It was in sixteenth
century Germany, or so the legend has it, in a town called Wittenberg in
Saxony-Anhalt.
That the founder of
the protestant church, Martin Luther, was the first to decorate a Christmas
tree with lighted candles.
Apparently when he was
walking home through the forest one dark and frosty winter’s night, his
attention was drawn to the myriad of bright stars that he could see sparkling
and twinkling through the branches of the trees.
The beauty of the
nights display had a great effect on him, and he proceeded home very excited.
When he arrived home
he relayed to his family what he had seen and what had excited him so and
almost immediately he set about decorating his Christmas tree with candles and
then to his families surprise he lit them.
Goodness only knows
what his family thought, possibly that he was possessed, and what of the other
people in the town, what did they think of him and his antics?
It probably caused as
much consternation than the reformation.
