The story of the Christmas Tree can begin in the fifteenth century. The guilds of craftsmen in south Germany decorated fir trees with sweets and presents to amuse the children of the members. But traditionally trees were used for rituals even earlier. A tree is a symbol of growing power and rituals using trees can be traced to the time of the Romans.

At various feasts people used to adorn the yard with a trimmed fir tree. At the day of St Thomas December 21 the Dalecarlian people put two trimmed fir trees with just the top left at the side of the porch.

But the first notation in Sweden of a tree indoors is from the year 1741 when a decorated fir tree was seen at Stora Sundby manor, much later than in the honorable homes of Middle Europe. In Sweden the custom first was seen at the homes of the nobility and the clergy, but in the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century the use of Christmas trees was more common. In the small crofters holdings and the homes of the workers around 1900 they had small firs which could be placed on a table or hang at the ceiling. Just in homes of families with good space they could have a big tree.

To North America the custom was brought by the German immigrants, and was brought to other parts of our world by the missionaires.

The Christmas tree has by times had other forms. In Middle Europe of 16:th and 17:th century it was common with candle holders formed like trees and decorated with green twigs. In those parts of Sweden where they had lots of winter apples an apple candle holder was common. Both the decorations of the original Christmas trees and the candle holders have been inspirational for the Christmas decorations of the 19:th century fir tree.

In top of the tree we have a star remembering of the star of Bethlehem. The Christmas Tree originally has been a symbol of the Tree of Life which is mentioned in Genesis 2:9. So the star in the top and the goat under the tree can be seen as a symbol of our whole life, life which always is a struggle between good and evil.