The history of the Christmas tree: how Queen Victoria introduced America to the Christmas tree
4-5 minute read
By Daisy Goddard | December 3, 2024
Have you ever wondered: why do we have a Christmas tree?. A beautifully decorated tree would have been an odd sight for your ancestors to see any time before the mid-19th century - here's why.
In 1850, when Americans saw the British Royal Family and their Christmas tree in a popular women's magazine, the rest was history. Christmas trees have been all the rage ever since.
The origins of the Christmas tree tradition in Germany
Christmas tree tradition finds its roots in Germany. Protestant tradition recounts a story where Reformation leader Martin Luther was one of the first people to decorate a fir tree as a Christmas tree in the 16th century. With a few exceptions, German-Americans (and only those from a particular region) were the only ones in the U.S. who kept Christmas trees many years ago.
That is until this image of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and the Royal Family became the first widely circulated image of a Christmas tree in 1850. Depicting delicate decorations and candles hanging from tree branches, it is widely credited as the image that popularized early Christmas trees in the United States.
The British Royal Family and their Christmas tree in 1850.
This woodcut image of a German tradition reached hundreds of thousands of Americans in the mid-19th century. But where did it come from?
Godey's Lady's Book and the Christmas tree
The historic image comes from Godey's Lady's Book, the most popular monthly journal in America in the 19th century. As of 1860, there were 150,000 subscriptions to Godey's, and the publication was especially influential among American women.
Reaching a wide audience, editor Sarah Josepha Hale became one of the most influential American women of her time. What she published had a lasting impact on many tried-and-true American traditions. For instance, she also conducted a successful campaign to establish Thanksgiving as an annual tradition.
Originally the image of the Royal Family and their Christmas tree was published in 1848 in the Illustrated London News, with a few key differences. Can you spot them?
The version published in Godey's was given some old-style Photoshop treatment. They removed Victoria's tiara and Albert's moustache so that the scene would resonate more with American audiences. Despite alterations to their appearance, the Royal Family was very recognizable to American women. The fact that they were pictured taking up the Christmas tree tradition meant thousands of Americans would desire to follow in their trendsetting footsteps.
Cultural historian Alfred Shoemaker wrote of this image's appearance;
"In all of America there was no more important medium in spreading the Christmas tree in the decade of 1850-60 than Godey's Lady's Book."
Until the image circulated, Christmas trees weren't widely popular in England either.
Why did Queen Victoria have a Christmas tree in England?
In Germany, the Christmas tree was a tradition of the Protestant-dominated upper Rhine region, but not in the Catholic lower Rhine region. Prince Albert, having grown up near Coburg, fondly remembered this tradition from his childhood in his writing.
'Tree with an evergreen tradition', Suffolk Free Press, 1998. View this page in full.
But Victoria and Albert weren't the first Royal Family to have a Christmas tree. Back in 1800, George III's German wife Charlotte of Mecklenberg-Strelitz introduced a Christmas tree to her family.
In fact, Victoria's childhood was full of Christmas trees, but the tradition never spread much beyond the Royal Family until the 1840s.
What type of tree is the Christmas tree?
Most modern Christmas trees are evergreen conifer trees - within this group are fir, spruce and pine trees. Although a particular shape of tree has become synonymous with Christmas time today, there are actually many different species of trees used over the festive season, from Norway Spruces to Red Cedars.
In the 21st century, more families than ever are using an artificial tree to top with tinsel and lights each December. Artificial Christmas trees have an interesting history, having first been developed in Germany in the early 1800s as a response to fears around deforestation.
A far cry from today's plastic pines, the first artificial Christmas trees were made from goose feathers, dyed green.
Is a Christmas tree a religious symbol?
Although associated with a Christian annual holiday, Christmas trees are a secular rather than a religious tradition. They are a cultural practice originating from Germany, rather than a rite introduced by any organised religion.
German emigrants of the Moravian faith living in Pennsylvania had an early form of the Christmas tree. Theirs was a wooden pyramid, adorned with candles and shared between the community. This is very different from the evergreen boughs we'd recognise today.
An illustration depicting Martin Luther's Christmas tree, c.1533 in the Illustrated London News, 14 November 1958.
The Christmas tree has thus not been closely associated with Christian religious traditions.
Interestingly, in the early 19th century, Puritan leaders in America were suspicious of Christmas trees - they saw them as unholy. Governor William Bradford went as far as to label them 'pagan mockery' of a religious holiday. Although the tradition doesn't have known pagan roots, Bradford's suspicion indicates the wider Puritan desire to stamp out any remaining forms of pagan spirituality.
How were Christmas trees decorated long ago?
In her journal, Victoria wrote that the Christmas trees were "hung with lights and sugar ornaments," but was this typical?
Early Germans in America decorated Christmas trees with candles and hanging treats like apples, nuts or cookies. This continued into the 19th century. Most other Americans used homemade decorations, made from paper and even inventive materials like brightly-dyed popcorn on a string.
In 1882, Edward Johnson - an associate of Thomas Edison - was the first to electrically light a Christmas tree.
Around the same time, department store mogul F.W. Woolworth discovered Christmas baubles, native to Lauscha Germany. He began importing them to America and they soon sold by the millions to those eager to jazz up their Christmas trees.
Christmas soon became a classic American tradition and the Christmas tree its flagship icon. It's amazing to think that it wasn't so many generations ago that the Queen of England started it all.
From the secret histories of tree decorations to 'Why is Christmas on 25 December?', discover all kinds of festive stories via the Findmypast blog.
Christmas through the eyes of your ancestors
If you have traced your ancestors back that far, it's amazing to think that they viewed Christmas trees as oddities or very new, fashionable decorations. Or maybe your German ancestors kept Christmas trees long before Godey's popularized them.
Either way, there's no time like the present to delve into your past and see if you can find out more. Start your family tree with Findmypast today - endless discoveries await.
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