The First Illuminated Christmas Tree
in the New World
The custom of bringing evergreens into the house at the beginning of
the winter solstice goes back through the mists of time to the
pre-Christian era. It was customary among the German tribes living
in the dense forests of north-central Europe to bring saplings of
evergreen trees into the home on the longest night of the year.
Because they did not shed their green needles in the winter,
evergreens were a symbol of survival and continuity. Among the
ancient Germans they were close to being objects of veneration.
After Charlemagne, king of the German Franks, became the Holy Roman
Empire of the German Nation (Germany) he forced his subjects to
adopt Christianity and forbade their heathen customs and practices.
However, the custom of bringing a small evergreen tree into the
house on the eve of the winter solstice was so ingrained in the
people that it was never completely eradicated. Since the birth of
Jesus Christ was said to be on December 25th, the beginning of
winter, they simply put up their tree on that date and called it a
Weihnachtsbaum (Christmas tree) to conform to their new religion.
The earliest written record we have of an illuminated Christmas tree
is from the chronicles of Strassburg, Anno 1539. Once the most
German of cities, this capital of Alsace was arbitrarily awarded to
France after World War I, and it is now spelled Strasbourg.
Throughout past centuries the Catholic Church favored the nativity
scene as a symbol of Christmas. It may be a more realistic depiction
of Christmas, but in German communities it does not evoke the same
feelings of warmth, family and good fellowship as the Christmas
tree. No written record exists, but there is no doubt in my mind
that the custom of decorating a Christmas tree was brought to this
continent by the earliest German colonists. Evergreen trees were
plentiful and it does not take much imagination to picture a
candle-lit Christmas tree in a German settler’s log cabin somewhere
in the silence of the boreal forests in America.
Unfortunately, the early pioneers were too busy chopping down trees
to take the time to write about it.
The earliest evidence we have of an illuminated Christmas tree in
America comes from the diary of Friederike von Riedesel, the wife of
Major-General Friedrich Adolphus von Riedesel, Baron of Lauterbach,
who was born in Lauterbach, Hessen, in 1738. In 1776 he landed in
Quebec with his German troops whose services the British had bought
from their German prince to help them put down the American
Revolution.
A year later, in 1777, his wife Friederike, although burdened with
two young children and pregnant with another, sailed across the
stormy Atlantic to be with her husband in the New World. She wrote
many letters and made daily entries into a diary in which she
detailed everyday life in North America in the turbulent colonial
period. Her diaries are now in possession of the National Archives
of Canada in Ottawa.
Friederike’s outgoing personality earned her many friends among the
British and German officers, their wives and servants. She was
affectionately known as “Lady Fritz” by everyone. In those days
officers as well as soldiers’ wives sometimes accompanied their
menfolk into battle. When Baron von Riedesel was ordered to New York
State in support of the British, she went along too. After the
British and their German auxiliaries suffered a degrading defeat at
Saratoga, both the Baron and Friederike as well as their children
were captured by the Americans. They spent two years in the United
States as nominal prisoners-of-war. Since they were treated
decently, they voluntarily remained in the new republic for another
two years. Here, too, Friederike made many new friends.
In September of 1781, at the request of Swiss-born Governor General
Haldimand, the von Riedesels returned to Lower Canada (Quebec) where
the general was posted to Sorel. Just before Christmas they moved
into their new home on the site of the Maison des Gouverneurs
(Governor’s Mansion) which is located at the confluence of the St.
Lawrence and Richelieu Rivers.
It was here on Christmas Eve of 1781 that Friederike von Riedesel
decorated a Christmas tree according to the German custom. She did
it to relieve the homesickness of the German officers and their
wives and to surprise the English officers and their spouses who had
never seen such a thing.
In the 18th century in England Christmas was celebrated by
merrymaking, hence the term “Merry Christmas”. In Germany it was a
more subdued affair. On Christmas Eve families gathered around a
candle lit Christmas tree to sing beloved carols and to exchange
modest gifts. On Christmas Day they enjoyed a succulent goose dinner
and partook of an array of special baked goods and drinks. Such was
the scene in the Governor’s mansion in Sorel.
Christmas Eve 1781 was described by Lady Fritz in her diary. Among
non-Germans the idea of putting a Christmas tree in the home did not
catch on until 1841 when young Queen Victoria had one put up in
Buckingham Palace, at the behest of her husband Prince Albert, her
German-born consort.
The public display of Christmas trees originated in America.
Nowadays, it is also seen in busy shopping centers, where amid
hectic shoppers, ringing cash registers and repetitious carols over
a sound system, it definitely does not belong. However, we dare not
stand in the way of “progress” – or profits.
In 1767, on the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation, a
group of German-Canadians planted a mature fir tree in front of the
former Governor’s Residence in Sorel and put up a plaque in French,
English and German to commemorate the lighting of the first
Christmas tree in North America. They also installed a painting by
Werner Schubert depicting the officers, their wives and children in
the very room where the original tree had stood in 1781. This was
the centennial project of the donors to make the public aware of
what had taken place there 200 years ago.
In 1981, at the urging of some German-Canadian historians, the
Postmaster-General of Canada issued a series of three postage stamps
depicting a Christmas tree as it might have looked in 1781, another
in 1881, as well as an electrically lighted one in 1981. All three
were designed by Anita Kunz, a Canadian of German ancestry. I can’t
help but note that in 1981 it cost 15 cents to mail a Christmas card
in Canada. Today it’s 52 cents. Some call that progress.
In September 1999, I visited Sorel, Quebec with my wife. The
Governor’s
Residence is now a Quebec tourist office. The big Fir tree in front
of the residence is gone. So is the plaque that was put there in
1967 and also the painting by Werner Schubert which hung over the
mantel of the fireplace.
The disappearance of the plaque in three languages can be attributed
to the overzealous Quebec language police. Although Canada is
ostensibly bilingual, it seems ludicrous that English-language signs
are banned in the precincts of the residence. The staff know the
historical significance of the building, yet there is nothing
available in print which refers to the historic event that took
place there – not even in French.
As if to make up for the disappearance of the live fir tree, they
have put up a stylized aluminum Christmas tree which I must admit is
quite striking in a modernistic sort of way. Even on a hot day it
looked as if it were snow covered. However, there is no marker which
alludes to the reason it was put there.
Perhaps the Christmas tree is a sign of a gentler past and fond
memories. The secularization of Christmas is now well underway on
this continent. The mass media may have now downgraded Christmas to
the “Holiday Season” and the unthinking majority have gone along
with this deception to the detriment of their heritage. The
salutation “Merry Christmas” has been replaced by the inane but
politically correct “Seasons Greeting”, a term whose meaning escapes
me.
Whether you go along with this brainwashing is up to you. As for me,
this Christmas I will continue to wish all and sundry a Merry
Christmas, and to hades with the Holiday Season.
Merry Christmas
Joyeux Noel
Frohe Weihnachten
By Frank Schmidt
Republished with permission from the author