Types of trees used

Both natural and artificial trees are used as Christmas trees.

Some trees are sold live with roots and soil, often from a nursery, to be planted later outdoors and enjoyed (and often decorated) for years or decades.

Artificial trees have become increasingly popular, as they are considered more convenient and (if used for several years) less expensive than real trees. Trees come in a number of colours and “species“, and some come pre-decorated with lights. At the end of the Christmas season artificial trees can be disassembled and stored compactly.

The first artificial trees that were not green were the metallic trees, introduced in about 1958, and quite popular through the 1960s.

Other artificial trees may look nothing like a conifer except for the triangular or conical shape. These may be made from cardboard, glass, plastic, or from stacked items such as ornaments. Such items are often used as tabletop decorations.

Fordítsd le a szavakat, kifejezéseket angolra!

1. tűlevelű fa
2. karácsonyi égők
3. műfenyő
4. faiskola
5. színes díszek
6. asztali dísz

Key

1. coniferous tree
2. Christmas lights
3. artificial (Christmas) tree
4. nursery
5. colourful ornaments
6. tabletop decoration

Fun Christmas Facts

1. “Jingle Bells” was written for Thanksgiving, not Christmas. The song was written in 1857 by James Lord Pierpont and published under the title “One Horse Open Sleigh”. It was supposed to be played in the composer’s Sunday school class during Thanksgiving as a way to commemorate the famed Medford sleigh races. “Jingle Bells” was also the first song to be broadcast from space.

2. Rudolph’s red nose is probably the result of a parasitic infection of his respiratory system. According to Roger Highfield, the author of the book “The Physics of Christmas: From the Aerodynamics of Reindeer to the Thermodynamics of Turkey” the world’s most famous reindeer has a red nose due to a parasite. However, Rudolf’s relationship with his parasite is symbiotic: after all, the red nose illuminates the path through the winter night for the whole reindeer team.

3. In the Netherlands, Sinterklaas (the Dutch version of Santa Claus) arrives from Spain, not from the North Pole. And that’s not the only weird thing about the Dutch Christmas. Sinterklaas has his little helpers, but they are not adorable hard-working elves: they are black-faced boys and girls who can steal your kids if they misbehave, and bring them to back Spain which is, according to the Dutch, a severe punishment.

4. In Germany, Poland, and Ukraine, finding a spider or a spider’s web on a Christmas tree is believed to be a harbinger of good luck. According to one legend, a spider wove a blanket for Baby Jesus, according to the other – a spider web on the Christmas tree turned silver and gold once the sunlight touched it. One way or another, decorating a Christmas tree with artificial spiders and spider webs will inevitably bring you luck and prosperity!

5. Santa stretches time like a rubber band, in order to deliver all the gifts in one night. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), there are 2,106 million children under age 18 in the world. If we assume that each household has in average 2.5 children, Santa would have to make 842 million stops on Christmas Eve, traveling 221 million miles. Given the different time zones, Santa has 36 hours to deliver gifts, therefore his average speed would be approximately 650 miles per second. It is less than the speed of light (therefore, it’s, theoretically, doable but still quite hard for a chubby old man). Larry Silverberg, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University, suggests that Santa uses relativity clouds to get the work done. Relativity clouds, based on relative physics, allow Santa to stretch time like a rubber band which gives him months to deliver gifts, while only a few minutes pass for the rest of us.

6. Two weeks before Christmas is the one of the two most popular times for couples to break up. According to data analyzed from Facebook posts and statuses, couples are more likely to end their relationship two weeks before Christmas and two weeks after Valentine’s day, during the spring break. Christmas Day, however, is the least favorite day for breakups.

7. In Armenia, the traditional Christmas Eve meal consists of fried fish, lettuce and spinach. Many Armenians fast for a week before the Christmas Eve, that’s why, in order not to stress the stomach, the menu for the Christmas dinner is pretty light.

8. Japanese people traditionally eat at KFC for Christmas dinner. Although the percentage of Christian people in Japan is close to zero, every Christmas, kids and grown-ups head to the closest KFC to enjoy some fried chicken – the closest food to turkey that you can get in Japan. It’s all thanks to a successful “Kentucky for Christmas!” marketing campaign in 1947. First aimed at foreigners, KFC offered a “Christmas dinner” that contained chicken and wine – a meal that remotely resembled the food expats and tourists had at home. After a huge success, Kentucky Fried Chicken started promoting this offer every year, until the fast food chain became strongly associated with the holiday season.

9. The “X” in “Xmas” doesn’t take “Christ” out of “Christmas. Xmas is a common abbreviation of the word Christmas, however, some people think that this spelling is not right, because it takes the “Christ” out of Christmas. Don’t worry, no one is taking the “Christ” anywhere. In the Greek alphabet, the letter X (“chi”) is the first letter of the Greek word for Christ or Christos.

10. The first artificial Christmas tree wasn’t a tree at all. It was created out of goose feathers that were dyed green. The first artificial Christmas trees were developed in Germany in the 19th century, due to a major continuous deforestation. The feather trees became increasingly popular during the early 20th century and finally made their way to the US.

11. Iceland has 13 Santas and an old lady who kidnaps children. Christmas in Iceland is a colorful fusion of religion, fairy tales and folklore. Instead of one Santa, the kids are visited by 13 Yule Lads that either reward children for good behavior or punish them if they were naughty. The holiday period begins 13 days before Christmas and each day one of the 13 Yule Lads comes to houses and fills the shoes that kids leave under the Christmas tree either with sweets and small gifts or rotting potatoes, depending on how that particular child has behaved on the preceding day. The mother of Yule Lads, half-troll, half-beast, horrifying old woman Grýla, kidnaps naughty kids and boils them in her cauldron.

