees for the purpose of Corpus Christi processions , church festivals, Christmas trees and the like”. With "like" who were presumably Nicholas trees meant "bestekket green tree with little candle burning on which etwelche pounds candirtes Zuckerbacht shine like the candirte the maturity cherry tree in winter glows" in 1782 as described. The first Christmas tree balls were blown around 1830. King Otto of Greece , who came from Bavaria, had two “royal” Christmas trees set up in public places in 1833, one in Nauplion and one in Athens. There were crowds of people who wanted to marvel at the decorated trees.

Christmas in Cameroon , 1900

The Christmas tree came to North America through German emigrants and sailors. Old US newspapers report that Gustav Körner introduced the typically German custom of the illuminated and decorated Christmas tree in the United States - and this soon after arriving in the state of Illinois for his first Christmas in the United States in 1833. As early as 1832, however, the German-American writer from Hesse and Harvard professor Karl Follen were the first to set up a Christmas tree in his home in Cambridge (Massachusetts) , thus introducing this custom in New England . In the United States, iron Christmas trees were being made as early as the late 19th century. Some of these technological marvels were already lit with gas: "The gas flows through the hollow branches and wherever candles shine, the gas flame leaps up from a narrow crack".

When the English Queen Victoria married Albert von Sachsen-Coburg and Gotha in 1840 , the Christmas tree came to London. The Netherlands, Russia, especially Petersburg and Moscow, where it was only common in the highest circles, and Italy owe their Christmas tree to the Germans. In 1837, Duchess Helene von Orléans introduced the Christmas tree to the Tuileries, later Empress Eugenie made a name for itself in spreading it. Two decades later, 35,000 Christmas trees have already been sold in Paris.

20th and 21st centuries

In 1982, a Christmas tree was set up for the first time in St. Peter's Square in Rome.

In Austria it became a tradition at the end of the 20th century to bring Christmas trees to various institutions and organizations abroad as gifts. Since joining the EU, an Austrian conifer has stood in front of the EU Parliament in Brussels. Cutting, special road transport, setting up and lighting in a capital city are also staged as a spectacle of the city's Advent market, as the example of a 30-meter-high 140-year-old conifer in Graz in 2011 shows. Likewise, every year at the beginning of the Christmas market, a Christmas tree is set up on the Hamburg City Hall Market, which is a gift from a Nordic state to the city-state.

Tree species used

Forest workers prepare Christmas trees for shipping ( Hildburghausen , 1978)

Firs are mainly used as a Christmas tree, along with spruce and other conifers such as pine . The market share of Nordmann fir in Germany in 2013 was almost 80 percent, around 85 percent of Nordmann firs came from Germany, and 15 percent were imported. The number of trees sold in Germany has been growing continuously since 2000 (24 million) and amounted to 30 million trees in 2013. Until the end of the 1950s, Germans almost exclusively had red spruce trees in their homes. From the 1960s to the mid-1970s they preferred the more densely growing blue spruce , and from the early 1980s on the Nordmann fir. This tree grows relatively evenly, has soft needles and a comparatively high needle durability. In contrast to spruce and many other types of fir (e.g. Nobilis ), the Nordmann fir is almost odorless. The Nordmann firs are mainly grown on agricultural land in the Sauerland , Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark .

Cultivation

The development from a seed to a two-meter Christmas tree takes between eight and twelve years, depending on the type of plant. The seeds are obtained from the cones of older trees. The seeds are grown into seedlings in tree nurseries and these are sold as young plants to forest and Christmas tree companies after three to four years. The further development of the shape and growth of the Christmas trees strongly depends on the soil quality, the climatic conditions and the maintenance work carried out. Weed pressure after planting is particularly high on intensively cultivated areas, which is why herbicides and pesticides are often used for economic reasons . Smaller plantations can create a forest-like climate through varied planting (different ages, different varieties / origins), which makes the use of herbicides unnecessary. Sometimes herbivores (e.g. sheep) are kept there in summer to keep the foreign growth small or at a distance. However, such an inhomogeneous stock is not suitable for harvesting by resellers. This is why this concept is mainly found in small family businesses with a direct marketing concept: customers saw their tree themselves on the plantation.

