If you celebrate Christmas you probably have a tree sitting somewhere in your living space taking up too much space–no matter how big the tree itself actually is. Sometimes the tree is fake, but maybe you went out and picked one up out of the ground or something. Maybe you’re like us in college, and just taped a pine air freshener to the wall above your desk and called it a year. No matter what, the stupid thing is probably going to be sitting around for way too long. So while you’re dealing with this festive decoration that might have you wondering why you even care about Christmas in the first place, here are some Christmas tree trivia facts.
Christmas Tree Trivia Facts
1. Early Christmas tree traditions include lighting it on fire. We guess if you did it now it would mean you wouldn’t have to worry about disposal or even buying a bunch of lights?
2. In the 1900s it was popular in Poland to hand your Christmas tree upside down. They didn’t use an entire tree though, normally it was just like… the tip of a fir pointing downwards, towards the dining table.
3. Germans during the 16th Century are often credited with starting the putting-a-tree-in-your-home tradition for Christmas.
4. However the tradition of Christmas trees is probably rooted in the Roman winter festival, Saturnalia. They used fir trees to celebrate!
5. There’s a giant 700-ton Christmas tree in West Palm Beach, in case you were planning on going to Florida. It’s actually made of sand.
6. The Fraser fir is the most popular Christmas tree. Probably because it’s what you think of when you think of Christmas trees.
7. Americans bought over 26 million live Christmas trees in 2019. Americans go for between 25-30 million per year.
8. Oregon produces the most Christmas trees in the United States, with over 50,000 acres used for Christmas tree production.
9. No Christmas trees are farmed in New Mexico, South Dakota, or Wyoming.
10. Aside from them being 0 acres in production, Alaska produces the least. With 10 acres used for production.
11. A big Christmas tree is set up in Trafalgar Square (London) every year–at least since 1947. Norwegians ship it over every year, where it’s decorated in London.
12. Christmas trees were originally decorated to ward off evil spirits. Pretty common thread for non-Christian traditions absorbed into Christianity.
13. Oklahoma has the biggest Christmas tree in America, at 140 feet tall. We hope the origin story was just to one-up the Rockefeller one.
14. Speaking of, the Rockefeller Center tree has like 50,000 LEDs on it.
15. Expectedly, the big Oklahoma tree was damaged pretty quickly by winds.
16. Australian Christmas trees are actually very prolific parasites. Because everything in Australia hates everything else, apparently.
17. It takes like 6-8 years for Christmas trees to reach the height at which most people buy them.
18. 82% of Christmas trees in the US in 2019 were artificial.
American presidents also like Christmas trees. Maybe? Anyway see if you know who is in front of their presidential tree here.
