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Christmas Tree Lights

To see our Christmas Tree Lights and our other Christmas Lights just click on these links. Alternatively, follow the menu on the left selecting Christmas, and then Christmas Trees or Christmas Lights

As can be seen from the stories below the origins of both Christmas trees and the lights that appear on so many of them today are a mixture of truth and myth. The popularity of Christmas trees cannot be underplayed, however. A very high percentage of homes in Britain will have a Christmas tree of some description during the Christmas period and almost all of those that have one will decorate their trees and include some form of lights on them, and both of these practices go back to the roots of the stories.

We stock a select range of high quality Christmas tree lights and indeed many other decorative Christmas lights besides, as well as a superb range of Christmas tree decorations. We also keep a number of fibreoptic Christmas trees, although these are artificial as the nature of real Christmas trees means they will not take kindly to too much transportation! Our fibreoptic trees are ideal as an extra decoration for your home at Christmas time.

The Christmas Tree Story

There are a variety of views as to the origins of the use of spruce trees as a Christmas decoration and we'll identify the most popular origins here. There is no doubt that the popularity of Christmas trees in the UK grew from their introduction by Prince Albert, husband and consort to Queen Victoria in the middle of the nineteenth century. Prince Albert brought the tradition from his native Germany where the use of spruce trees in the home at Christmas time had been a tradition for many years. This leads to the first of those origins.

It is said that Martin Luther, the famous founder of the Lutheran movement within the protestant part of the Christian religion started the tradition of Christmas trees in Germany. He was said to be walking home through a forest one day shortly before Christmas and he looked up to see the moon shining through the leaves of the trees and sparkling on the needles as the light was reflected by the moisture on them. He thought the sight so beautiful that he decided to bring a tree home and use it to decorate his house for Christmas. He cut one down and took it home. There he surrounded it with candles so that the light shone through the tree from all sides, much as the moonlight had done. His family loved the tree and others that came to his house admired it so much that more people did the same the following year. Trees quickly became adorned with fruits and berries to brighten them with natural autumnal colours, and so today many decorations are either made of naturally occurring items or represent them.

The candle light was of course, the birth of the use of lights on Christmas trees as is so often used on the Christmas tree these days. At one time, in attempts to improve on the original decoration, candles were tied to the branches, but although this practise lasted for many years there were, needless to say, a few disasters as the tree caught fire, and it is wise to warn everyone against any attempt to use live candles, either on or under the tree!

As electricity became widely available, electric lights have taken the place of candles and, of course, they can be used quite safely. Although lights now come in various colours, and many flash, the traditions still really call for white lights so that the Christmas tree is seen at its best, and so that the image that Martin Luther was trying to recreate with his idea all those years ago is most faithfully represented.

The other story of the origins of the Christmas tree still links the origin to Germany, and it is certainly widely held that it was in Germany that Christmas trees were first used. The tales have it that St. Boniface had travelled to Germany in order to teach the people there about Jesus and his teachings. During his travels he was walking through some woods when he happened upon a group of people who were about to perform a sacrifice to their God. The scene was at night and the area was lighted by candles with a small boy who was to be sacrificed, tied to an oak tree. St Boniface managed to persuade the people to stop their ritual and listen to him. So that he could be seen by everyone he asked them to take their candles and tie them to a nearby spruce tree at various heights so that he was easily visible and so that the light of God was with him. He proceeded to teach them of Jesus' ways and of a loving God who did not want or need sacrifices. The story links both the Spruce tree and the candles and places the candles on, rather than around, the tree but its connection with Christmas is more tenuous.