Alexander Tille

“ Even the spirit of invention of the 19th century has got hold of it. Trees are made of moulded iron. Through the hollow trunk and branches gas-pipes are conducted, and instead of the modest light of the little wax candle, the glaring gas jet bursts forth from this artificial production of the ironfounder.
The Christmas-tree and German Christmas are ideas closely connected in the mind of every non-German. Most Germans feel the same. A Christmas without a tree is no real Christmas. ”

“ The fir, decorated with nuts and apples, carried five candles on each branch. On the Swedish mainland it was the custom in some places for the peasants to go to a field where a solitary tree stood, to put fire to it, and then perform a dance around it amid shouts of joy.
Everywhere where the Christmas-tree custom has been adopted we find that German emigrants, German sailors from merchant vessels, or German men-of-war, have first introduced it. ”

“ Nowadays the custom of having a Christmas-tree is very common all over England. In Scotland and Ireland few are to be found in families. In Scotland the tree plays its part only at children's parties or charitable festivities. But while in Germany the Christmas-tree is used entirely as a bright ornament, presents, often wrapped in paper, are hung on it in England, which spoil its appearance. In some parts the tree is so small that it is handed round after dinner, before the ladies retire, with all the presents hanging on it, and everyone takes off the gift intended for him. ”

“ Mountains open, treasures rise to the surface of the earth, all the water which runs over the stones in one minute turns to wine, the Wild Huntsman rushes through the air, the dead arise and hold a midnight service, the beasts of the forest kneel down and pray, the horses in the stable receive the faculty of human speech for an hour, and the plant-world is endowed with life and blossoming powers for the same period. ”

“ The lights of the Christmas-tree shine as far as the German tongue is spoken, from the east of Prussia to Alsatia, from the Baltic and the German Ocean to the south of the Danube. The custom has even been introduced into the Protestant church-service. In the mountainous tracts of Saxony, and in other districts, a Christmas-tree ablaze with lights is placed on the altar during the Christmas-service, which is celebrated at six o'clock on Christmas-morning. Everyone attending service brings a candle or small lanthorn, until, when the church is full, the whole interior is one flood of light. ”

“ In German folk-lore we find the legend about the blossoming-trees of Christmas amongst the peasantry as far back as the fifteenth century up to the present day. The oldest mention of it dates back to the year 1426. It is a letter of the Bishop of Bamberg, which is at present in the Court Library of Vienna. About 1430, a chronicle-writer of Nuremberg tells us the story with all its particulars: "Not far from Nuremberg there stood a wonderful tree. Every year in the coldest season, in the night of Christ's birth, this tree put forth blossoms and apples, as thick as a man's thumb. ”

“ The water is renewed every second day. About Christmas-time, white blossoms burst forth, and the one whose branch blooms first or best may expect some good luck in the following year. In the Tyrol they even try to force a cherry-tree into blossom in the open air. The first Thursday in Advent they put lime into the ground underneath a cherry-tree, and then it flowers at Yuletide. Near Meran it is customary to put dry branches into water, so that they may flower at Christmas-time. ”

“ In his writing he says, that if he were with them he would like to light many wax-tapers for the little boys (Lotte's brothers) , so that it would be like a reflection of heaven in their little minds. But he mentions nothing of the Christmas-tree. So it appears that Goethe never saw Lotte under it, and it is purely a picture drawn from imagination which associated it with her in his work, Leiden des jungen Werther, and by that introduced it for the first time into German Literature. ”

“ By the height, ornament, and arrangement everyone could see which tree was intended for him. As soon as the presents had been divided and arranged, and the candles lighted on the trees, all the people entered in succession, looked at the things, and took possession each of the tree and presents intended for him."
Here we find the first mention of candles on the Christmas-tree. It is strange that each person got a separate tree; nowadays there is only one tree for all. ”

“ As all other civilised states had already adopted the Gregorian calendar, the alteration of the New Year, and the change from the old to the new calendar, was accomplished without opposition on the part of the people in England. It was only in Buckinghamshire that a rebel rising threatened, and the cause of this was an old belief which was threatened by the new calendar. ”

“ It has taken the deepest root in the United States, where there is so much of the German element. There, nobody looks upon it any more as something especially German; families of all nationalities have adopted the fairy-tree. ”