Changes

The date of Christmas chose chosen by the Roman Catholic Church was selected because many societies converting to Christianity had celebrated the solstice and many gods, such as Mithras and others, were born on December 25th. Thus, policies of including pagan traditions with that of the birth of Jesus made conversions relatively easier. With Christmas trees, this likely was also a similar policy as Nordic countries began to convert to Christianity in greater numbers in the late 1st millennium AD. However, Christmas was not universally, even in Nordic countries, applied with a Christmas tree. This might mean that for some time Christmas trees may have had some meaning to people, particularly with their old traditions before they converted, where they remembered people and the renewal of life. However, Christmas trees do not seem to be associated with the homein the centuries after many Norse societies converted.<ref>For more on early Christianity and Old Norse traditions, see: Andrén, A. (Ed.). (2006). <i>Old norse religion in long-term perspectives: origins, changes, and interactions ; an international conference in Lund, Sweden, June 3 - 7, 2004</i>. Lund: Nordic Acad. Press. </ref>

During the late Medieval period and early modern period, around the 16th century, we begin to see the use of Christmas trees more frequently or in direct association with Christmas. After the Protestant Reformation, Christmas trees in Germany began to be brought into the home and placed as a way to remember life and renewal along with Christmas. Although nobody knows for sure, why, one possibility is the clergy began to see Christmas trees as heathen practice from pre-Christian traditions, forcing people to bring them to their homes to hide them. Sometimes Martin Luther himself is credited with decorating Christmas trees with candles to symbolize the starts, but this might not be likely given the fact evergreens were decorated already during the Old Norse period and in their traditions. <ref>For more on the origin of Christmas trees and Christmas, see: Brunner, B. (2012). <i>Inventing the Christmas tree</i>. New Haven: Yale University Press.</ref>

By 1605, the city of Strasburg was recorded to have Christmas trees decorating places with other associations that we now consider part of the Christmas tradition, such as chocolate covered apples, sweets, and other foods and presents. In the 17th century, many places continued to shun the Christmas tree, seeing it as a symbol of paganism. However, the popularity of the trees never went away. In particular, Christmas was seen as a solemn event by many of the clergy and reveling and feasting associated with Christmas went against this. Perhaps to accommodate a strong popular demand, some of the clergy began associating Christmas trees with Christ and the coming of Jesus to save the world. However, throughout much of the 17th and 18th centuries, only mostly in Germany was Christmas associated with Christmas trees.<ref>For more on the early history of Christmas trees and its controversy, see: Roy, C. (2005). <i>Traditional festivals: a multicultural encyclopedia</i>. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, pg. 69.</ref>