Things you Didn’t Know About Christmas Trees
Christmas trees may not be the most obvious choice when it comes down to conversation starters, but if ever you find yourself in sudden need of a seasonal cue to get the conversation flowing, here are a few simple facts to save the day.
Did you know that the first ever Christmas tree to be decorated was in Riga, the capital of Latvia? This occurred in 1510 but didn’t become a well-known tradition until 1850 when the commercial selling of Christmas trees began in America. A year later, the Americans produced their first ever Christmas tree retail space, this was due to the influence of Mark Carr who was from New York.
Since 1947, the public of Oslo in Norway have donated a Christmas tree to the city of Westminster in England. The giving of the tree is a symbol of friendship and good will due to Britain’s role in aiding Norway through World War II. Similarly, since 1971, the people of Nova Scotia has presented the people of Boston with the Boston Christmas tree to express their appreciation for the relief and aid that Boston supplied following a ship explosion in 1917.
Dozens of Christmas trees are stolen, from plantations, public gardens and increasingly from people’s homes still decorated along with tree lights each year. It seems that as the recession progresses, more thieves are looking to turn a quick profit through the lifting of these trees. Last year up to 420 Christmas trees were stolen at one time from a farm in Scotland.
98% of the world’s Christmas trees are grown on commercial farms and plantations rather than privately, this could be due to the fascination with picking and cutting your own tree, or perhaps the benefit of having another person tend to, fertilise and prune your tree. However, 9.5 million artificial Christmas trees were purchased in the US in 2011.
Did you know that an acre of Christmas trees (approximately 43,560 trees in total) can provide a day’s oxygen for up to 18 people? That’s 198, 000 litres of air which is equivalent to 9900 litres of pure oxygen. Although, if the individual were exercising, they would require even more oxygen than this.
On average, Christmas trees take approximately 9 years to grow from a sapling which is already 3 years old, this means that the majority of Christmas trees have reached a decade in age before they’ve reached the consumer’s household or a shop’s window display. However, the taller trees can be as old as 20 years and of a height of 4m tall. That’s over 13 feet!
Although these facts may not be of much use to you in an emergency, it’s always best to prepare yourself for any situation, and in the unlikely event that you find yourself trapped in a warehouse full of Christmas trees, or under pressure to answer a Christmas question, at least you can entertain yourself with some of the knowledge that you’ve learnt.
To find out more about Christmas trees, real and artificial, visit the UK Christmas World shop.