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.
