Trees, baubles, cards and crackers
Paradise trees in Germany, apples in Strasbourg and a confectioner in Clerkenwell.
Jump to: The tree | Cards | Crackers | Plants and pies
The Christmas tree
The modern Christmas tree began in Germany, where families set up a “paradise tree” on 24 December, the feast day of Adam and Eve. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas tree
A wooden “Christmas pyramid” with shelves, evergreens, candles and a star stood in the same room. By the 16th century, pyramid and paradise tree had merged into the Christmas tree. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas tree
In his book The Ship of Fools (1494), Sebastian Brant mentions the custom of putting fir branches in houses. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas Fir trees hung with apples are first known in Strasbourg in 1605. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas The first candles on such trees were recorded by a Silesian duchess in 1611. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas
Britain’s first trees
Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, brought a Christmas tree to Britain in the late 18th century, but it was a yew rather than a fir. Royal Collection Trust: A royal Christmas
In 1848 the Illustrated London News printed a picture of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their family around a decorated tree. V&A: Victorian Christmas traditions Victoria and Albert did not bring the first tree, but they made the Christmas tree popular in Britain. Royal Collection Trust: A royal Christmas
Sources tell this story a little differently: see who brought the tree.
Trimmings
The first adverts for tree ornaments appeared in 1853. V&A: Victorian Christmas traditions Blown-glass ornaments were on sale in Britain and the United States by the 1870s, many made in small workshops in Germany and Bohemia. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas tree
By 1890, F.W. Woolworth was selling $25 million of ornaments a year in the United States, and electric tree lights were already available. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas tree
Germans began making artificial goose-feather Christmas trees in the 1880s. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas tree
The first Christmas card
Henry Cole, later the first director of the V&A, sent the first Christmas card in 1843. V&A: The first Christmas card The artist John Callcott Horsley drew the design. Cole’s diary for 17 December 1843 says: “In the Evg Horsley came & brought his design for Christmas Cards”. V&A: The first Christmas card
A thousand copies were printed. Spare cards were sold at a shilling each, which was expensive then, and the venture was judged a commercial flop. V&A: The first Christmas card The cards were printed by lithography and then coloured in by hand by a professional colourer called Mason. The Postal Museum: The first Christmas card
The second Christmas card, by William Maw Egley, came in 1848. It was once thought to be older than Horsley’s, because its date was misread as 1842. V&A: The first Christmas card
The Halfpenny Post, introduced in 1894, boosted Christmas card sales even more. V&A: The first Christmas card By the turn of the 20th century, one Christmas card showed Father Christmas riding a bicycle, then a fairly new invention. V&A: The first Christmas card
The V&A now holds the national collection of greetings cards: over 30,000 of them, more than half for Christmas. V&A: The first Christmas card Around a billion Christmas cards are bought in the UK each year. V&A: The first Christmas card When one of Cole’s first cards was sold at auction in 2013, it fetched £22,000. V&A: The first Christmas card
Who really sent the first one? See when sources disagree.
The Christmas cracker
The Christmas cracker was invented by Tom Smith (1823–1869), a London confectioner and baker who set up shop in Clerkenwell in the 1840s. V&A: The Christmas cracker On a trip to Paris, Smith saw French bonbons: sugared almonds twisted in tissue paper. He started adding a little motto inside the wrapper. V&A: The Christmas cracker
The idea for the “pop” is said to have come from the crackle of a log fire. V&A: The Christmas cracker Smith patented his first cracker device in 1847 and perfected it in the 1860s. V&A: The Christmas cracker
Tom’s son Walter added the paper hats. V&A: The Christmas cracker By the 1890s the cracker business employed 2,000 people. V&A: The Christmas cracker
In 1878 Tom Smith sold “Telephone Crackers”, with a picture of a cup-and-string telephone on the box. The National Archives: Tom Smith’s Christmas crackers The year before its 1907 “Christmas Tree Crackers” box label, Tom Smith & Co. was granted its first Royal Warrant. The National Archives: Tom Smith’s Christmas crackers
Plants and pies
European mistletoe is Viscum album. Kissing under the mistletoe is a custom that grew up in England, and later in the United States. Encyclopaedia Britannica: mistletoe
The poinsettia is native to Mexico and Central America. It is named after Joel R. Poinsett, who was the US minister to Mexico in the late 1820s. Encyclopaedia Britannica: poinsettia
Mince pies go back to the Middle Ages. Pie crusts were then called “coffins” and were not always meant to be eaten. English Heritage: Meat to sweet, a history of the mince pie Early mince pies had real meat in them. Mrs Beeton’s Household Management (1861) gave two mincemeat recipes, one with meat and one without. English Heritage: Meat to sweet, a history of the mince pie
By the end of the 17th century, mince pies were being made round. English Heritage: Meat to sweet, a history of the mince pie English Heritage says it is a myth that Cromwell banned Christmas and mince pies. English Heritage: Meat to sweet, a history of the mince pie
Turkey first appeared at Henry VIII’s table in the 1540s. Royal Collection Trust: A royal Christmas