Perhaps the main attribute of everyone's favorite winter holiday - the New Year, considers the New Year tree. This green tree has been pleasing the inhabitants of all countries for many centuries with its beauty and marvelous aroma. It is difficult to meet at least one person who has never seen a decorated Christmas tree, and how much joy it brings to the kids is hard to put into words. But why did this fluffy coniferous tree become a symbol of the new year? The article will discuss how you can decorate the Christmas tree for the new year.
Christmas tree for the new year photo
The main criterion for choosing, of course, is the appearance of the product. But besides this, attention should be paid to design features, strength, price of products and its safety in operation.
A variety of artificial Christmas trees
So let's talk about cost. It consists of a number of factors, such as the dimensions of the tree, the material of manufacture and the country of origin. The most expensive Christmas trees are made in Germany, Italy and Holland, but they are of higher quality than those made in Taiwan, China or Thailand. Also, simpler models are assembled on separate branches into a single structure, more advanced Christmas trees have a special folding mechanism, durable and resistant.
Christmas tree photo
From what material is it best to choose a "New Year's beauty"? As a rule, aluminum is used for the frame, as it is a lightweight material, but at the same time strong enough to withstand various loads for many years. That is, even if the Christmas tree falls on a hard surface, it will not cause harm to it. But not all manufacturers use this particular option, there are cheaper analogues, where the barrel is plastic. It is better not to check such a product for durability, since the material may crack due to mechanical stress.
The main difference between one product and another lies in the type of needles used. There are four main options:
Many thousands of years ago, the year came in autumn or spring. For example, if we take Ancient Russia, then here the beginning of the year fell on the month of March, and this celebration was more like a tribute to spring, warmth, sun and a future good harvest.
Over time, after the adoption of Christianity (which falls at the end of the 10th century), in Russia the onset of the new year began to be celebrated in accordance with the Byzantine calendar, and this was the first day of the autumn month of September. And only in 1700, when Peter I, the great Russian Tsar, issued a new decree, which stipulated that the beginning of the year should fall on the second winter month, and all Russia began to celebrate it on January 1st. It was then that the tsar received a proposal to decorate Moscow houses with spruce and pine branches and cones, and everyone had to celebrate this day by celebrating with congratulations to all relatives and friends, dancing and shooting, launching rockets into the night sky.
And the king himself, on the night of December 31 to January 1, went to Red Square, holding a torch in his hands, and after the chiming clock launched the first rocket into the starry skies. And it was the first salute in honor of the New Year's holiday. As for the spruce, about 300 years ago it was believed that the Christmas tree, decorated for the New Year, turns negative forces into positive ones. Today, everyone has already forgotten about such forces, but the wonderful and beloved tradition of decorating a coniferous tree before the holiday has remained to this day.
Christmas tree, it is she who creates the atmosphere of the New Year's magical mood.
An amazing Christmas tree outfit is able to transform any room and delight with its appearance during long holidays and evenings, leaving pleasant memories for the whole next year.
The first written mention of spruce as a New Year's tree is found in the chronicle of the French province of Alsace for 1600. However, Germany is considered to be her homeland. There is a legend that the beginning of the tradition of decorating the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve was laid by the German reformer Martin Luther.
It was he who, returning home before the meeting of Christmas in 1513, was fascinated and delighted with the beauty of the stars that strewn the vault of heaven so thickly that it seemed as if the crowns of the trees were sparkling with stars. At home, he put a Christmas tree on the table and decorated it with candles, and placed a star on top in memory of the star of Bethlehem, which showed the way to the cave where Jesus was born.
Why was spruce chosen as the Christmas tree? Recall that our ancestors treated trees as living beings. In Russia, birch was such a particularly revered, cult tree. The green fragrant forest beauty spruce has long been considered the tree of the world by the ancient Germans. They believed that the good "spirit of the forests" lives in its branches - the defender of justice and all living things. It is no coincidence that before the fighting, the soldiers gathered for advice at the spruce, hoping to get her protection. And also because this tree personified immortality, fidelity, fearlessness, dignity, the secret of unfading, eternal youth. Over time, a custom arose to cajole good spirits that winter in the evergreen branches of spruce, decorating its fluffy branches with gifts. This custom was born in Germany, and later the Dutch and English borrowed the ceremony of honoring spruce.
