All about the Christmas tree
The first step from green twigs in rooms to a decorated Christmas tree was taken around 1500. The oldest written evidence for a Christmas tree originates from Sélestat (French) in Alsace in 1521. Earlier decorations were apples, die-cuts, nuts and gingerbread, often complemented by paper flowers, sugar canes and sometimes even cheese and cold meats that could be “plundered” by the children. Christmas tree decorations also became more varied in the 19th century, as a consequence of the Christmas tree becoming more widespread. In the last third of the 19th century the Christmas tree and its decorations were so popular that they were often an expression of social status. Tree decorations have been produced out of a whole variety of different materials over the last 150 years in various regions in Germany, above all in Thuringia, Franconia and Saxony.
The glass Christmas tree ornament in its incredible variety of shapes is certainly one of the most popular and famous types of Christmas decorations.
Christmas tree decorations were made out of cotton wool in cottage industries in Saxony and Thuringia from the last third of the 19th century.
Tragacanth is a white tasteless and odourless resin mass that has been famous since the Antiquity.
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Regardless of whether they were purchased readymade, homemade or elaborately produced, Christmas tree decorations made from paper are one of the earliest forms of Christmas ornaments.
“Leonic wires” are silver-plated, gold-plated or zinc-plated copper wires and threads.
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