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Originally Christmas trees were not brought in and decorated
until Christmas Eve (December 24), and then removed the day
after twelfth night (January 6th) to have a tree up before or
after these dates was even considered bad luck. In modern times
of course people put their trees up much earlier. In the US
today the tradition is usually to put the tree up right after
Thanksgiving the same day the streets go mad with shopping also
known as Black Friday.
The best species for use as
Christmas Trees are species of fir (Abies), which have the major
benefit of not shedding the needles when they dry out, as well
as good foliage colour and scent; but species in other genera
are also used. Commonly used species in northern Europe are:
Silver Fir Abies alba (the original species)
Nordmann Fir Abies nordmanniana (as in the photo)
Noble Fir Abies procera
Norway Spruce Picea abies (generally the cheapest)
Serbian Spruce Picea omorika
Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris
and in North America and Central America:
Balsam Fir Abies balsamea
Fraser Fir Abies fraseri
Grand Fir Abies grandis
Guatemalan Fir Abies guatemalensis
Noble Fir Abies procera
Red Fir Abies magnifica
Douglas-fir Pseudotsuga menziesii
Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris
Stone Pine Pinus pinea (as small table-top trees)
The term Charlie Brown
Christmas tree is used in the USA to describe any sad-looking,
malformed little tree. This comes from the Charlie Brown
Christmas special where Charlie Brown gets a very small sad
looking tree. |