It is also known that in the 16th century in Central Europe on Christmas night it was customary to put a small beech tree in the middle of the table, decorated with small apples boiled in honey, plums, pears and hazelnuts.
In the second half of the 17th century, it was already common in German and Swiss homes to complement the decoration of the Christmas meal not only with deciduous, but also with coniferous trees. The main thing is that it should be a toy size. At first, small Christmas trees were hung from the ceiling along with sweets and apples, and only later the custom was established to decorate one large Christmas tree in the guest room.
The 18th century chose spruce as the queen of the New Year's holiday, first in Germany, and later in many European countries. In Russia, the spruce took the first step to secure the status of a ritual New Year tree according to the European model after the decree of Peter I "On the celebration of the New Year" was issued. It prescribed: “... Along the large and passable streets, noble people and at the houses of deliberate spiritual and worldly rank in front of the gate to make some decorations from trees and branches of pine and juniper ... and for meager people, each at least a tree or a branch on the gate or put over your temple ... "
In the decree, however, it was not specifically about the Christmas tree, but in general about coniferous trees. In addition, it specifically ordered the "decoration" of the street landscape, and not the interior decoration of houses. The Tsar’s decree, of course, pushed the formation of the European custom in Russia to put up a Christmas tree, but after the death of Peter the decree was forgotten, and the Christmas tree became a common attribute of the New Year only a century later.
The European tradition of putting up Christmas trees on Christmas Eve was the first to be supported by the St. Petersburg Germans, who made up at least a third of the population of the northern capital. This custom was eventually adopted by the St. Petersburg nobility. Gradually, the popularity of the Christmas tree spread to other sectors of society. Mass fashion for the Christmas tree broke out in the 40s of the XIX century. This fact was noted in 1841 by the newspaper "Northern Bee": "It is customary for us to celebrate the eve of the Nativity of Christ ... by decorating the cherished Christmas tree with sweets and toys."
The growing popularity of the New Year tree was facilitated by commerce organized around it by enterprising St. Petersburg confectioners, who not only arranged the sale of Christmas trees for a lot of money, but also came up with an accompanying confectionery entourage - sweets and candles mounted on them.
At the Gostiny Dvor, and later in the markets, Christmas tree markets were organized, "forest goods" to which Russian peasants who saw their benefit were supplied.
I. Shmelev colorfully spoke about such a Christmas sale in his famous book “The Summer of the Lord”: “Before Christmas, three days, in the markets, in the squares - a forest of Christmas trees. And what trees! You can have as much of this stuff in Russia as you want... There used to be a forest on Theater Square. They stand in the snow. And the snow will fall - lost the road! Guys, in sheepskin coats, as in the forest. People walk, choose. Dogs in Christmas trees are like wolves, right. The bonfires are burning, to get warm ... Until the night you will walk in the Christmas trees. And the frost is getting stronger. The sky - in smoke - purple, on fire. Frost on the Christmas trees ... "
For the first time, the dressed-up green beauty publicly lit up with festive lights in 1852 in St. Petersburg in the premises of the Ekateringofsky (now Moscow) station. And by the end of the 19th century, the New Year tree had firmly established itself, first in the provincial cities, and later in the landowners' estates.
Soon, the public from among the conservationists raised their voice in defense of the fir trees in the conditions of its growing clearing. Since the beginning of the 20th century, there has been a fashion for artificial spruces, which at that time were a whim and a sign of the special chic of wealthy people. This fact was reflected in his multi-volume work “The Life of the Russian People” by A.V. Tereshchenko, mentioning the St. Petersburg rich man who ordered an artificial Christmas tree 3.5 arshins high (about 2.5 meters). Its upper part was entwined with ribbons and expensive fabrics, decorated with expensive toys and women's jewelry, and the lower part - with various fruits and sweets.
Gradually, the tree becomes the center of the entire New Year's holiday. She is decorated in advance, gifts are hung on her, round dances are danced around her.