Economical meaning

Christmas trees on pallets ready for transport
Transporting a Christmas Tree (1972)

In 2006, around 616 million euros were spent on 28 million Christmas trees in Germany, i.e. around 22 euros per tree. In the last few years there has been an increase in prices, which was also observed in 2007. In 2007, the price of the typical Christmas tree rose in particular due to the increasing interest of China in buying up German timber. The cultivation area required for the cultivation of the 28 million Christmas trees is approx. 40,000 hectares. The average yield is between 60 and 70 percent of the trees planted, but can vary greatly depending on the operation, maintenance and natural influences.

Since the forest damage caused by Hurricane Kyrill in 2007, the number of areas with monocultures has risen sharply. The added value of such plantations is thirty times more per hectare and year than normal forest management; however, more fences are being built and pesticides are being sprayed. In Brandenburg , Baden-Württemberg , Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, the creation of monocultures is therefore subject to approval; in North Rhine-Westphalia such a law is being planned.

In Austria around 2.4 million Christmas trees are set up each year, 85% of which come from local forests. Most of these come from Lower Austria , which also supplies the Viennese market. Imports from Denmark have been declining in recent years. In other countries, artificial Christmas trees made of metal or plastic are often used, which are usually collapsible and reusable.

14 percent of Germans did not want to put up a Christmas tree in 2018. 47 percent of Germans (2017: 56 percent) bought the Christmas tree in 2018 in brick-and- mortar stores , including hardware stores , one in four (26 percent, 2017: 22 percent) cut their own tree. One tenth of Christmas trees in Germany were ordered online in 2018, compared to 6 Percent in 2017.

Setting up the tree

Period

The Christmas tree is put up before Christmas Eve . While it was traditionally adorned in the Protestant area after the feast of the apparition of the Lord on January 6th, in Catholic families it often remains until the feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Candlemas, February 2), with which the Christmas season ended earlier (since the liturgical reform , however, coincides with the feast of the baptism of the Lord , i.e. the Sunday following January 6th).

Christmas tree stand

Collapsible metal stand
Modern Christmas tree stand

A Christmas tree stand is used to attach and set up the Christmas tree. It usually consists of a round shape, similar to a large flower pot that can be filled with water, and a metal holder that is located in the mold. Some Christmas tree stands hold the tree with screws, others use a wire rope to tighten or a pin to attach.

Adding glycerine to the water in the Christmas tree stand should keep the tree fresher for longer and the needles on the tree longer.

Occasionally there are still the Christmas tree stands, mostly dating from around 1900, with a winding mechanism that ensures the tree rotates and at the same time activates a music box that plays one or more Christmas carols. These stands, which were quite expensive at the time, were manufactured by the J. C. Eckhardt company in Stuttgart from 1873 onwards. Up until the end of the 19th century, it was customary in some regions to hang the Christmas tree, sometimes upside down, on the ceiling. In Lower Austria's Waldviertel can still be found in the offices and living rooms of old buildings hooks on the ceiling for attachment of the Christmas tree.

The history of the Christmas tree stand can be discovered in the Christmas Tree Stand Museum in Lienzingen. Around 500 exhibits are on display there.

Tree decorations

Seldom seen today: a pine tree as a Christmas tree with tree decorations

Christmas tree balls are reminiscent of the fruits on the “tree of knowledge” in paradise , of which Adam and Eve ate contrary to God's command ( Gen 2.1-8  EU ). Until the liturgical reform by the Second Vatican Council , December 24th was the liturgical day of remembrance of Adam and Eve. The original sin was, according to the Christian faith by the birth of Jesus Christ made good, who are commemorated at Christmas, and his death on the cross. In the paradise game, as in the biblical model, the fruit (the apple) was plucked from the tree. In the course of development, the hanging on the Christmas tree became more diverse, colorful and sweeter. A Christmas tree with Adam and Eve and a snake made of wood or pastries still exists in northern Germany as a Jöölboom .

