On Monday, 29 November, a Christmas tree was put up in Bolesławiec market square. The tree will certainly not be the only Christmas decoration that can be seen there. As every year, Christmas decorations are appearing gradually in Bolesławiec.
What do you think will appear in the market square before Christmas this year? We bet that it will be a teapot with a cup (as usual), and perhaps Santa Claus or an angel as well.
Where did the tradition of the Christmas tree come from?
As we read in Wikipedia, a Christmas tree is:
A decorated spruce or fir tree (less commonly a pine tree), natural or artificial, originally associated with pre-Christian folk tradition and the worship of an evergreen tree, and now an indispensable decoration during the Christmas holiday season.
The tradition of Christmas trees originated in Alsace, where trees were brought indoors and decorated with paper ornaments and apples (a reference to the tree of paradise). Martin Luther was a great supporter of this custom and recommended spending the holidays in the comfort of one’s home. Christmas trees therefore quickly became popular in Protestant Germany. At first, they were hung from the ceiling with the top pointing downward.
German Protestants brought the tradition to Poland at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries (during the period of the partitions), and initially it was found only in cities. From there, the custom spread to the countryside, largely displacing the traditional Polish decoration known as podłaźniczka or mistletoe, as well as the nativity scene, popular since the 13th century, and replacing the much older Slavic custom, known from celebrations of the Godowe Festival, of decorating a sheaf of grain called Diduch.