Christmas Trees

• The use of evergreen trees to celebrate the winter season occurred before the birth of Christ.

• The first decorated Christmas tree was in Riga, Latvia in 1510.

• The first printed reference to Christmas trees appeared in Germany in 1531.

• The most popular Christmas trees are: Scotch pine, Douglas fir, noble fir, Fraser fir, balsam fir, Virginia pine and white pine.

• Artificial Christmas trees made largely from aluminum were manufactured in the United States, first in Chicago in 1958.

• Today most real Christmas trees are grown on farms as sustainable crops like corn or pumpkins.

• 98 percent of all Christmas trees are grown on farms, while only 2% are cut from the wild.

• To ensure enough trees for harvest, growers plant one to three seedlings for every tree harvested.

• Using small candles to light a Christmas tree dates back to the middle of the 17th century.