After the October Revolution of 1917, the New Year tree, as a bourgeois and religious relic of the past, fell into disgrace and disappeared from the public life of our compatriots for a long eighteen years. Her happy return can be dated to 1935, when the article “Let's organize a good Christmas tree for the New Year for the children” was published in the Pravda newspaper. The exile and oblivion of the forest green beauty was over, the tradition of setting up a Christmas tree as a ritual New Year's tree again began to gain strength in Soviet history.
Nowadays, they strive to deliver and install a decorated Christmas tree even in those parts where it must be brought on purpose, for example, on ships plowing the ocean beyond the equator.
The history of the New Year (Christmas) tree for younger students.
Khamidulina Almira Idrisovna, primary school teacher, MBOU progymnasium "Kristina", Tomsk.
New Year's Eve is always associated with a Christmas tree. Many, without hesitation, will answer: “With a Christmas tree, bright, cheerful, in garlands and toys!”
The Christmas tree has become a symbol of the holiday, and this fabulous tradition of decorating a Christmas tree for the New Year has been passed down from generation to generation for more than one century.
Tree history. In ancient times, it was a tradition to simply decorate various trees. People believed that all trees are endowed with good power, that omnipotent spirits live in them. Therefore, they cajoled these spirits with decorations in every possible way. And decorated mainly with apples, eggs and nuts.
Spruce has always occupied the first place among trees. She was considered the heavenly tree of immortality, symbolizing life itself. After all, spruce is an evergreen plant (which hardly fit in the minds of our distant ancestors), and if not like all trees, then it’s magical! They believed that the spruce enjoys special privileges from the Sun, because it allows it to always be green.
In ancient Greece, spruce was considered a sacred tree of hope, the eternal life of all living things. It is believed that the Trojan horse was built from spruce.
The first decorated Christmas trees appeared in 1605 in France in Alsace. “For Christmas, Christmas trees are set up in houses, and colored paper roses, apples, cookies, sugar cubes and tinsel are hung on their branches” - this is information from the annals. This idea was quickly adopted by the Germans, and then by the whole of Europe. True, at first, Christmas trees could only be seen in the homes of the richest nobles. For those who complain that the holidays in our time are not cheap, and the prices for Christmas trees are “going wild”, I note that in the 19th century it was necessary to pay from 20-200 rubles for a Christmas tree with decoration. For 20 rubles in those days you could buy an excellent cow, and for 200 rubles a beautiful house near St. Petersburg.
In Russia, the New Year holiday has been celebrated since 1700. The initiator of this was Peter I. He introduced a new calendar from the birth of Christ, as in all of Europe, and not from the creation of the world. Unfortunately, this tradition did not take root, and after the death of Peter, the celebration of the New Year was forgotten. This amazing tradition was revived only during the reign of Catherine II. Coniferous trees began to be decorated only in the second half of the 19th century. And the first Christmas tree, decorated with candles, toys and garlands, was installed in St. Petersburg in 1852.
"At Christmas, they set up Christmas trees in the houses, and on their branches they hang roses made of colored paper, apples, cookies, sugar cubes and tinsel." This is how Hoffmann described the magic Christmas tree in his fairy tale The Nutcracker.
Here is the history of the tree. This is how Christmas trees were decorated in those days. Painted eggshells, apples and nuts wrapped in colored paper, gilded threads, beads, salt dough figures, candles. All these decorations are loved by children in our time. Despite the variety of Christmas decorations in stores. The first glass balls appeared in the middle of the 19th century. Therefore, toys produced before 1966 are generally recognized as "antique" Christmas tree decorations. These are mainly balloons with Soviet symbols, airplanes, astronauts, corn cobs
There is always a place for a forest beauty in our home. If the Christmas tree is large, it is advisable to put it on the floor, if the Christmas tree fits on the table, then it can be on the table, it will celebrate the holiday with you. Only now it never occurs to anyone to attach a Christmas tree to the ceiling. Destroying stereotypes is scary, probably ... But 400 years ago, when the custom of bringing a Christmas tree home was just in its infancy, in Germany it was customary to mount it to the ceiling, and always with the top down. Unusual and uncomfortable.
