Artificial Christmas Tree

Christmas is the occasion when you need to decorate your home as beautifully as you can. And one of the decor items that you cannot do without is the artificial Christmas tree.

What is an artificial tree?

Simply put, an artificial tree is a tree that is not real. It has been created by artificial means. Artificial trees for Christmas are nothing but pine and fir trees that are created in factories for Christmas celebrations. On Christmas Eve, these are beautifully decorated and used as Christmas trees in every home.

Why is it needed?

It is not possible for everyone to arrange for a real tree. That is when an artificial tree is needed. Moreover, artificial trees are small in size and easy to decorate. These can be removed once the celebrations are over. It is also possible to keep these in store for next year’s Christmas celebrations.

Birth of the Christmas tree

The Christmas tree was born in Germany sometime in the sixteenth century. At that time, some devout Christians began to use real trees as decoration items for their Christmas celebrations. Gradually, the tradition began to be more and more popular.

Birth of the artificial Christmas tree

During the 1880s, some Germans had a strikingly original idea. They created artificial tree shapes with metal wires. Then they dyed the feathers of birds such as ostrich, turkey, goose or swan with green color and stuck them to the wires. These feathery pyramidal structures looked like pine or fir trees and could be passed of as Christmas trees. From this time, artificial trees began to be used for Christmas celebrations.

Artificial trees in America

With passing time, the use of artificial trees for Christmas celebrations began to grow. In the 1900s, they became more and more popular. The tradition soon became popular in America as well. In the 1920s, feather trees began to be sold in many department stores in America.

The 1930s

A new type of artificial tree was born in America when the local Addis Brush Company manufactured an artificial tree using animal-hair bristles that were dyed with green color. Such bristles were used in toilet brushes. This was the first artificial tree of this kind. These brush trees were hugely in demand for sometime. Many of these were even exported to Great Britain for the Christmas celebrations there. The brush tree was firmer than the feather trees and they could be decorated with heavier ornaments.

1958

In 1958, trees were made in Chicago from aluminum. These were harder than the brush-trees and could be decorated with even heavier ornaments. The aluminum Christmas trees became highly popular. But in the late 1960s, an episode of Charlie Brown Christmas showed the aluminum trees in poor light and the sales of these unique trees dropped after this.

Christmas trees today

In modern times, artificial trees for Christmas are made of various kinds of materials such as plastic, cardboard, glass and even ceramic. There are also trees made of thin fiber-optic cables.

Share the history of Artificial Christmas Trees with you dear ones. Decorating artificial trees during Christmas is one of the most enjoyable Yuletide activities. Hope you will not miss the fun!