Little by little, the custom of greening living rooms also became popular with the common people, and they brought twigs and twigs into the house. The tinsel smoke was developed as an innovation in Nuremberg in 1878 . As a Christmas tree hanging, tinsel symbolizes the appearance of glittering icicles. In some regions, tinsel is traditionally not used, for example in Upper Franconia .

Today the Christmas tree is mostly decorated with colorful glass elements (especially Christmas tree balls ), Santa Claus figures , tinsel , straw stars , small wooden figures and sweets. On the tip you usually put a star (based on the star of Bethlehem ), an angel or a glass tip. The individual branches of the tree are decorated with candles . The crib and next to it the Christmas presents are often set up under the tree . In many families, children should not see the decorated tree before the presents are presented and parents have encouraged them to look at the tree first before giving their own presents.

Public Christmas trees

The General Grant Tree , the US national Christmas tree since 1926
Eichsel Christmas tree 2017
The “probably largest living Christmas tree in Germany in 2017” in Rheinfelden-Eichsel
Christmas market in Dortmund with a special Christmas tree

Natural

  • The largest conifer to be decorated as a Christmas tree was a Douglas fir, 67.4 m high, erected in Seattle in 1950 .
  • In the Styx Forest in Tasmania on December 20, 1999, an 80 m high Eucalyptus regnans was decorated and called the largest Christmas tree of all time . The campaign served as an advertisement for the protection of endangered primeval forests.
  • The General Grant Tree in Sequoia National Park , the second largest giant sequoia in the world at just under 82 m , was designated the Nation's Christmas Tree by President Calvin Coolidge on April 28, 1926 .
  • At 36 meters, Germany's tallest naturally grown Christmas tree from 2005 was on the grounds of the Rhenish Open-Air Museum in Kommern in the Eifel. In 2003 the tallest naturally grown Christmas tree in Germany stood there, 38 m high.
  • In 2008, a 120-year-old spruce with a height of 33 meters from Gutenstein in Lower Austria was erected as a Christmas tree on St. Peter's Square in Vatican City , which was the tallest tree on St.
  • In the town of Wermelskirchen there is a sequoia tree planted in 1870, which is decorated every year to become one of the largest living Christmas trees in Europe.
  • The village of Eichsel , part of Rheinfelden (Baden) , decorated its sequoia tree with over 13,000 LEDs for the first time in 2017. This tree, which is 36.5 m high, is therefore likely to be the “tallest living Christmas tree in Germany in 2017/2018”.

Artificial

  • In 2011 the largest floating Christmas tree in the world was set up in Rio de Janeiro . At a height of 85 meters and 3.3 million light bulbs, the 542-ton steel colossus floats on Rodrigo de Freitas Lake.
  • In 2007 a Christmas tree with a height of 76 meters was erected in Bucharest .
  • In 2005 Lisbon and Warsaw each had a Christmas tree made of scaffolding, 72 m high.
  • A 45 m high artificial tree has been erected every year at the Christmas market in Dortmund since 1996. 1700 red spruce trees are attached to a conical steel frame, so that afterwards a very large Christmas tree is created. The Christmas tree is protected by its own sprinkler system . The operator has called this tree the "largest Christmas tree" for several years.
  • Since 2007 there is also a matching counterpart in the form of the "smallest Christmas tree" on a scale of 1: 220 with an only 14 mm high, illuminated and fully decorated artificial tree , which is also shown in the shop window of an art gallery in downtown Dortmund.
  • In the Brazilian city of Itu there is an 84 m high steel Christmas tree.
  • In Gubbio in the Italian region of Umbria , an 800 m high and 400 m wide Christmas tree made of 450 colored lights has been formed annually on the slope of Monte Ingino since the 1980s, and can be seen from about 50 km away. The 1991 Guinness Book of Records lists it as the “largest unnatural Christmas tree in the world”.

