Christmas: The History of the Christmas Tree - Self-Paced

This class focuses on the origin of the Christmas tree! We may be able to connect the Christmas tree to the use of evergreens in the ancient world, but the tradition of the Christmas tree stems from so much more than that. In this class we will follow the evolution of the Christmas tree from a few evergreen boughs on the hearth during winter solstice to billowing tree in the living room over Christmas. We will cover Prince Albert and Queen Victoria's influence on the popularity of the tree, how abolitionists boosted the popularity of the tree during the Civil War and Reconstruction era, how the tree changed in shape and size over the centuries, when artificial trees became popular, and more!

Students will also learn about the ornaments on the tree, including how revelers used to hang their presents on the tree, how Germany was the birthplace of the ornament as we know it, and how Hallmark got their start in the ornament industry. The tree came with many dangers at first, most of them fire related, so we will take a look at the changes that were made to make trees safe for the home. There is a lot more to the Christmas tree than meets the eye!

This is a self-paced class and has no live meetings. For each lesson, I will post a lecture video, as well as discussion questions and links to other resources in case students want to learn more about the topics we'll cover that week. 

Students do not need any prior knowledge of the history of Christmas to take this class. I will provide a basic rundown of any pertinent information needed to understand the context of any historical moments we discuss.