Nowadays, Christmas trees are installed in all major city squares.
In Italy, a fluffy beauty is placed in Rome on St. Peter's Square. In London, Trafalgar Square is the very center of the city. In New York at the Rockefeller Center. And here is an interesting location of a floating Christmas tree in Rio de Janeiro, it is installed on Lake Lagoa. The tallest Christmas tree in the world, 112 meters high, was installed in Mexico City on one of the central avenues in 2009. In the capital of the United Arab Emirates in 2010, the Christmas tree was decorated with solid gold balls worth $12 million.
The fashion for Christmas trees and decorations has gained momentum so much that famous designers are releasing entire collections of Christmas decorations.
The green beauty has firmly taken root in the hearts and homes of people. Each family tries to decorate their Christmas tree in the most elegant and original way. It seems to me that the history of the Christmas tree does not end there, it will still surprise us with something unusual!
I would like to end with a beautiful and kind legend about the Christmas Tree.
“The holy solemn night descended to earth, bringing with it great joy to people.
In Bethlehem, in a wretched cave, the Savior of the world was born. Hearing the chanting of the angels, the shepherds praise and thank God; following the guiding star, the magi rush from the far east to worship the Divine Infant. And not only people, but also the trees that shade the cave, and the meadow flowers that dazzle around - all in their own way take part in the great celebration. They sway joyfully, as if worshiping the Divine Infant, and in the jubilant rustle of leaves, in the whisper of herbs, one can hear, as it were, an expression of reverence for the accomplished miracle. Everyone wants to see the born Savior: trees and bushes stretch out their branches, flowers raise their heads, trying to look inside the cave, which has now turned into a sacred temple.
Happier than the others are three trees standing at the very entrance to the cave: they can clearly see the manger and the Infant resting in them, surrounded by a host of angels. This is a slender palm tree, a beautiful fragrant olive tree and a modest green Christmas tree. The rustle of their branches becomes more and more joyful, more and more animated, and suddenly the words are clearly heard in it:
Let's go and we will worship the Divine Infant and offer Him our gifts, - the palm tree said, referring to the olive tree.
Take me with you too! - timidly said a modest Christmas tree.
Where are you with us! – glancing around the Christmas tree with a contemptuous glance, proudly answered the palm tree.
And what gifts can you offer to the Divine Infant, - the olive tree added, - what do you have? Only prickly needles and nasty sticky resin!
The poor tree was silent and humbly stepped back, not daring to enter the cave, shining with heavenly light.
But the angel heard the conversation of the trees, saw the pride of the palm tree and the olive tree, and the modesty of the tree; he felt sorry for her, and out of his angelic kindness he wanted to help her.
A magnificent palm tree bent over the Child and threw down before him the best leaf of its luxurious crown.
May it bring coolness to You on a hot day,” she said, and the olive tree tilted its branches. Fragrant oil dripped from them, and the whole cave was filled with fragrance.
With sadness, but without envy, the New Year tree looked at this.
“They are right,” she thought, “how can I compare with them! I am so poor. Insignificant, am I worthy to approach the Divine Child?”
But the angel said to her:
In your modesty you humiliate yourself, dear Christmas tree, but I will exalt you and decorate you better than your sisters!
And the angel looked up to heaven.
And the dark sky was dotted with sparkling stars. The angel made a sign, and one star after another began to roll down to the ground, right on the green branches of the tree, and soon all of it shone with brilliant lights. And when the Divine Infant woke up, it was not the fragrance in the cave, not the sumptuous fan of the palm tree that attracted his attention, but the shining Christmas tree. He looked at her and smiled at her and held out his hands to her.
The tree rejoiced, but did not become proud, and with its radiance tried to illuminate the ashamed, who stood in the shade of the olive and palm tree. She repaid evil with good.
And the angel saw it and said:
You are a good tree, a sweet Christmas tree, and for this you will be rewarded. Every year at this time you, as now, will show off in the radiance of many lights, and children and adults will, looking at you, rejoice and have fun. And you, a modest, green Christmas tree, will become a sign of a merry Christmas holiday.