Exploitation of used and unsold trees

Unsold Christmas trees (unadorned and untreated) can serve as food and toys for elephants and other animals in the circus or zoo.

After the festival, Christmas trees are picked up by municipal companies and other suppliers and used to generate energy: A large number of the 29 million Christmas trees in Germany are machine-processed into wood chips or in thermal power stations for the environmentally friendly generation of electricity and heat. Arithmetically, 500 Christmas trees replace 1,000 liters of heating oil and can supply an average household with electricity for a year. The Christmas trees collected in Vienna are used for district heating in a biomass power plant. The trees are locally burned in the Easter fire .

regional customs

harvest

It is partly the custom to harvest a Christmas tree according to the phases of the moon or its position in constellations . The felled tree should keep its needles longer if it was harvested on the full moon at the end of the year or a few days before. However, such an effect cannot be demonstrated.

Christmas tree sinking

The tradition was expanded in some places by the sinking of Christmas trees in water. In Klagenfurt, for example, the diving club has been holding a Christmas tree sinking in Lake Wörthersee since the 1960s . A decorated Christmas tree is brought down by divers. The person who perished in the lake is remembered. This custom was also adopted in other lakes, such as the Neufelder See .

Songs and literary works

Since the first half of the 19th century, the tree of lights itself became the subject of Christmas carols and stories, mostly without reference to the birth of Christ:

Songs
literature

Different meaning

During the Second World War , special Boy Scout aircraft marked the target area with white, red and green flares before the air raids by Allied bombers . The population also called these light bombs slowly floating down on parachutes as Christmas trees .

