Ukrainians decorate their Christmas trees with spider webs.
While it sounds ominous, this tradition is actually rooted in a heartwarming folktale about a poor widow who found a Christmas tree for her children. However, she had no money to decorate it, so on Christmas Eve, she went to bed crying. That night, spiders heard her tears and proceeded to cover the tree with delicate, glistening webs. Some versions of the story say the webs actually turned into silver and gold, while others say they merely looked like precious metals—either way, the widow felt rich come Christmas morning.
“Spiders have always been considered ‘good luck insects’ in Ukrainian tradition,” Lubow Wolynetz, folk art curator at the Ukrainian Museum in New York City, told Today. In honor of this, many Ukrainian families decorate their trees with silver and gold cobwebs and spiders today.
Thomas Edison’s colleague was the first to put electric lights on a Christmas tree.
Some people say Thomas Edison himself did this, but let’s not let Edison take more credit than he deserves. It was actually his colleague and friend, Edward Johnson, who first thought of putting electric lights on a Christmas tree instead of the traditional candles, according to the Library of Congress. However, the first bulb-lit tree did stand in Edison’s power plant in Manhattan in 1882, set on a rotating box so that passersby could see all 80 blinking red, white, and blue lights. No one had seen anything like it.
Early Romans were the first to celebrate with firs.
Evergreen trees have been synonymous with Christmas for centuries. Early Romans used evergreens to decorate their temples for Saturnalia, a festival they celebrated in December. When Christians began associating the birth of Christ with these previously existing winter holidays, they picked up on the evergreen tree as a symbol of eternal life, explains Dixie Sandborn of Michigan State University Extension.
The first artificial Christmas trees were made of dyed goose feathers and wire.
If you prefer an artificial tree, you’re not alone. It’s a cheaper and lower maintenance option, giving parents and pet owners one less thing to worry about during the holidays. Artificial trees date back to the 1880s, when Germans looking to offset deforestation made the first ones from dyed goose feathers held together with wire. Since then, people around the world have made fake trees out of aluminum, cardboard, and glass, although most artificial Christmas trees sold today are made out of PVC plastic.
Germans believe it’s bad luck to put up your tree before Christmas Eve.
In order to avoid bad luck at Christmas, some Germans believe you should erect your Christmas tree no sooner than Christmas Eve (or sometimes the 23rd) and take it down no later than Twelfth Night (Jan. 5). In some predominately Catholic countries—Ireland, Italy, Argentina, etc.—the tree goes up on Immaculate Conception Day (Dec. 8) and comes down on Epiphany (Jan. 6), though some Catholics extend that to Candlemas (Feb. 2), according to Italy Magazine. However, everyone can agree that you should definitely not put your tree up before Halloween (or in America, before Thanksgiving).
Popcorn garland is a truly American tradition.
All it takes is some popcorn, cranberries, a needle, and dental floss to make your very own homemade Christmas tree garland. Though Germans traditionally decorated their trees with cookies, nuts, and fruit, Americans in the 1800s adapted that custom to long strings of popcorn and cranberries. While it’s unknown exactly why popcorn was chosen—likely because it was inexpensive—cranberries are perfect, since their waxy coating keeps them from spoiling quickly.