Natalia Sarmaeva for the Women's magazine "Charm"
Now it is difficult to imagine a New Year's Eve without its symbol - a fluffy evergreen beauty of spruce. On the eve of this wonderful holiday, it is installed in every home, decorated with toys, tinsel and garlands. The fragrant smell of fresh pine needles, the taste of tangerines - this is what most Russian children associate the New Year holiday with. Under the Christmas tree, the children find their gifts. At matinees, round dances are performed around her, songs are sung. But it was not so at all times. Where did the New Year tree come from in Russia? The history of the tradition of decorating it for the New Year is described in this material.
Our ancestors believed that all trees are alive, spirits live in them. In pre-Christian times, the Druid calendar of the Celts has a fir-worship day. For them, it was a symbol of courage, strength, and the pyramidal shape of the tree resembled heavenly fire. Fir cones also symbolized health, strength of mind. The ancient Germans considered this tree sacred and worshiped it. They identified it with the World Tree - the source of eternal life, immortality. There was such a custom: at the end of December, people went to the forest, chose the fluffiest and tallest tree, decorated it with colorful ribbons and made various offerings. Then dances were made around the spruce and ceremonial songs were sung. All this symbolized the cyclical nature of life, its rebirth, the beginning of a new one, the arrival of spring. Among the pagan Slavs, on the contrary, spruce was associated with the world of the dead and was often used in funeral rites. Although it was believed that if spruce paws were laid out in the corners of a house or barn, this would protect the home from storms and thunderstorms, and its inhabitants from illnesses and evil spirits.
The Germans were the first to decorate the fir tree in the house for Christmas in the Middle Ages. This tradition appeared in medieval Germany not by chance. There is a legend that the holy apostle Boniface, an ardent missionary and preacher of the word of God, cut down an oak tree dedicated to Thor, the god of thunder. He did this in order to show the pagans the impotence of their gods. The felled tree felled several more trees, but the spruce survived. St. Boniface declared spruce a sacred tree, Christbaum (the tree of Christ).
There is also a legend about a poor lumberjack who, on the eve of Christmas, sheltered a little boy lost in the forest. He warmed, fed and left a lost child to spend the night. The next morning the boy disappeared, and instead of himself left a small coniferous tree at the door. In fact, under the guise of an unfortunate child, Christ himself came to the lumberjack and thus thanked him for the warm welcome. Since then, spruces have become the main Christmas attribute not only in Germany, but also in other European countries.
At first, people decorated their houses only with twigs and large spruce paws, later they began to bring whole trees. But much later, the custom of decorating the New Year tree appeared.
The story of the appearance of a star on a Christmas tree is associated with the name of the founder of Protestantism, the German Martin Luther, the head of the burgher Reformation. One day, walking down the street on Christmas Eve, Luther looked up at the bright stars of the night sky. There were so many of them in the night sky that it seemed as if they, like small lights, were stuck in the tops of the trees. Arriving home, he decorated a small spruce with apples and burning candles. And on the top of the tree he hoisted an asterisk, as a symbol of the Bethlehem star, which announced to the magi about the birth of the baby Christ. Subsequently, this tradition spread among the followers of the ideas of Protestantism, and later throughout the country. Since the 17th century, this fragrant conifer has become the main symbol of Christmas Eve in medieval Germany. In German, even such a definition appeared as Weihnachtsbaum - Christmas tree, pine.
The history of the appearance of the New Year tree in Russia began in 1699. The custom to install a Christmas tree appeared in the country during the reign of Peter I, at the beginning of the 18th century. The Russian Tsar issued a decree on the transition to a new account of time, the chronology began from the date of the Nativity of Christ.
The date of the beginning of the next year began to be considered the first of January, and not the first of September, as it was before. The decree also mentioned that the nobility before Christmas should decorate their houses with pine and juniper trees and branches in the European manner. On January 1, it was also ordered to launch rockets, arrange fireworks and decorate the buildings of the capital with coniferous branches. After the death of Peter the Great, this tradition was forgotten, except that drinking establishments were decorated with fir branches on Christmas Eve. By these branches (tied to a stake, stuck at the entrance), visitors could easily recognize the taverns inside the buildings.
