Americans spend over $1 billion on Christmas trees and $6 billion on decorations every year.

But have any of us ever wondered why?

Decorating evergreen trees for religious festivals are not a new concept.

Homes were decorated in ancient European pagan winter solstice celebrations with evergreen branches to remind them of springtime.

Romans used fir trees to decorate temples during the December festival of Saturnalia.

German Protestants credit Martin Luther for the Christmas Tree, however, the practice is much older than Martin Luther.

One legend includes St. Boniface, who traveled to Germany to preach. He happened upon a Druid ceremony where they were worshipping an oak tree and preparing to sacrifice a young boy.

St. Boniface saved the boy and cut down the oak tree. A young fir tree was said to have sprung up from the roots of the oak tree, and candles were placed on the tree so he could preach to the pagans at night.

Cherry or hawthorn plants were put in pots and placed inside homes so they would flower in the Christmas season.

Wooden pyramid trees were part of Medieval German Miracle plays put on by churches on Christmas Eve. These wooden trees were adorned with paper, apples, and candles and carried through the town as an advertisement for the play.

The town of Tallinn in Estonia claims to have the first evergreen Christmas tree in 1441.

The city of Riga in Latvia has a plaque commemorating their 1510 “New Year’s Tree.” There, “The Blackheads” - an association of unmarried merchants, ship owners and foreigners - put up a tree in the town square.

They would dance around the tree during the Christmas and New Years celebrations. After the dancing and festivities were over, they set the tree on fire. I guess they got cold!

Historian, Balthasar Russow recorded this tradition in 1584: “A flock of maidens and women first sang and danced there and then set the tree aflame.”

Mychristmas.com also states Germans decorated trees in 1570 with apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers. An anonymous German citizen recorded in 1605 that, “At Christmas, they set up fir trees in the parlors of Strasbourg and hang thereon roses cut out of many-colored paper, apples, wafers, gold foil, and sweets.”

Queen Victoria’s German husband, Prince Albert set up a festive tree in the Windsor Castle in 1841. Ostrich feather trees were the trend in the Edwardian period among the wealthy.

No matter how the trends of Christmas Tree decorating change, the Christmas tree is here to stay.