12. In Germany, Heiligabend, or Christmas Eve, is said to be a magical time when the pure in heart can hear animals talking. They can also see that rivers turn into wine, Christmas tree blossoms bear fruit, mountains open, revealing gems hidden inside and bell ringing can be heard from the bottom of the sea.

source: pastbook.com

Which country can you relate the followings to?

1. bell ringing in the bottom of the see., Christmas tree blossoms bear fruit

2. Sinterklaas, black-faced boys and girls

3. 13 Santas and an old lady, Yule Lads

4. spider, spider’s web, artificial spider

5. fried fish, lettuce, spinach

6. KFC Christmas dinner

7. dyed goose feather artificial Christmas tree

Key

1. Germany

2. The Netherlands

3. Iceland

4. Germany, Poland, Ukraine

5. Armenia

6. Japan

7. Germany, US

2. The first decorated Christmas tree was in Riga, Latvia in 1510.

3. The first printed reference to Christmas trees appeared in Germany in 1531.

4. Approximately 100,000 people are employed full or part-time in the Christmas tree industry.

5. In the United States, there are more than 15,000 Christmas tree farms. There are approximately 350 million Christmas trees growing on U.S. farms.

6. The most popular Christmas trees are: Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Fraser fir, Balsam fir, Virginia pine and white pine.

7. Besides evergreens, other types of trees such as cherry and hawthorns were used as Christmas trees in the past.

8. Live Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United States since about 1850.

9. Using small candles to light a Christmas tree dates back to the middle of the 17th century.

10. 10.9 million artificial trees were purchased in the United States in 2012.

11. Thomas Edison’s assistant, Edward Johnson, came up with the idea of electric lights for Christmas trees in 1882. Christmas tree lights were first mass-produced in 1890.

12. Today, most artificial Christmas trees are made from PVC plastic. PVC trees are fire-retardant but not fire-resistant. Eighty percent of artificial trees worldwide are manufactured in China.

13. Artificial Christmas trees were developed in Germany during the 19th century and later became popular in the United States. These “trees” were made using goose feathers that were dyed green and attached to wire branches. The wire branches were then wrapped around a central dowel rod that acted as the trunk.

14. Since 1971, the Province of Nova Scotia has presented the Boston Christmas tree to the people of Boston, in gratitude for the relief supplies received from the citizens of Boston after a ship exploded in 1917 following a collision in the Halifax, Nova Scotia Harbor. Part of the city was leveled, killing and injuring thousands.

15. Every year since 1947, the people of Oslo, Norway have given a Christmas tree to the city of Westminster, England. The gift is an expression of goodwill and gratitude for Britain’s help to Norway during World War II. The tree stands on Trafalgar Square.

16. The official Christmas tree tradition at Rockefeller Center began in 1933. Since 2004 the tree has been topped with a 550-pound Swarovski Crystal star. And since 2007, the tree has been lit with 30,000 energy-efficient LED’s which are powered by solar panels.

17. There are approximately 25-30 million real Christmas trees sold in the U.S. every year.

18. Real trees are a renewable, recyclable resource. Artificial trees contain non-biodegradable plastics and possible metal toxins such as lead.

19. It can take as many as 15 years to grow a tree of typical height (6 – 7 feet) or as little as 4 years, but the average growing time is 7 years.

20. A ‘Tree of Paradise’ was also used in old mystery plays to symbolise the Garden of Eden. Apples hung on it may be the origin of tree decorations.

21. Even before the time of Christ, evergreen trees were seen in winter as a symbol of fertility.

22. Real Christmas trees came eighth in a survey of the US’s favourite smells in 2004, just behind the sea but ahead of perfume.

23. England’s first Christmas tree was brought to Windsor by Charlotte, wife of George III, in 1800…but it was the trees brought in the 1840s by Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, that led to their popularity throughout the UK.

24. The first use of the term ‘Christmas tree’ in English was in 1835.

25. The average Christmas tree contains about 30,000 bugs and insects.

26.  Manufactured Christmas tree ornaments were first sold by Woolworths in 1880.

27. The United States’ National Christmas Tree has been lit each year since 1923 on the South Lawn of the White House.

28. An angel or star might be placed at the top of the tree to represent the archangel Gabriel or the Star of Bethlehem from the Nativity.

29. The tree was traditionally decorated with edibles such as apples, nuts, or other foods. In the 18th century, it began to be illuminated by candles which were ultimately replaced by Christmas lights after the advent of electrification.

30. Today, there are a wide variety of traditional ornaments, such as garland, tinsel, and candy canes.

Source: www.uselessdaily.com

True or false?

1. Live Christmas trees are evergreen.

2. The star on the top of the tree represents the nativity.

3. Artificial Christmas trees are fire resistant.

4. The Christmas tree on Trafalgar Square is a gift from Sweden every year.

5. Evergreen trees symbolize fertility.

6. Christmas trees are decorated with only edibles.

Key

1. true

2. true

3. false

4. false

5. true

6. false

Can you fill in the gaps in the sentences?

1. An …… Christmas tree is environmentally friendly.

2. …… are red striped sugar sticks.

3. Strips of shiny metal foil attached to a long piece of thread: ……

4. …… are also called fairy lights in English.

5. The shortest period of daylight and the longest night of the year: ……

Key

1. artificial

2. sugar canes

3. tinsel

4. electric lights

5. winter solstice