The history of the New Year tree and the tradition of decorating it for the holy holiday did not end there. The custom of putting lighted candles on the Christmas tree, giving each other gifts for Christmas became widespread in Russia during the reign of Nicholas I. This fashion among the courtiers was introduced by his wife, Tsaritsa Alexandra Fedorovna, a German by birth. Later, all the noble families of St. Petersburg followed her example, and then the rest of society. In the early 1940s, the Severnaya Pchela newspaper noted that “we have a habit of celebrating Christmas Eve” by decorating the treasured Christmas tree with sweets and toys. In the capital, on the square near Gostiny Dvor, grandiose Christmas tree markets are held. If the poor people could not even buy a small tree, then noble people competed with each other in this: whoever had the spruce is taller, more magnificent, more elegant. Sometimes precious stones, expensive fabrics, beads, rigmarole (thin silver or gold thread) were used to decorate the green beauty. The Christmas tree itself began to be called the celebration, arranged in honor of the main Christian event - the birth of Christ.
With the coming to power of the Bolsheviks, all religious holidays, including Christmas, were canceled. The Christmas tree was considered to be a bourgeois attribute, a relic of the imperial past. For several years, this wonderful family tradition became illegal. But in some families, it still persisted, despite the prohibition of the authorities. Only in 1935, thanks to a note by the party leader Pavel Postyshev in the main communist publication of those years - the Pravda newspaper, this evergreen tree was again undeservedly forgotten recognition as a symbol of the coming year.
The wheel of history has turned back, and Christmas trees for children have begun to be arranged again. Instead of the Star of Bethlehem, its top is adorned with a red five-pointed star, the official symbol of Soviet Russia. Since then, the trees have been called "New Year's" and not "Christmas", and the trees themselves and the holidays - not Christmas, but New Year's. For the first time in the history of Russia, an official document on non-working holidays appears: the first of January officially becomes a day off.
But the history of the New Year tree in Russia does not end there. For children in 1938 in Moscow, in the Hall of Columns, a huge multi-meter Christmas tree with tens of thousands of glass balls and toys was installed. Since then, every year in this hall there is a giant Christmas tree and children's parties are held. Every Soviet child dreams of getting to the New Year tree in the Kremlin. And until now, the favorite meeting place of the next year among Muscovites is the Kremlin Square with a huge, elegantly decorated forest beauty installed on it.
In tsarist times, Christmas decorations could be eaten. These were figured gingerbread wrapped in multi-colored metallic paper. Candied candied fruits, apples, marmalade, gilded nuts, paper flowers, ribbons, cardboard figurines of angels were also hung on the branches. But the main element of the Christmas tree decor was lit candles. Glass balloons were brought mainly from Germany, they were quite expensive. Figurines with porcelain heads were highly valued. In Russia, only at the end of the 19th century artels for the production of New Year's products appeared. They also make wadded, cardboard toys and papier-mâché figurines. In Soviet times, starting from the 60s, mass production of factory Christmas tree decorations began. These products did not differ in variety: the same "cones", "icicles", "pyramids". Fortunately, now on the shelves of shops you can find many interesting products of Christmas decorations, including hand-painted ones.
No less interesting is the story of the appearance of other New Year's paraphernalia: tinsel and garlands. Previously, tinsel was made from real silver. They were thin threads, like a "silver rain". There is a beautiful myth about the origin of silver tinsel. One very poor woman, who had many children, decided to decorate a Christmas tree before Christmas, but since there was no money for rich decorations, the decoration of the tree turned out to be very nondescript. During the night, spruce branches entwined spiders with their cobwebs. Knowing about the kindness of the woman, God decided to reward her and turned the web into silver.
Nowadays, tinsel is made from colored foil or PVC. Initially, garlands were long strips intertwined with flowers or branches. In the 19th century, the first electric garland appeared with many light bulbs. The idea of its creation was put forward by the American inventor Johnson, and brought to life by the Englishman Ralph Morris.
Many fairy tales, stories, funny stories about the New Year tree have been written for small and big children. Here is some of them:
Older children would be interested in reading "The History of the Christmas Tree" in the book by Alexander Tkachenko.
