Where did the Christmas tree originate?

The modern Christmas tree tradition originated in Germany, although related winter evergreen customs are older and spread across Central Europe.

German-speaking Christians developed the practice of bringing decorated evergreen trees indoors during the Renaissance and early modern period. Written evidence places decorated Christmas trees in German and Livonian settings by the 15th and 16th centuries. A 1539 record describes a Christmas tree in Strasbourg Cathedral, and a dated 1576 depiction comes from Turckheim in Alsace.

The custom gradually became associated with German culture and spread internationally during the 19th century, helped by German emigrants and royal fashion. Its popularity in Britain increased after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who was German-born, were pictured with a decorated tree in the 1840s.

People sometimes confuse the Christmas tree with older Roman, Egyptian, and northern European uses of evergreen plants during winter. Those traditions influenced seasonal symbolism, but the recognizable decorated Christmas tree is generally traced to German-speaking Central Europe.