literature

  • Bernd Brunner : The invention of the Christmas tree. (= Insel-Bücherei 1347). Insel Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-458-19347-0 .
  • Oscar Cullmann : The Origin of Christmas and the Origin of the Christmas Tree. Quell Verlag, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-7918-2326-4 , pp. 50-68.
  • Anton Dörrer : The first Christmas trees in Austria. Folklore Study. In: The Alpine Messenger. Wagner, Innsbruck, 1946 ( digitized version ).
  • Oswald Adolf Erich, Richard Beitl , Klaus Beitl : Dictionary of German Folklore. (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 127). 3. Edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1974, ISBN 3-520-12703-2 , pp. 953-954.
  • Guido Fuchs : Christmas Eve - rites, rooms, props. Pustet, Regensburg 2002, ISBN 978-3-7917-1809-5 , pp. 86-101.
  • Christine Hubka: The Christmas tree grew in paradise. Advent wreaths, Christmas tree decorations and Christmas crib tell their stories. Lahn-Verlag, Limburg / Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7840-3231-1 and Tyrolia-Verlag, Innsbruck / Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-7022-2391-6 .
  • Andrea Jakob: Trees shining, trees dazzling ... - A story of the Christmas tree in Thuringia. Meininger Museen, Meiningen 2007, ISBN 978-3-910114-11-1 .
  • Ernst Moriz Kronfeld : The Christmas Tree. Botany and history of Christmas greens; its relationships with popular belief, myth, cultural history, legend, custom and poetry. Schulze, Oldenburg / Leipzig 1906.
  • Otto Lauffer : The Christmas tree in faith and custom. Berlin / Hamburg 1934.
  • Alfred Läpple : Small Lexicon of Christian Customs. Pattloch, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-629-00679-5 , p. 42.
  • Kurt Mantel : History of the Christmas tree and similar Christmas shapes. A cultural and forest historical investigation. 2nd Edition. Schaper, Hannover 1977, ISBN 3-7944-0098-4 .
  • Camille Schneider: The Christmas tree and its home country Alsace. Philosophical-Anthroposophical Publishing House at the Goetheanum, Dornach 1977.
  • Carl Anders Skriver: The Christmas tree - history and meaning. Starczewski, Munich 1966.
  • Barbara Walter: The Christmas tree in customs and meaning. GRIN Verlag, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-656-13382-7 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Christmas tree  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Christmas Tree  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christmas tree | Tradition & History. In: Encyclopedia Britannica . December 6, 2018, accessed December 17, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Publications of the State Archive Administration Baden-Württemberg, Volumes 21-22, p. 34 ( digitized version ).
  3. ^ Strasbourg city archives, Liebfrauenwerk inventory 1 OND 85 f ° 92v, published in Bulletin de la Cathédrale de Strasbourg , XXVII, 2006, p. 95.
  4. ^ FA Redlich: A new contribution to the history of the Christmas tree. In: Niederdeutsche Zeitschrift für Volkskunde 13 (1935), pp. 234–239.
  5. ↑ Pointing to the finger: In the document from the year 1527. In: main-netz.de . Archived from the original on December 24, 2013 ; accessed on December 17, 2018 (image of document).
  6. ^ Wages book of the city of Gengenbach from 1576. Original in the city archive of Gengenbach.
  7. ↑ With a clear indication of the perception of a Frenchman, see from the narrative literature Fontane, Theodor: Quitt, in: Fontane, Theodor: Complete Romane, Erzählungen, Gedichte, Nachlasses, WBG, Darmstadt 2002, Vol. 1, p. 411.
  8. ↑ The East - Discover where you live: Weimar and the first Christmas tree for everyone. A film by Kathrin Welzel. (Not available online.) In: mdr.de . December 1, 2015, archived from the original on January 3, 2016 ; accessed on August 21, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Hilde Spiel: Fanny von Arnstein or Emancipation. A woman's life at the turn of the ages 1758–1818 (= Fischer Taschenbuch 1992). S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, 1962, ISBN 3-596-22131-5 , p. 434.
  10. ↑ Where Austria's first Christmas tree shone. In: ORF.at . November 28, 2007, accessed August 22, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Archduke Albrecht, the distinguished guest…. In:  Badener Bezirks-Blatt , January 1, 1881, p. 4 (online at ANNO ). Correction .. In:  Badener Bezirks-Blatt , January 8, 1881, p. 2 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / bbb
    Template: ANNO / Maintenance / bbb
  12. ^ Entry on Christmas trees in Austria in the Austria Forum  (in the Heimatlexikon) accessed on December 10, 2011.
  13. ↑ a b Ken Gewertz: The Professor who brought the Christmas Tree to Newengland. 200th Anniversary of Charles Follen's birth marked this year. In: Harvard University Gazette. December 12, 1996, archived from the original on June 22, 2012 ; accessed on December 25, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Ten Things You Didn't Know About ... - Christmas. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . December 23, 2008, accessed December 25, 2018 . Elke Bodderas: A German brought the Christmas tree to the USA. In: Welt Online . December 1, 2009, accessed December 25, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Claudia Ehrenstein: Where does the Christmas tree come from? In: Welt Online . December 23, 2006, accessed December 25, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Meeting point Christmas tree: The Christmas tree on the main square comes from the Teichalm this year. Holding Graz Services, November 2011, archived from the original on March 22, 2012 ; accessed on December 25, 2018 . The focus is on enlightenment - the Graz Christmas tree festive “ignited”. City of Graz, November 26th, 2011, archived from the original on August 3rd, 2012 ; accessed on December 25, 2018 .
