Where was started the tradition of decorating christmas tree?

The custom to decorate the New Year tree came to us from Germany. There is a tradition that the beginning of the tradition of decorating the Christmas tree was laid by the German reformer Martin Luther. In 1513, returning home on the eve of Christmas, Luther was fascinated and delighted by the beauty of the stars, which covered the heavenly vault so thickly that it seemed as if the tree crowns sparkled with stars. At home, he put a Christmas tree on the table and decorated it with candles, and placed a star on the top in memory of the star of Bethlehem, indicating the path to the cave where Jesus was born.

It is also known that in the 16th century in Central Europe on Christmas Eve it was customary to place a small beech tree in the middle of the table, decorated with small apples, plums, pears and hazelnuts cooked in honey.

In the second half of the 17th century, the custom of supplementing the decoration of the Christmas meal with a deciduous and coniferous tree was already common in German and Swiss houses. The main thing that it was a toy size. At first the small Christmas trees were suspended to the ceiling along with sweets and apples, and only later it was customary to decorate in the guest room one large Christmas tree.

In the XVIII-XIX centuries, the tradition of decorating the Christmas tree spread not only throughout Germany, but also appeared in England, Austria, Czech Republic, Holland, Denmark. In America, New Year trees also appeared thanks to German emigrants. In the beginning, the Christmas trees were decorated with candles, fruits and sweets, later the custom included toys made of wax, cotton wool, cardboard, and then glass.