Somebody might have asked this question in Germany in the 1880s. I’ll come back to it in a bit.
My parents bought their first artificial tree this year. This ends a 53-year tradition of buying a tree from a lot or cutting it down in a national forest. I think that all Christmas trees are great, but this change in my family made me wonder when the first artificial Christmas tree was made. It turned out it was a lot earlier than I thought.
Cultures have had evergreens in their houses for centuries, but the first trees used to celebrate Christmas appeared in the 12th century. Martin Luther added candles to Christmas trees in the 16th century. All the Christmas trees at this time were real.
In the 1800s, the practice, of having a Christmas tree took off in Germany, and by the 1880s, deforestation was a real problem. As a solution, the first artificial tree was created.
It was made out of goose feathers painted green, split and attached to wires for the branches. These wires were attached to a wooden pole. Many Germans might have asked the question that I titled this post. It sounds weird, but you can see a picture here, and it doesn’t look bad at all.
Goose feathers are not sturdy, so these artificial trees didn’t last long, and the wires didn’t hold many ornaments. But the desire for artificial trees didn’t diminish.
The Addis Brush Company in Britain made the first toilet brush. In the early 1900s, they figured out how to make artificial trees by dying their toilet brush bristles green. These trees were much sturdier than the goose feather trees.
In the 1950s, everything futuristic was in, so aluminum trees in various colors became popular. Lights were attached to the base and reflected off the branches. These trees’ success led to other artificial tree designs, and today you can get fake trees that look almost real or fake trees that look totally fake (would anyone like a purple tree?)
There are many reasons to love real Christmas trees, and there are many reasons to love artificial trees. Do whatever makes you happy and stress-free. I don’t do a Christmas tree at all, but I still display lights and ornaments. This makes me happy. (I’d take a picture, but the ornaments hang in a big window, and it is impossible to get a good photo.)