  17. ↑ Monika Reuter: Christmas tree. In: Münchner Merkur, December 6, 2013, p. 12.
  18. ↑ Michael Aust: Oh Christmas tree What is the ideal Christmas tree? In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . December 4, 2013, accessed August 21, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Number of Christmas trees sold in Germany from 2000 to 2013 (in millions). In: Handelsdaten.de. Retrieved August 21, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Sten Köppe: Nordmann fir - Abies nordmanniana - Caucasus fir. In: Gartenpflanze.de. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014 ; accessed on August 21, 2019 . Simone Andrea Mayer: Buying a Christmas tree - it doesn't always have to be Nordmann fir. In: Hamburger Abendblatt . December 14, 2012, accessed August 21, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Eco lawnmowers in Christmas tree cultures. www.waldwissen.net, February 9, 2011, accessed on December 22, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Deutschlandfunk : day by day ; Broadcast on December 12, 2006.
  23. ↑ China is interested in the German forest. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . June 27, 2007, accessed August 21, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Barbara Schmid, Fidelius Schmid: Environment: The forest shines for Christmas. In: Der Spiegel 51/2012. December 17, 2012, p. 52 , accessed August 21, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Domestic Christmas trees are the most popular. In: oe24. December 15, 2008, accessed December 22, 2008 .
  26. ↑ Teresa Tropf: Every tenth person orders a Christmas tree this year online. In: bitkom.org. December 12, 2018, accessed January 4, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Christmas tree stand: For sparkling children's eyes. In: BR.de . December 14, 2011, accessed December 23, 2016 .
  28. ↑ Hanging Christmas trees. In: historisches-franken.de. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011 ; accessed on August 21, 2019 .
  29. ^ City of Mühlacker - Christmas tree stand museum. Retrieved December 9, 2019 .
  30. ↑ Reinhard Brandhorst: December 24, 2018. In: evangelische-liturgie.de. November 29, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2018 .
  31. ↑ Manfred Becker-Huberti: Celebrations, festivals, seasons. Living customs all year round. Herder, Freiburg i.Br. 1998, special edition 2001, p. 135.
  32. ↑ Christmas tree from Lower Austria is handed over to Pope. In: orf.at. December 12, 2008, archived from the original on October 31, 2014 ; accessed on August 21, 2019 .
  33. ↑ Impressions from Wermelskirchen. City of Wermelskirchen, accessed December 7, 2013 .
  34. ↑ Juliane Schlichter: The tallest Christmas tree in Germany is in Rheinfelden-Eichsel. In: Südkurier . December 5, 2017, accessed January 4, 2018 .
  35. ↑ Dortmund Christmas Market 2009: Biggest Christmas Tree. In: Weihnachtsmarkt-dortmund.de. December 24, 2009, archived from the original on January 11, 2010 ; accessed on August 21, 2019 .
  36. ↑ Christmas tree and cut green cultures Schulte-Brinker: Christmas trees. Retrieved November 22, 2013 .
  37. ↑ Holger Späing: Smallest Christmas tree in the world. In: trainini.de. April 7, 2019, accessed August 22, 2019 .
  38. ↑ Christmas trees as food. In: Berliner Zeitung . January 4, 2013, accessed August 12, 2017 .
  39. ↑ Alexander Knebel: Christmas trees provide green energy. Press release of the Renewable Energy Agency, January 9, 2015, accessed on August 21, 2019 .
  40. ↑ Christmas tree collection points in Vienna: No tinsel would be nicer. Vienna City Administration, December 21, 2018, accessed December 20, 2012 .
  41. ↑ Christmas trees from Austria. www.weihnachtsbaum.at, 2019, accessed on December 22, 2019 .
  42. ↑ Tyrol Christmas Tree. www.karwendel-urlaub.de, December 21, 2019, accessed on December 22, 2019 .
  43. ↑ Moon trees are the best - In Krina, Christmas trees are felled around the last full moon. www.mz-web.de , December 8, 2017, accessed on December 22, 2019 .
  44. ↑ a b Culture: Hitting Christmas trees under a full moon? www.dw.com , December 18, 2003, accessed December 22, 2019 .
  45. ↑ Serious and bizarre things about the Alpine Christmas tree: O Christmas tree & tinsel syndrome. br.de , December 21, 2019, accessed on December 22, 2019 .
  46. ↑ Carinthian Easter and Christmas customs. In: der-woerthersee.de. Archived from the original on November 11, 2017 ; accessed on November 11, 2017 .
  47. ↑ Entry on Christmas tree sinking in the Austria Forum  (in the Heimatlexikon) accessed on December 14, 2011
    Christmas tree sinking in Neufeldersee. In: ORF / Radio Burgenland. December 11, 2011, accessed August 21, 2019 .